This case study investigates a migrant adult's identity work in playful talk occurring spontaneously in a classroom for Literacy Education and Second Language Learning for Adults (LESLLA). Based on 12 hours of video-recorded interactions among four learners and their teacher, I identified five playful episodes. This paper focuses on two episodes…

According to the U.S. Department of Education (2004), more than 40% of approximately three million learners in the federally-funded adult education programs are in the area of English as a second language (ESL). These learners, the majority of whom are immigrants and refugees, represent a huge diversity of cultural backgrounds and nationalities,…

When adult ESL (English as a Second Language) learners enter our classrooms with little or no first language literacy, their instructors teach them to read for the first time in an unfamiliar language. It is a tremendous task, and the context for teaching "adult emergent readers" is complex. This complexity is coupled with a growing, but still…

This study investigated the notions of washback and classroom-based assessment within the context of the "First Certificate of English (FCE)" examination and the students at the British Institute of Florence (BIF). A review of the literature examining classroom-based assessment revealed several limitations in previous research. This…

Interrupted formal education is a barrier that makes learning English as an adult an extremely challenging commitment. Besides the many work and family responsibilities that most adult English as a second language (ESL) learners face, students with interrupted formal education (SIFE) often lack familiarity with school-based skills and typical…

Research is reported that showed phonetic and phonological training to be given peripheral attention or neglected in second language instruction in one geographic area. It is suggested this neglect stems from (1) low teacher and student expectation of success in attaining a native-like accent, and (2) assumptions that a non-native-like accent will…

Examines claims that unconscious second language learning under implicit and incidental conditions is insensitive to measures of individual differences in cognitive abilities, in contrast to learning under conscious rule-search and instructed conditions. Findings revealed that only in the incidental condition was the extent of learning and…

Although video has long been used as a teaching aid in adult literacy and basic education, literacy researchers seem to have ignored the potential benefits of using video as a tool that could add rigour to research. Reporting on their field experiences of an adult literacy learning study in Canada, the authors provide a narrative account of their…

Forty-eight adult learners from three intermediate-level ESL classes participated in a study investigating the effects that differences in learners' out-of-class contact with the second language might have on proficiency. Results indicated that learners' informal contact interacted with differences in instruction to produce variation in…

Classroom observation of three adult English as a second language classes and pre- and post-testing of students for proficiency were used to investigate the relationships between instructional processes and learning outcomes. The observation scheme, Communicative Orientation of Language Teaching, and the various results are described in detail.…