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Early reading development in adult ELLs.

Article Excerpt
Abstract

ESL programs that work with older English language learners (ELLs) are experiencing an influx of students who lack basic literacy skills in either their native language or English. One area of research that has not been fully explored is the cognitive process of beginning reading for older ELLs. This paper reports on a one-year study that followed a group of adult ELLs as they were learning to read for the first time in English and discusses pedagogical implications.

Introduction

Having spent many years in secondary and adult level ESL classrooms and working with preservice and in-service ESL teachers, I found that a large number of educators whom I encountered in the TESOL field were experiencing a similar challenge: Older ELLs who lacked the ability to read either in their native language or English were entering programs that were not structured to specifically teach beginning reading in a second language. While it is well established that cognitive and academic skills in the first language facilitate second language acquisition (Bialystock, 1991; Collier, 1992; Garcia, 1994), and word level skills such as phonological awareness transfer from the first language to the second language for bilingual children learning to read (Cisero & Royce, 1995; Durgunoglu, Nagy & Hancin-Bhatt, 1993; Durgunoglu & Oney, 1999) there is little known about what skills and knowledge beginning older readers have or use when learning to read for the first time in English. The answer to how older ELLs who are pre-readers develop skills is important since currently there is increased focus on building literacy skills across all age groups, and specifically for adults who lack such skills by the U.S. Federal Government (U.S. Department of Education, 2002). In addition, educators who work with older ELLs who are pre-readers experience frustration due to the lack of available data on how these students approach the task of learning to read and what types of classroom practices are most effective for them.

Phonological Awareness and Adult Reading

The ability to decode print is a critical step in alphabetic reading. In order to be successful at decoding learners must be aware of the alphabetic principle. In other words, learners must be able to make an association between sounds and letters and use those sounds to form words. This ability leads to successful word decoding. Decoding is dependant on phonological awareness (PA), or the understanding that spoken words are made up of smaller units of sound (for a comprehensive review see Adams, 1990). In addition, PA is the ability to hear and manipulate the individual sounds in spoken words. For example, learners who have PA understand that the word cat consists of three sounds...

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