ESL Fast Track
A grant-supported initiative of Central Piedmont Community College © 2008
ESL Fast Track – 5 Modules
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•
•
•
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The Adult Learner and Core Issues
Second Language Acquisition
Lesson Planning
Teaching Techniques
Observation and Reflection
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MODULE 1
The Adult Learner
and
Core Issues in Adult ESL
Helaine W. Marshall, Ph.D.
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Watch and Listen
[Video introduction to Module 1]
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MODULE 1 - GOAL
The overall goal of Module 1 is to provide an
introduction to the field of Adult ESL -- the
learners, the teachers, the issues they
each face, and the discoveries they will
make together as a learning community.
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MODULE 1 - OBJECTIVES
• To introduce teachers to the field of Adult ESL
• To present and have teachers process five core
issues in Adult ESL
• To prepare teachers for the following modules
• To provide an opportunity for teachers to
observe their own learning
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MODULE 1 - COMPETENCIES
By the end of this module, teachers will be able to:
• Demonstrate familiarity with the field of Adult ESL
• Demonstrate ability to discuss and address the five core
issues
• Demonstrate buy-in and readiness for the following
modules
• Demonstrate self-reflection as an adult learner
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Module 1 – Essential Questions
• Who are you, who are the learners, and what is going to
happen here?
• How are your priorities the same and/or different from
learner priorities, and how can you accommodate both?
• How can we balance the unfamiliar with the familiar in
the three aspects of learning – language, content, and
tasks – while building new schemata to promote
maximum learning?
• What are the cultural factors that may impede learning
and how can we best address them as ESL teachers?
• How can you best become prepared to teach Adult ESL
and what is what is essential for your success?
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Self-Reflection
Activity: Before we begin, reflect on teaching
and learning by responding to the prompt:
1.1 For current teachers click here
1.2 For future teachers click here
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The Five Core Issues Are:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Roles and expectations
Priorities of teachers and learners
Moving from familiar to unfamiliar
Cultural factors in classroom-based
learning
5. Knowledge base for the teacher
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1. Roles and expectations
Essential Question:
Who are you, who are the learners,
and what is going to happen here?
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“Who are you?” said the Caterpillar.
“Who are you?” said the Caterpillar.
Keep your eye on the ball.
“It’s a small world, after all.”
Establish a
Relationship
Identify
Priorities
Make
Associations
Intercultural Communication Framework
(Marshall, 1990)
Intercultural Communication
Framework (Marshall, 1990)
Step 1:
Establish and maintain a relationship
Infuse instruction with interpersonal elements
– Teacher and students
– Students together
– Students with family members
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Intercultural Communication
Framework (Marshall, 1990)
Step 2:
Identify priorities in both learners’
cultures and those of the larger
community
• Adapt instruction to accommodate learner priorities
• Develop learner awareness of community priorities
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Intercultural Communication
Framework (Marshall, 1990)
Step 3:
Make associations between familiar and
unfamiliar
• Move from familiar to unfamiliar schemata
» Linguistic
» Content
» Formal
• Build associations between familiar and unfamiliar
concepts
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Roles and expectations
• One’s view of oneself as a teacher
• ESL Adult Learner profiles – key
characteristics – what’s their story?
• Establishing the relationship and the
learning community
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Roles and expectations
One’s view of oneself as a teacher
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Roles and expectations
ESL Adult Learner profiles – key characteristics
– what’s their story?
• Why are they in my class? Motivation
• Will they stay in my class? Persistence
• What will they do in my class? Achievement
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Profile of the ESL Learner
•
•
•
•
•
Age at arrival in US
L1 literacy and language development
L1 cognitive and academic development
Socio-cultural family background
L2 stage of acquisition
L1 = Native language; first language
L2 = New language (English); second language
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Roles and expectations
Establishing the relationship and the
learning community
• Needs assessment
• Goal setting and advising
• Collaborative establishing of classroom
procedures and routines
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Roles and expectations
Activity:
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Roles and expectations
Assessment:
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2. Priorities of teachers and
learners
Essential Question:
How are your priorities the same and/or
different from learner priorities, and
how can you accommodate both?
