English
as a Second Language (ESL) classes face various problems or dilemmas with the
increasing number of adult immigrants, which operate as influential factors on
their second language learning in the U.S. and Canada. Those challenges range
from cultural misconceptions about the adult immigrants’ quality of mental
health and characteristics, the change of personal and social identity to
misunderstanding about their learning habits to all the misconceptions about
literacy and language diversity in the new world to aging as an immigrant. As
Weinstein-Shr (1993) argued, there is little or no ground for the belief that
elderly immigrants are incapable of becoming literate unless there have
negative attitudes towards educators, or the elders do not make the efforts.
Therefore, the ESL instructors must conduct the needs-analysis before teaching
the learners and help the elderly immigrant learners to manage their problems
related to misconceptions about literacy as well as their social adjustments. That
is, the ESL instructors are expected to consider the needs and resources (i.e.,
dealing with day-to-day life and issues about their changing roles in family
and society) brought to the class by the elderly immigrants. Furthermore, these
attempts by the instructors should be accelerated by the efforts of the ESL
program itself such as providing the optimum physical setting for learning.
There
can be an effective cure in the ESL classroom for the adult immigrants’
undesirable learning habits that are misunderstood as learning disability as
well as the real case of learning disabilities. It should be the first step for
the ESL teachers to obtain and examine sufficient amount of information on the
adult immigrant students’ prior learning experiences. And once the students are
categorized as the case of learning disability, the ESL teachers should
consider following guidelines proposed by Schwarz and Terrill (2000): In order
to guide and help the adult learners with learning disabilities, the
instructions should be highly structured and predictable. Furthermore, the
instructions need to use several senses or multiple
intelligences (i.e., visual, special, kinesthetic,
musical, logical-mathematical intelligences) and make concepts or content
comprehensible through using various graphic organizers. One of the critical
roles of the instructor is to know that the learners with learning disabilities
may have difficulty sorting out or retrieving the information provided to them.
In this sense, especially when it comes to test the adult immigrants with
learning abilities in the class, accommodations such as reading and writing,
extended time or large print should be taken into consideration (Burns, 1998,
as cited in Kunnan, 2001).
The
myriad needs that the adult immigrants bring to the ESL classroom can be the
critical foundation on which the instructors build up a safe and promoting
learning setting for them, and this would eventually promise the improved face
of the societies in the U.S. and Canada consisting of millions of immigrants. Yes,
we the ESL educators are supposed to be like latitudinarians when it comes to dealing with various cultures in
class! In this respect, before judging the adult immigrants’ language learning
ability based on the smattering of
their hidden factors, I hope the ESL educators always make sure to realize
“individual self-worth, dignity, and respect for the limited English proficient
students” (Woolley, Gill, McDonald, Van Camp, & Sisco, 1999, p.5). That
way, adult immigrants would be able to find their time in the ESL classrooms jammy and happy!
Expressions
multiple intelligences:
(noun) The theory of multiple intelligences was developed in 1983 by Dr. Howard
Gardner, professor of education at Harvard University. It suggests that the
traditional notion of intelligence, based on I.Q. testing, is far too limited.
Instead, Dr. Gardner proposes eight different intelligences to account for a
broader range of human potential in children and adults. These intelligences
are as follows:
Linguistic
intelligence (“word smart”)
Logical-mathematical
intelligence (“number/reasoning smart”)
Spatial
intelligence (“picture smart”)
Bodily-Kinesthetic
intelligence (“body smart”)
Musical
intelligence (“music smart”)
Interpersonal
intelligence (“people smart”)
Intrapersonal
intelligence (“self smart”)
Naturalist
intelligence (“nature smart”)
kinesthetic:
(adjective) Also called “tactile learning”. This is a learning style in which
learning takes place by the students carrying out physical activities, rather
than listening to a lecture or watching demonstrations
latitudinarian:
(noun = adjective) This expression originates from allowing latitude in
religion; showing no preference among varying creeds and forms of worship
smattering:
(noun = adjective): slight superficial knowledge of a language or subject
jammy:
(adjective) pleasant, comfortable, easy
References
Kunnan,
A. J. (2001). Test accommodation for test
taker with disabilities.
Report submitted to the University of Cambridge Local Examinations
Syndicate, Cambridge, U.K.
Schwarz,
R., & Terrill, L. (2000). ESL
instruction and adults with learning disabilities (Research Report No.
EDO-LE-00-01). Washington, DC: National Clearinghouse for ESL Literacy
Education. (ERIC Document Reproductio Service No. ED 443298)
Weinstein-Shr,
G. (1993). Growing old in America:
Learning English literacy in the later years (Research Report No.
EDO-LE-93-08). Washington, DC: National Clearinghouse for ESL Literacy
Education. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 367197)
Woolley,
W. M., Gill, R., McDonald, P., Van Camp, B., & Sisco. (1999). Immigration stress: Families in crisis (research
Report No. EDO-UD-028-602)
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