Hi group members,
In the discussion strand labeled "Points of Discussion for Questions of Learning Disabilities in Corrections Classrooms," we have started talking about adult English language learners who might show characteristics of Learning Disability. Subject Matter Expert, Miriam Burt, and I have begun to talk about planning a unique joint discussion on ELL and LD. If you find this an interesting topic for a discussion between our two COP groups, please share your opinions by commenting to this message.
When I read the news release below, today, I knew I had to post it for your information. It was written by the Educational Testing Service and can be accessed in full at:
Rochelle Kenyon, SME
PRINCETON, N.J., Dec. 4, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- As the English-learner population continues to increase in number and diversity in the U.S., the challenge and importance of assessing all students, including students with disabilities, increases as well. A new white paper from Educational Testing Service (ETS) explores issues of accessibility for English learners with disabilities, including test design, delivery, uses in high-stakes accountability and the need for additional research.
Conceptualizing Accessibility for English Language Proficiency Assessments was written by Danielle Guzman-Orth and Cara Laitusis of ETS, in collaboration with Martha Thurlow and Laurene Christensen of the National Center on Educational Outcomes (NCEO) at the University of Minnesota.
"Assessing English-language proficiency (ELP) is a complicated task given the heterogeneity of that population," says Stephen Lazer, Vice President of Student and Teacher Assessments at ETS. "This white paper discusses these issues and research considerations to improve the ELP testing experience for all users."
Nearly every state in the United States has felt the impact of the increasing numbers of English learners (ELs). In 2010, nearly 10 percent of students attending elementary and secondary schools in the U.S. were ELs. In that same year, the number of ELs with disabilities served through an individualized education program ranged from 0 percent in some states up to 31 percent.
The paper is particularly timely given the current mandates from the U.S. Department of Education that explicitly require that ELs with disabilities be included in the general or alternate ELP assessments without exception.
The authors note that attention to accessibility at the early stages of test development and throughout that process can help minimize the effects of construct-irrelevant variance. In their review of current test accessibility and accommodations practice, they identify challenges common to both computer- and paper-based testing; assessing first-time and young test takers; and assessing English learners with disabilities. Specifically, they reference disabilities such as visual and hearing impairments; speech/language impairment; learning disability; autism spectrum disorder; and intellectual disability.
Under the broad category of technology innovations and accessibility, the authors reference the challenges of young test takers and technology novices; handwriting versus keyboarding skills; and computer access and familiarity. They also discuss how administering assessments by computer can provide opportunities for a more standardized approach to delivering student accommodations.
"Accessibility is for all test takers," says Guzman-Orth, Associate Research Scientist at ETS. "Many of the challenges discussed in this paper apply to ELs with disabilities, as well as the entire range of the K–12 EL population. Students taking ELP assessments can be young kindergarteners or late-arrivals with limited formal educational experiences, so there is a need to broaden the definition of accessibility to include young and first-time test takers including technology novices. And, because of the heterogeneity of this EL population, including ELs with disabilities, it is very important to pay thoughtful attention to defining the construct the assessment is intended to measure and the purposes that the scores are to be used for."
"We're seeing the diverse population of English learners increasingly includes those who have disabilities," adds Thurlow, NCEO Director. "Ensuring appropriate access and accommodations for these students is critical to obtaining valid assessment results." Christensen, Research Associate at NCEO, says "our paper endorses taking an individualized approach to addressing the diverse needs of students taking an ELP assessment."
"In our paper, we also raise the need to reconcile the tension between assessment innovations to better measure ELP and the need to be accessible for a wide range of test takers, as required for federal accountability purposes," explains Laitusis, a Research Director at ETS. "These innovations must include accessibility and accommodations experts from the beginning to identify the challenges and paths to resolution to ensure the assessment innovation can be accessible to all students."
Comments
Hi group members,
I have had several messages to my personal email address from COP group members commenting on how interesting the topic of Learning Disabilities and Adult English Learners was to them.
