Adult Language Learners

Adult Language Learners: An Annotated Bibliography

Auerbach, E. R. (1993). Reexamining english only in the ESL classroom. TESOL Quarterly, 27(1), 9-32.

Reexamining English Only in the ESL Classroom is a journal article written by Elsa Roberts Auerbach. In this article she is arguing that adult ELL’s native language is essential to their acquisition and literacy of their L2. She is against having English only ESl classrooms if the teacher does not allow the ELL’s to use their native language. She starts her article by explaining the purpose of it. Towards the beginning of the article she uses a quote from a Latino teenager to illustrate that English only in the classroom is more of a hindrance than a help.

Auerbach refers to the concept of the majority creating things for the majority. She also discusses the history of English-only teaching. She brings forth some shocking realities. For instance, when people were immigrating to the United States during World War I, the children were expected to pledge oaths to language loyalty. She gives an example of one of these oaths. It is an oath that was written by the centre that dehumanizes the peripheries.

She backs her argument against English-only instruction with evidence she gained from research and practice. Most, if not all, of the evidence centered around the idea that a person should be able to use their L1 while they are learning their L2.

This article is extremely informative and makes a person think about their approach to teaching ESL.

Auerbach, E. (1996). Adult ESL/literacy from the community-- to the community : A guidebook for participatory literacy training. Mahwah, N.J.: L. Erlbaum Associates.

Adult ESL/Literacy from the Community to the Community by Elsa Auerbach is a book about a project in which immigrants from the Boston community who knew English were trained to teach ESL to the immigrants of the Boston community. It is a fascinating study because the immigrants who were trained did not all have higher education. It was their lack of a higher education that made them successful ESL teachers because that could identify with their students because they were of the same culture as them. The ESL teachers had also gone through the process of learning the language; thus, the barrier between student and teacher was broken.

The way this book is organized is helpful for research because all of the topics are broken down. She first talks about how the project came about; then she discusses the how and why. It is also an easy read and enjoyable. It comes from a real-life situation, and, in the book, Auerbach refers to similar situations that have happened in the world.

It was a helpful book for my adult ESL learner research because it informed me on how I can be more effective as an adult ESL teacher. It was in accordance of the idea that understanding your learner and where he comes from is essential to being an effective ESL teacher.

Campbell, C., & Kryszewska, H. (1992). Learner-based teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Learner-based Teaching by Colin Campbell and Hanna Kryszewska was written to inform what learner-based teaching is and what it looks like. Campbell and Kryszewska begin the book by explaining what learner-based teaching is. They also discuss the role the teacher plays in this type of teaching. Every type of teaching has advantages and disadvantages. Campbell and Kryszewska address the advantages and disadvantages that learner-based teaching possess.

However, a rather large portion of the book is organized into different sections that model how a teacher can teach “grammar, vocabulary, integrated skills, writing, and translation” and how to prepare for games and exams in a learner- based manner.

This book is useful for a person who is creating a curriculum that is focused on the learners’ needs. It gives different exercises that the students can do. It also shows the level of proficiency the students would need in order to complete the exercises. The teacher is told exactly what she would need to do for the exercise. The book goes step by step for each exercise as well as informs the teacher of approximately how much time should be allotted for the exercise. If someone is starting an ESL program or an ESL class. This is a great book to use as a reference because of all of the detailed exercises for grammar, vocabulary, writing, and translation.

Díaz-Rico, L. T. (2004). Teaching english learners : Strategies and methods. Boston: Pearson A and B.

Teaching English Learners: Strategies and Methods by Lynne Díaz-Rico is a book comprised of different ESL strategies and methods. These method range from Performance-based learning to learning English through one’s service to a community. The beginning of the book defines what an ESL teacher is and what an ELL is. The rest of the book consists of all the ESL teaching methods. These methods can also be used for EFL. Also, all of the methods focus on the ESL student.

This book is a great resource for someone who wants to learn more about different teaching methods for ESL because it contains twelve of them, and each method is explained and expounded upon. Anyone who would like to start an ESL program or ESL class would benefit from this book because at the beginning of each section, Díaz- Rico defines each method. She gives background to each method and basically any information one would need about the methods. Then she discusses how to use the method. It was especially good for me because I was able to look at my TESL-350 reflection journal and put together which strategies and methods would possibly work for the adult ESL learners I had been working with for my TESL-350.

Hayes, E. (1989). Hispanic adults and ESL programs: Barriers to participation. TESOL Quarterly, 23(1), 47-63.

Hispanic Adults and ESL Programs: Barriers to Participation by Elisabeth Hayes is a journal article about a study of the participation of hispanic adults in ESL programs. This study took place because of the observation that not many Hispanic adults are participating in ESL programs.

In this article, Hayes puts into perspective the largeness of the hispanic population. She states statistics of the literacy of the Hispanic population in comparison to the literacy of the rest of the United States. She briefly discusses how this affects America as a whole. She also shares the factors that she found to be the “barriers” to the participation of hispanic adults in ESL programs and explains how she came to those conclusions. There are tables in the article that help to bring the concepts together for the reader. With each factor, she has put the excuses that hispanic adults give for that factor. She later moves into a description or profile of low-literate hispanic adults.

I did not think that I would be able to find an article that focused on hispanic adults in ESL programs, much less a study on their lack of participation in them. This article helped in my research of adult ESL learners, specifically hispanic adults.

Helman, L., Bear, D. R., Templeton, S., Invernizzi, M., & Johnston, F. (2007). Words their way with english learners: Word study for phonics, vocabulary, and spelling (second ed.). New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.