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Priorities of teachers and
learners
•
•
•
One’s own priorities as a teacher – make
them explicit
ESL Adult Learner priorities – finding
them out
Accommodating learner priorities and
most important priorities of school
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Priorities of teachers and
learners
One’s own priorities as a teacher – make
them explicit
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Priorities of teachers and
learners
ESL Adult Learner priorities – finding them
out
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What Adult Learners Need
(Wrigley & Powrie, 2002)
Principles
1. Adult learners are goal driven.
2. Language and literacy are social processes that
involve interaction with others.
3. Language and literacy development require risk
taking.
4. Language and literacy develop when the target
language is slightly above the current level of
proficiency of the user.
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What Adult Learners Need
(Wrigley & Powrie, 2002)
Principles continued
5. Language and literacy development require
focus, engagement and practice.
6. Language and literacy are multi-dimensional and
require different kinds of interactions with
different kinds of genres.
7. Language and literacy develop through
interactions with tasks that require cognitive
involvement.
8. Language and literacy develop more deeply if
skills are connected to an overall topic or theme.
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Priorities of teachers and
learners
Accommodating most important learner
priorities and most important priorities of
schools and teachers
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Priorities of teachers and
learners
Activity:
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Journal Entry by Vietnamese Student
“The most importants I have learned about the United States that is a
book, newspapers, or notebook and pens. These things are always
let me know how to live here.
I can remember once upon a time, that the first time I came here and I
didn’t know anything about the United States. At that time, I just
pick up the textbooks from my teacher, and then I read it, but I didn’t
understand it much because I didn’t study English before, at that
times I picked up a dictionary to look up the words I didn’t
understand and translate by my native language…
…I always remember the books are the most important things for me
to learn when I live in the United States.”
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Priorities of teachers and
learners
Assessment:
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3. Moving from familiar to
unfamiliar
Essential Question:
How can we balance the three types of
schemata while building new
schemata to promote maximum
learning?
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Schema Theory
Dictionary definition of schema:
An abstract structure
representing concepts
stored in memory
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FMJEOTPYX
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Linguistic Schema
ABCDEFGHI
James (1987)
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Version #1
The batsmen were merciless against the bowlers. The
bowlers placed their men in slips and covers. But to no
avail. The batsmen hit one four after another with an
occasional six. Not once did a ball look like it would hit
their stumps or be caught.
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Content Schema
Version #2
 The men were at bat against the bowlers. They did
not show any pity. The bowlers placed their men in
slips. They placed their men in covers. They hit
some sixes. No ball hit the stumps. No ball was
caught.
Tierney & Pearson (1985)
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Formal Schema
Please name the months
of the year:
James (1987)
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Formal Schema
Please name the months
of the year.
But this time do it in
Alphabetical order!
James (1987)
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TYPES of SCHEMATA
•
Linguistic Schemata
•
Content Schemata
•
Formal Schemata
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The Power of Prior Knowledge
When information is missing or confusing,
we compensate by accessing our familiar
schemata.
Observe the following:
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Compensating Strategies
Example #1
Ths sntnc s wrttn wth
th vwl smbls lft t.
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Compensating Strategies
Example #2
“I pledge a lesson to the frog of the United
States of America, and to the wee puppets
for witches’ hands; one Asian in the
vestibule, with little rice and just tee for
all.”
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Compensating Strategies
Example #2
“I pledge a lesson to the frog of the United
States of America, and to the wee puppets
for witches’ hands; one Asian in the
vestibule, with little rice and just tee for
all.”