Miriam Burt, SME for the Adult English Language group and I have started talking about planning such a group discussion, possibly with a webinar. If you think this would interest you and your colleagues, please tell us so by responding to this message with your comment. You can include specific questions you would like to see addressed within this overall topic. Also, if you have suggested speakers, please respond with those as well.
Thanks, in advance, to those that post responses.
Rochelle Kenyon, SME
We would be interested in this type of group. We have refugees who struggle with memory and other comprehension issues. We are not sure if it is a cultural issue, a trauma issue or if there is some sort of LD. We are looking for techniques to try and assist the students.
I suspect that perhaps all three of the reasons listed above may be contributing to learners having issues with memory and comprehension.In addition, it might also be that the refugees come from a culture where the written word is not so paramount and people don't rely it so completely.
A brief published by CAL several years ago, says this:
"Before testing and labeling an adult ESL student as learning disabled, other reasons for lack of expected progress should be considered. Educators have noted the following reasons for slow progress in learning English:
To find out more on this topic, see ESL Instruction and Adults With Learning Disabilities, Robin Schwarz, Lynda Terrill, June 2000, http://www.cal.org/adultesl/resources/digests/esl-instruction-and-adults-with-learning-disabilities.php
Yes, it's almost 15 years old. I know there must be more recent articles writtten. Can anyone weight in?
Thanks.
Miriam Burt
SME, Adult ELL CoP
If students are having problems with memory, it may be useful to work on strengthening memory capacity in L2. It's widely accepted that working memory (WM) is taxed in a second language. For example, if I give a 7-digit phone number to an English speaker, they'll likely repeat it just for accuracy. A second language speaker, especially at lower proficiency levels, will typically recall only the first or second, and maybe the last, digit. I work with my students to increase their ability to remember numbers, phrases, and sentences. For example, we do "running dictations." In this activity, a paragraph is taped to the far end of the classroom. Students have to "run" to the paper, remember what they can, run back to their desk and write it down. I also do this as a relay where teammates have to check what is written as they go along.
There is a lot of research on this topic, and even current research. Here's a fairly recent study I found when simply using Google Scholar: Alan Juffs and Michael Harrington (2011). Aspects of working memory in L2 learning. Language Teaching, 44, pp 137-166. doi:10.1017/S0261444810000509. There are also studies that show that problems with L2/WM appear to interfere with comprehension in L2 as well. (I haven't read this article, but the abstract sounds like it may fit in this category: Rai, M. K., Loschky, L. C., Harris, R. J., Peck, N. R. and Cook, L. G. (2011), Effects of Stress and Working Memory Capacity on Foreign Language Readers’ Inferential Processing During Comprehension. Language Learning, 61: 187–218. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9922.2010.00592.x)
All that to say, I'd be very hesitant to have my students go to a diagnostician for evaluation based on memory and comprehension problems because they may be just part of the SLA process for adults.
Peace,
Glenda
I also think that it's just a good idea to tackle these things constructively with or without a formal evaluation, which is a process with unpredictable baggage of its own. I suspect that many activities and exercises build working memory as a "side effect" and that it's worth dealing with it head-on (tho' not removing meaningful context).
As one of those people who doesn't like to stay in her seat, I want to be in your class :)
Hi Alies,
You have raised some critical issues with your comments on memory & comprehension, trauma, culture, or LD. These would be important points to include in a future discussion on Adult English learners and Learning Disabilities.
Can any group members speak to Alies' point?
Rochelle Kenyon, SME
Hello All
I would like to add my voice to this interesting discussion. I am a first year doctoral student and adult ed instructor who works with pre- and low-literate adult English language learners. I hope to add to what has been said so far in this thread. Please bear with me as I try to present some ideas. Forgive me for including so many citations, but I want to be sure to credit the sources. Maybe they will be of interest to someone.