Words Their Way with English Learners: Word Study for Phonics, Vocabulary, and Spelling is a practical book for anyone teaching ELL’s how to speak or read English. The book is basically about orthographic development. This is especially helpful because it acts as a mini review of some things that are learned in TESL-220. It breaks down the orthographic development into five parts, but it starts by explaining orthographic development, how to assess it, and how to organize one’s classroom based off of the results of the assessment of it. Then it explains the different stages of orthographic development: the emergent stage, the letter-name alphabetic stage, the word patter stage, the syllables and affixes stage, and the derivational relations stage.

There are many tables and examples of activities to look at and study. They help to make things more understandable, but the book is and easy read. It is great for research on how to help ELL’s with their accents because one can see why it is so difficult for their ELL’s to make that certain sound. It is useful for other research as well because it gives theories to phonics learning, vocabulary learning, and spelling while showing one how they can teach the three to ELL’s.

This book was helpful to me as an ESL teacher, and I think it might be helpful to an Applied Linguistics major because of its focus on orthographic development.

McKay, H., & Tom, A.,. (1999). Teaching adult second language learners. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press.

Teaching Adult Second Language Learners by Heather McKay and Abigail Tom is a practical, informational, and helpful book about adult ESL learners. At the beginning of the book, they define what an adult learner is and what they bring to the ESL classroom. It also gives ideas about how to obtain information of the language, background, expectations, learning styles, confidence, motivation, and personal circumstances one’s learners possesses.

The book also discusses how one can create an effective classroom. Then it gives themes for lessons. This has helped me greatly with my TESL-410 class because I am creating a curriculum plan for adult learners. When McKay and Tom discuss each theme, they give different activities one could do with their class. A lot of the themes have at least one activity in them that will tell the teacher something about that student ( background information, language, motivation, learning styles, etc.).

I gained information from this that was helpful to my research because it was practical information such as what young adults think of the older adults and vice versa. The book also gave me difficulties that both young and old adults bring to the table that one should think of when working with an ESL program.

Menard-Warwick, J. (2005). Intergenerational trajectories and sociopolitical context: Latina immigrants in adult ESL. TESOL Quarterly: A Journal for Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages and of Standard English as a Second Dialect, 39(2), 165-185.

Intergenerations Trajectories and Sociopolitical Context: Latina Immigrants in Adult ESL is journal article written by Julia Menard-Warwick. It is an intriguing article about the affect each generation has one the other’s education which is the intergenerational trajectory. Menard-Warwick uses an experience she had in 2002 as a participant-observer classroom volunteer in an ESL program to explain and expound upon her point. She uses two of the Latina women’s stories to illustrate what intergeneration trajectories are. Then she uses their stories to explain the sociopolitical context they are in. These women’s stories are told to introduce the reader to who they are. They are both immigrant women from Central America, and they are touching stories.

I would highly recommend this article to anyone because it contains real people’s stories, and their stories are used to explain the point the article addresses. It is an insightful work into the latino culture. Family is highly valued in that culture, and one sees that when reading this article. It makes sense that family influences one’s education, but Menard-Warwick puts a twist on it because it is not exactly what one would first think. It is a great read for anyone who wants to do ESL. It is also a quick read because it is so enjoyable. A research paper that focuses on teaching Latina women ESL would benefit greatly from it.

Smoke, T. (1998). Adult ESL : Politics, pedagogy, and participation in classroom and community programs. Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Adult ESL: Politics, Pedagogy, and Participation in Classroom and Community Programs is a book by Trudy Smoke that is comprised of essays concerning politics, pedagogy, and participation in classroom and community programs written by various intellectuals. It is research friendly because all of the articles are organized by topic (a person will find all of the political articles in one place, all of the pedagogical articles in one place, etc.). The table of contents shows one the essay names, the authors of the essays, and the page numbers in which the essays will be found.

The political section contains anything from the politics of adult ESL literacy to the politics of multiculturalism to gender equality in ESL-based education. The section on pedagogy includes literacy and democracy in an ESL classroom along with pronunciation and writing. Participation is huge when it comes to ESL. It is what aids in the ELL’s acquisition of his L2. This section provides essays concerning some of the aspects of participation in ESL. The essays range from topics of training ESL instructors to how one can get involved in ESL programs.

I found this book to be extremely helpful in my research on adult ESL learning. I could simply look at the essay topics to see if they were relevant to my topic.

Wood, K. (2011). Writing together: Building community through learner stories in adult ESL. TESOL Journal, 2(2), 239-248.

Writing Together: Building Community Through Learner Stories in Adult ESL by Katherine Wood is a journal article that focuses on Learners’ Lives as Curriculum (LLC). It is a fascinating article that addresses the difficulty of adult ESL programs. Wood discusses different factors that play into the ESL programs and the adult ELL’s lives.

Throughout this article, she not only talks about adult ESL, she also talks about students with interrupted formal education (SIFE), family literacy programs, Learners’ Lives as Curriculum (LLC), and Language Experience Approach (LEA). Toward the middle of the article, she reveals herself as one who is familiar with Paolo Freire and his work. She discusses the different approaches to making a LLC. Her style looks very much towards the ELL and what he needs. She asks the questions of “What does my learner need to know now?” and “What is my learner going to be able to take from this class?” She also uses the skills that the learners already have and builds from them.

This is a great read for anyone interested in ESL. It is also a great resource for research on either adult ESL, adult literacy, ESL families, SIFE or LLC and LEA. Wood addresses all of them rather well, and when anyone reads the article, they can see that she cares about the subject.