This was Betty Bao Lord’s
childhood understanding
of the Pledge of Allegiance
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Compensating Strategies
Example #3
_____________
____________
____________
____________
__________,
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
_________.
Adapted from Peregoy & Boyle (2005)
Asdfghkk
________________
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Two Learning Activities
FAMILIAR
SCHEMATA
UNFAMILIAR
SCHEMATA
Telling
a folktale
in the
native
language
Writing
a business
letter
in English
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Guidelines for Designing
Classroom Activities
•
Identify the unfamiliar linguistic,
content and formal schemata
•Balance
familiar and unfamiliar
schemata in conducting the activity
•
Build associations between the
familiar and unfamiliar, developing
new schemata
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Moving from familiar to
unfamiliar
Activity:
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Moving from familiar to
unfamiliar
Assessment:
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4. Cultural factors in
classroom-based learning
Essential Question:
What are the cultural factors that may
impede learning and how can we best
address them as ESL teachers?
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Cultural factors in
classroom-based learning
• High-context learners vs. low-context
classrooms (Hall, Ibarra)
• Pre-scientific vs. scientific spectacles (Flynn)
• Learners’ paradigm for learning
vs. our U.S.-based paradigm
• The Mutually Adaptive Learning Paradigm
-- MALP (Marshall & DeCapua)
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The Neglected Schema
Biggest stumbling block to learning language and
content is unfamiliar formal schemata – often
under the radar.
In the rush to develop language proficiency and
content mastery, little attention is paid to the
underlying formal schemata. Without the
schemata for learning in US classrooms, the
learners cannot access the language and
content to reach their potential.
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Mismatched Learning Paradigms
• Following Hall (1976; 1985), cultures fall on a
continuum from high context to low context.
• The learning paradigm for US education is low
context (Ibarra, 2001;Bennett, 2007).
• Many Adult ESL Learners come from cultures on
the high-context end of the continuum.
• Although teachers provide contextualized
activities, assessments remain
decontextualized.
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Cultural factors in classroombased learning
• High-context learners vs. low-context
classrooms (Hall, Ibarra)
[CHART of differences goes here]
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Cultural factors in classroombased learning
Pre-scientific vs. scientific spectacles (Flynn)
[Examples from data go here]
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Context Embedded
= High Context
A
B
Cognitively
Undemanding
= Easier;
Low demand
Cognitively
Demanding
= Harder,
High demand
D
C
Context Reduced
= Low Context
(Cummins, 1981)
Cultural factors in classroombased learning
• Learners’ paradigm for learning
vs. our U.S.-based paradigm
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LEARNING PARADIGMS FOR
TWO DIFFERENT SETTINGS
(Marshall, 1998; DeCapua & Marshall, forthcoming)
Aspects of
Learning
CONDITIONS
PROCESSES
High-Context
Cultural Setting
Immediate
Relevance
Future
Familial
Relationship
Relevanc
Independence
e
Group
Responsibility
Individual
Accountability
Oral Transmission
ACTIVITIES
Low-Context U.S.
Educational Setting
Experience
& Practice
Written Word
Analysis Tasks
Cultural factors in classroombased learning
• The Mutually Adaptive Learning Paradigm
-- MALP (Marshall & DeCapua)
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MALP- Mutually Adaptive Learning Paradigm
HC = High Context Culture
LC = Low Context Culture
ACCEPT HC
CONDITIONS
COMBINE
HC & LC
PROCESSES
FOCUS on LC
ACTIVITIES
w/familiar
language
& content
High Context
Cultural Setting
Low Context U.S.
Classroom Setting
Immediate
Relevance
Future
Relevance
Familial
Relationship
Independence
Individual
Accountability
Group Responsibility
Oral
Transmission
and
Written Word
Experience
& Practice
(Marshall 1998; DeCapua & Marshall forthcoming)
Analysis
Cultural factors in classroombased learning
Activity:
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Cultural factors in classroombased learning
Assessment:
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On Learning From Text:
Hmong students used to learn by doing
and if they went to school and learned just the
theory, they have problems when they
practice. For example, myself--when I go to
school and I learn something by reading, I
could understand when I read, but if I was
supposed to do it by hand, I didn't know how.