I think it is critically important to consider learners’ L1 literacy backgrounds in any ELL-LD discussion. I have been doing some work on literacy, with a focus on alphabetic literacy and the transfer of L1 literacy skills (or lack there-of) to L2 learning. I echo the need to include Robin Schwarz in this discussion as she has been a pioneer in this area. Her chapter in the Learning to Achieve publication is worth mentioning here. I would also like to mention the work of Tarone, Bigelow, and Hansen (2009, University of Minnesota), and their work on assessing low literate adult L2 learners.
Drawing on this small but growing body of research, it is becoming apparent that what surfaces as LD in low-literate English language learners may well be lack of alphabetic print skills in the L1. In areas such as spelling, word attack (phonics), word recognition, or reading comprehension, if a learner lacks basic print literacy skills in the L1, specifically alphabetic print skills, then there is no visio-graphic knowledge to transfer to L2 learning. On the surface it looks like the person can’t spell or read or remember anything. Note that working memory is also effected by grapheme-morpheme connections (Castro-Caldas, Reis, & Guerreiro, 1997). Non, pre, and low-literate learners lack or have weak symbol-sound correspondence awareness; additionally, they may not have participated in the social practice of literacy. By some estimates, it can take years to acquire literacy (e.g., Koda, 1999). It is worth noting that we really have no idea about the rate at which these adult L2 learners acquire literacy skills.
Some scholars (Walter, 2008; Young-Scholten, 2002; Young-Scholten & Langer, in-press) have emphasized the need to first acquire L2 oral- aural skills before moving to literacy instruction. In natural (child, first) language acquisition, speaking and listening skills are learned first, reading and writing are taught after the child has acquired the sound system of the language. This has huge pedagogical implications in that we cannot assume reading and writing skills will naturally progress for this learner population. In other words, they learn differently. Herein lies what I see as a possible connection to special education in that we can turn to its instructional methods and strategies for ideas.
I’m making a long-winded statement that can be summed up like this: what we see on the surface with adult ELLs could be the absence of L1 literacy skills. It is critically important that we consider adult ELLs’ literacy backgrounds when assessing their performance. Rather than disability, what we experience with learners could be lack of knowledge about language, how language is represented by symbols, a meta-awareness of one’s own language, and the purposes of text in the learning process. It is important to note that lack of knowledge means not yet learned rather than unlearnable.
I come back to Robin Schwarz’ work in that there are many things to rule out before coming to the conclusion what we observe in the classroom might be LD. Along with L1 literacy, issues to consider are vision or hearing problems, trauma, general health, cross-cultural issues, age, etc., all previously mentioned in this thread. I don’t mean to imply that anyone here is making the leap to LD; but, rather, that when we connect the topics of adult ELLs and LD there is much to consider.
Thank you for the opportunity to contribute to this important discussion.
Hello Susan,
Thank you for contributing to this conversation. I especially appreciate your citations of interesting research in this field, The ideas you presented about L1 literacy skills help shed light on the difficulties of trying to identify whether English language learners could possibly be considered at risk for LD.
I would love to have Dr. Robin Lovrien respond to this thread. I will email her with the invitation today.
Do you have any others suggestions of possible guest speakers or experts who might present a webinar on this topic, Susan?
Thanks very much,
Rochelle Kenyon, SME
Hi Rochelle and all
I know the following have done research with pre- or low-literate adult ELLs, although they do not connect the topics of ELLs - LD in their work: Elaine Tarone, Martha Bigelow, and Kit Hansen from University of Minnesota; Martha Young-Scholten from Newcastle University in England; Kristen Perry from University of Kentucky. This list is not exhaustive, just the work I am familiar with.
I believe any of these scholars could shed more light on why language production of pre- or low-literate adult ELLs might display characteristics of LD on the surface, and perhaps help us better understand the SLA process of this population. However, I don't want to derail the discussion about LD.
Another scholar whose work focuses on adults with LD (though not specifically adult ELLs) is Dr. Paul Gerber from Virginia Commonwealth University. He also contributed a chapter to the L2A publication I mentioned above. He is an expert in the field of LD across the lifespan and his work helps put into perspective the need for self-advocacy skills in adulthood. Additionally he reminds us that LD is not a legally defined disability in many parts of the world. I think this is most applicable to adult ELLs.
