Final Paper Update

My final research paper is going to focus on what the basic starting blocks are for newcomers to English to learn to read and write.  I also want to explore some macro-level strategies that would be used to get my students started.

• ·         Tindall, Evie, and Deanna Nisbet. "Exploring The Essential Components Of Reading." Journal Of Adult Education 39.1 (2010): 1-9. ERIC. Web. 4 Nov. 2012 

This article is just what I am looking for.  Not only does it discuss adult ELLs, but it also discusses adult ELLs who are not literate in their first language either.  This is my main concern because I know many of the students I will be working with next semester will not be literate in their L1 and I don’t know how to begin to teach them an L2 if they have no literacy at all.  This also gives some good strategies as to how to begin the teaching process.

• ·         Ditmars, Jane W., and Bethlehem, PA. Adult Literacy Div. Northampton Community Coll. A Field Guide For Literacy: Life Skills And Literacy For Adult Beginning Readers And ESL Students. Manual For Teachers And Tutors. n.p.: 1993. ERIC. Web. 4 Nov. 2012.

This article is a manual that provides specific lesson plans for teaching life skills and literacy to adult beginning readers and ESL students. It includes four curricular sections: Focus on Language Arts, Focus on Life Skills and Literacy, Focus on Holidays and Observances and Focus on Survival Math.

• ·         Rabideau, Dan, Washington, DC. National Clearinghouse on Literacy Education, and Washington, DC. Adjunct ERIC Clearinghouse on Literacy Education for Limited-English-Proficient Adults. Integrating Reading And Writing Into Adult ESL Instruction. ERIC Digest. n.p.: 1993. ERIC. Web. 4 Nov. 2012.

This article contains some of the major reading and writing practices currently in use in adult ESL programs. It describes the reading activities for such learners are similar to those used in adult basic education classes. At the beginning level, students dictate stories to the teacher or give an oral account of an experience, etc.