So I had to get help from someone in order to
be able to do it (Shuter,1985:106)
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Poem
Hmong mothers are busy
Wash clothes
Wash dishes
Wash babies
Dry clothes
Dry dishes
Dry tears
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5. Knowledge base for the
teacher
Essential Question:
How can you best become prepared to
teach Adult ESL and what is what is
essential for your success?
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5. Knowledge base for the
teacher
• Teacher preparation in 5 Modules
• Support systems – Basic training/
resources/ongoing feedback/community of
practicing teachers
• Nuts and bolts preparedness – logistical
and practical issues
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Knowledge base for the teacher
Teacher preparation in 5 Modules:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Core Issues
Second Language Acquisition
Lesson Planning
Teaching Techniques
Observation and Reflection
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Knowledge base for the teacher
Support Systems
•
•
•
•
Basic training
Resources
Ongoing feedback
Community of teachers
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Knowledge base for the teacher
Nuts and bolts preparedness – logistical and
practical issues
• Recordkeeping & Reporting
• Materials & Equipment
• Classroom Management
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Knowledge base for the teacher
Activity:
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Knowledge base for the teacher
Assessment:
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Route to Success for Adult ESL Teachers
Taking the fast track
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MODULE 1 Review
Main Points:
• Know yourself and your learners
• Create a safe environment for learning based on shared
priorities
• Move from familiar schemata to unfamiliar schemata –
build new schemata for learners
• Using MALP, create meaningful activities that take into
account the learners’ paradigm while preparing them for
mandated assessments
• Using ESL Fast Track, learn about second language
acquisition, lesson planning, teaching techniques, and
observation & reflection
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MODULE 2 - Preview
Module 1 -- overview of learning and teaching
Module 2 -- focus on a specific type of learning,
i.e. language learning
To think about:
How is acquiring a new language in adulthood
different from taking other courses as an adult?
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Post-test/Module Evaluation
• State the 5 elements of the ESL Learner profile and why
each is important
• Identify one’s own priorities as potential teachers of ESL
adult students and explain how they may conflict with
learner priorities
• Identify the 3 major schemata: linguistic, content, and
formal in a given activity
• Explain how culture and learning are interrelated and
give an example
• Name at least 3 practical issues facing adult ESL
students
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SELF - ASSESSMENT
Can you comfortably answer the 5 Essential Questions?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Who are you, who are the learners, and what is going to happen
here?
How are your priorities the same and/or different from learner
priorities, and how can you accommodate both?
How can we balance the three types of schemata while building
new schemata to promote maximum learning?
What are the cultural factors that may impede learning and how
can we best address them as ESL teachers?
How can you best become prepared to teach Adult ESL and what
is what is essential for your success?
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You have completed MODULE 1.
You are now ready to begin MODULE 2:
Second Language Acquisition in Adulthood
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Activity 1.1.1
• Describe your current teaching situation, not in
concrete terms, but in terms of your successes
and struggles. What have you found were some
of the best moments of learning and connecting
in your classroom? What have you found were
some of the most challenging moments of lost
opportunities and lack of engagement in
learning? Begin to tell your story here.
• Suggested length: 150 words
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Activity 1.1.2
• When you picture yourself as a teacher of
Adult ESL, what do you think will be the
most rewarding part of the experience?
What do you think may be the most
challenging aspects? Explain why in each
case. Begin to imagine the kind of teacher
you think you will be, and describe that
teacher.
• Suggested length: 150 words
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Activity 1.1.3
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Activity 1.1.4
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Activity 1.2.1
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Activity 1.2.2
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Activity 1.3.1
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Activity 1.3.2
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Activity 1.4.1
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Activity 1.4.2
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Activity 1.5.1
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Activity 1.2.1
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Activity 1.5.2
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