From my humble, student perspective, the topic of adult ELLs and LD connects the fields of SLA, literacy, and special education. I think it is a worthy topic to explore in this forum for many reasons, one of which is the pedagogical implications. We are always looking for ideas from the field on what works and best-practices in adult TESOL. I see the need to develop a different set of best-practices for the adult ELL population discussed here. This need is the current focus of a project called EU Speak that Martha Young-Scholten (and others) are involved in. http://research.ncl.ac.uk/eu-speak/
Anyway, thanks for the opportunity to contribute what I can. Susan
We've been grappling with these issues here and have found Robin Lovrien's work to be helpful in thinking about numerous reasons adult ELLs struggle to acquire an L2. Researchers like Martha Young-Scholten among many others (including Patsy Vinogradov, Martha Bigelow, Heide Spruck Wrigley and Larry Condeli in the U.S.) have been bringing to light the effect of limited L1 literacy on second language and literacy acquisition. You can find more of their work in proceedings published each year by LESLLA at www.leslla.org. Jeanne Kurvers and Ineke van de Craats have looked at working memory and L2 vocabulary in LESLLA learners. Two of our instructors at the Calgary Immigrant Women's Association are currently working on an action research project to determine what types of classroom practice, grounded in a broad spectrum of research (LESLLA, LD, emergent literacy in children) best support the learners who seem to be having the most difficulty. They have implemented strategies from each of these educational fields. Regardless of whether a learner has an LD diagnosis or not, we can draw on research from each of these areas to support our practice.
A resource we've found helpful to think about addressing learning difficulties in adult ELLs is this website by PANDA, disability specialists for Minnesota's ABE: http://mn.abedisabilities.org/panda.
With the Calgary Immigrant Women's Association, I've developed a document for practitioners interested in looking at multiple factors affecting SLA in adults and possible ways to address some of the difficulties. The document is called English Language for Everyone: a Resource Manual for Teachers with Struggling ELLs. You can access the document here: http://www.ciwa-online.com/resources/publications. This document is by no means comprehensive, but offers some considerations for working with diverse learners.
Looking at the contributions of multiple fields while recognizing that adult ELLs are indeed a specific learning demographic has the potential to enrich our field. I look forward to hearing about more of the work that's being done.
Thank you to twall and Susan and others for the kind references to my work. I am deeply gratified that it has been useful--and from the careful and thoughtful discussion going on here, I can see I have been heard! I spoke to yet another group of teachers in Fairfax, Va in mid-November on this very topic. EVERYONE who has the very low literate, the non-literate, and those with severely interrupted literacy struggles to find effective ways to help them learn and searches for answers as to why learning appears to be difficult for so many. Fortunately for me, the answers I would give have already been posted in these wonderful replies. I will second some motions, however.
First, it is just impossible to really know and understand the very deep and far-reaching implications of the adult brain having never been organized by acquisition of some writing system or other. The research I have cited for years, mostly coming out of Europe and S. America, shows so clearly the enormous change the brain undergoes as it acquires literacy and takes on a visual organization. Those never having had that benefit lack it--a simple statement that is HUGE in its implications. I was happy to see that the discussion went quickly to the need for strong oral skills in the new language before attempting to impose literacy on it. Most programs do not take the time to do this, in my experience. While the parallels between first language acquisition and subsequent language acquisition are often downplayed in terms of what to do for second or other language learners, in the case of first-time literacy, the parallels are strong, as one contributor pointed out. We do not ask children to read and write until they are fully competent in their mother tongue.
