Although the research base is small on adult English language learners (ELLs) who are learning English while also acquiring basic literacy, this research can still guide instructional practices. The essential components of reading skills suggests that the Language Experience Approach has the potential to integrate relevant meaning-focused reading…

Using the language experience approach, the authors adapted a nutrition pamphlet for less skilled adult readers. Comprehensibility and communication effects of this pamphlet were compared to a standard version. Readers were able to comprehend the pamphlet at least as well as the standard version and were more accepting of its message. (Author/CH)

Bilingual Cambodian and Hispanic tutors were trained to teach English to non-English-speaking adults using nondirective methods such as language experience approach, individualized reading, expressive writing, and person-centered counseling. The high degree of personal involvement was the key to meeting learners' affective and social as well as…

This curriculum guide was developed for tutors using the "Challenger Adult Reading Series." The guide is intended to help tutors make the lessons more effective, motivational, and meaningful for students. The guide is based on a five-part lesson plan prescribed by the Computer-Assisted Literacy in Libraries (CALL) program: language…

Techniques for using the whole language approach include read-aloud sessions, student story dictation, practice in using decoding skills, word banks, and exercises that stress the connection between reading and writing. The method considers individual needs and interests, offers relevance, and builds on adults' experiences. (SK)

Too often adult literacy programs seem based on the assumption that, if learners work hard on skills for six months, they will have "acquired" literacy, as though it is a set of skills adults can "get" from a tutor (Kazemek, 1985). One study of 20 adult literacy classes in eight U.S. states found basic (not higher level) skills the predominant…

Reviews basic procedures and theories supporting the Language Experience Approach as it applies to second language learning and literacy instruction. (Author/VWL)

Whole language is an approach to, or attitude toward learning that sees language as a whole entity, and writing, speaking, reading, and listening should be integrated when learned. It is not a teaching method. Each whole language teacher implements the theories of whole language as he or she sees fit for a particular class. Whole language…

This article discusses ways to teach low vision students to read braille, including both parallel instruction (the student learns to read print and braille simultaneously) and nonparallel instruction (the print-reading student learns braille). The following approaches are briefly described: basal reader, language experience, whole language,…

This collection of stories is the result of a publishing project conducted with adult learners in the Reach One Program. The first page describes the steps that led to the finished product: providing a catalyst to stress the value of maintaining a family history; providing activities to stimulate memories of family stories; encouraging prewriting…

If communicative competence is defined by and organized around culturally-framed and linguistically-patterned communicative plans and goals and the linguistic resources of interactive practices, then interaction in the classroom is employed to create social engagement in regularly occurring interactive practices where communicative learning can be…

Problems facing literacy education include how to attract nonEnglish speaking and illiterate adults to the programs and how to reduce attrition and increase motivation for the students who do come to the programs. One method that could help to solve these problems is "community literacy," an approach to learning in which the curriculum…

The Pima County Adult Education project undertook a demonstration project to provide English-as-a-Second Language (ESL) instruction to students with little or few reading skills. The project's objectives were to: enroll at least 20 students; provide 3 hours of literacy instruction weekly for at least 12 weeks in each of 2 sessions; document…

This guide to the instruction of English as a Second Language (ESL) using the Language Experience Approach (LEA) consists of two parts: an instructional guide, to be used as a tool for training instructors to use the LEA approach, and a collection of 30 lessons using stories produced by students and student groups using LEA in ESL classes. The…

The guide introduces literacy education volunteers to the contents and use of the Peace Corps' prepared information packet on native language literacy education (Litpak). Part 1, a guide to the packet, contains two chapters. The first chapter, an introduction to Litpak, outlines the materials' purpose, typical situations in which Peace Corps…