The lack of visual organization created by learning a language system makes visual processing different for the non-literate. I have seen this first hand over and over and over. A common characteristic, cited in some studies on non-literate peoples in different parts of the world, is that a non-literate has no systematic way of scanning a visual field and does not look for what we would call salient information in the visual image-- an important finding when people in S. Africa, for example, were attempting to figure out how to put pictures and symbols on medication that would mean something to illiterate people there. In ESOL we rely heavily on pictures. Because drawings are so often culturally loaded and difficult to interpret in terms of foreground and background, even publishers of ESL/ESOL texts have recognized that real pictures are far more effective in textbooks and picture dictionaries. For the non-literate in the classroom, initially it should be realia, not even pictures. Students who are sitting in a classroom for the first time need lots of orientation to 2-dimensional, colored photographs to begin to associate them with real items--but first they need to name and be familiar with the real items-- clothing, tools, everyday items we all carry-- before looking at pictures of them.
Many attempts have been made by thousands of teachers to figure out good ways to help students make the biggest leap of all-- recognizing that text has some kind of message for the person looking at it. One of my favorite studies of all time on non-literate refugees was published by LESLLA and was done in Tasmania, now about 10 years ago. The teachers there knew to use photographs and knew to have extremely relevant learning content for their first-time learners. They created a handbook about home-safety, since the community informants and the social workers said this was a huge issue for those who had no idea how to use electric appliance, hot water, running water, etc. The handbook had pictures of people in the community, whom the students knew and recognized easily. The book taught the subject mostly through pictures and sight words- such as "electrocute" (hair dryers in the bathtub.....) . At the end of the year, the students had a LOT more English, knew much more about home safety, and could recognize many things in pictures, but the most important message of the study was the words of one of the students, who, after months and months of study, finally said to his teachers--"Teacher! The words talk to us!" THAT is literacy, folks-- merely recognizing that the scribbles on the page "talk"--have a message we can get if we know the code. But that leap is very difficult for some to make, especially older learners. That is a HUGE reason why some display what twall so politely called similarities to behaviors that people with LD have.
Two more points to make: One is that as far as I know, there is still not even a CLOSE estimate -- much less any norm -- for knowing how long it will take an adult of a given age with no prior literacy and from a given language and cultural background to acquire literacy for the first time and in a language that is new (note all the variables there-- and imagine all the cultures, languages, and ages of learners we are trying to teach...). One huge error many educators and programs make is assuming there IS some reasonable time line. As many of you out there know, as with other things with ESOL learners, some will get it reasonably quickly; others may never get it. And many will make excruciatingly slow progress-- and then may experience a breakthrough of some kind. (BTW, one real help to teachers and students is to find some simple visual ( or maybe tactile) way of recording ANY progress at all....e.g. a glass marker for each vocabulary word learned orally.)
Second, is the issue of LD -- I ask constantly-- (and I will recognize here that with Rochelle having posted the summary of the White Paper coming out of ETS, the issue of accommodation looms) a) what people THINK LD really is, and b) what difference it will make in teaching to label a learner as LD? In 99.9% of the programs and classes, the learner is still going to be sitting there waiting for YOU the teacher to figure out how to help him or her learn. There IS no special ed. in adult education.....is there?? What it comes down to, in some programs that have that luxury, is to segregate the non-literate into their own class where all kinds of approaches and materials can be used freely without worrying that students with some literacy will be bored, and without worrying that the non-literate will be intimidated and shamed when comparing themselves to those who are literate ( see all the wonderful qualitative research in which non-literate adult ELLS were asked how it felt to be in a class with literate learners.....)
Bottom line here is that as in ALL ESL/ESOL teaching, it takes effort, imagination, patience, confidence, willingness to keep trying WITH the learner to find out what DOES work. NO BOOKS are going to be the answer-- and for the non-literate can be quite discouraging. And it is important to be very sure the goals for the learner are SMART-- especially the attainable and realistic part. It is NOT realistic for a non-literate person to learn the whole alphabet in 2 months if the person has no idea what an alphabet is anyway. One teacher in B.C. Canada discovered, after weeks of frustration with a non-literate Afghani woman, that she COULD remember easily the letters of HER NAME-- but not the whole alphabet. Then she learned the letters of her children's names, etc. Another teacher in that same area was stunned to learn that her students (mostly Karen) had no idea what knobs on a stove were-- and could not relate to her lesson on kitchen appliances. Why would they??? They had cooked over wood all their lives. So part of the smart teaching and goal setting involves finding REALLY relevant lessons and materials. One study I cited often in my own doctoral work was from Minnesota-- a qualitative study on why adult ELLS had left their program. One of the primary reasons was that the lessons were not interesting (read: necessary) to them. The examples they gave to the researchers?? Lessons on going to the airport (turns out they were mostly undocumented or refugees-- WHY would they go to the airport to take a plane??) and cooking ( I know any of you who have lived in another country will agree that when in one's own kitchen, one does NOT talk about the foods or utensils in the foreign language....). I exhort teachers all the time-- Do NOT make decisions about what is relevant on behalf of your learners. FIND OUT what they need and want to know in whatever way you can. It may be that the person who seems to remember NOTHING you did in your hard-planned and well-delivered lessons was just not that into whatever the subject matter was-- as one teacher told me when she decided the men in her class weren't that into scrap-booking.....but wonder of wonders! were RIVETED when she took them to the automotive aisles of the local department store....
So, yes-- culture, history, language--mental health-- (can we even imagine what it is like to drown (figuratively and maybe not so figuratively) in a lake of print and text and new everything and then find the strength to go to class where so much more is new? ) and physical health--including vision and hearing!!!!!! -- the differences between the learner's first language and English and the learner's idea of him- or herself as a learner of a new language-- ALL can get significantly in the way of learning, for sure.
I have so many other lessons learned to share-- but this is already a long post. ASK questions--or maybe Rochelle wants to start a discussion group-- or a special thread or something.
I hope this will awaken thoughts in those new to this challenge and refresh those who have heard or read me and are still trying to find a path through the thickets!
Sincerely,
Robin Lovrien (AKA Robin Lovrien Schwarz) Ph.D.
Steuben, ME
Thank you for the post. For those of us, who work with low literate and non-literate ESL learners, there is no such thing as a long post on this topic. I will mention for those who want more insight from Dr. Lovrien on this topic yet don't have the time to read the research, Dr. Lovrien has done some webinars for NAASLN, which are archived and available from their website (NAASLN webinars aren't free, but are reasonably priced.) I "attended" the webinar on "Adult English Language Learners with Limited Print Literacy" and it was well worth it.
I want to respond to a few more of your comments. In particular, I love the reference to there not being any special education in adult education. It is one of the stark realities that with or without an LD diagnosis, students are still there to learn, and that those of us teaching in the classroom have to adapt. A diagnosis might provide guidance in how we adapt.
Another issue that we need to address as educators is that we are often facing tremendous pressure to produce results. My program feels that pressure in the form of NRS progressions, which can lead to a lot of pressure to work on literacy, at least in my state. I love the idea of teaching oral language first, and andragogy indicates adult learners want relevancy in their learning. I think a long term goal needs to be advocacy and lobbying stakeholders nationally that relieves this pressure to teach English literacy quickly and focuses on oral skills first in this population. Sharing existing academic research and promoting new research helps.
Finally, I really like the idea of a separate discussion group or thread on this topic. I was going to give a few reasons, but I'm realizing that my own post is starting to get long.
Thanks for the discussion!
Thank you Karen for pointing the issue of time. It seems that at the national, state, and local levels the focus is on outcomes. And on the unrealistic amount of time any given learners has to satisfy and accomplish those outcomes. Someone with no literacy or very-low-literacy will need an incredible amount of time to succeed and reach those desired outcomes. Someone with a high school education in L1 will move faster. Someone with some college or university degrees will zip through programs. There is a great danger here that programs may start "creaming" in order to get funding. The ones that need the most help will be left out in the cold. And whose outcomes are they anyway? And who is to say which ones are most valuable?
Let's lend our voices for those students and lobby and advocate for them and with them.
Nicole
Yes, Nicole! Thank you for emphasizing the importance of advocacy. We have a moral obligation, in my view, to address the needs of learners who have limited print literacy in any language.
Cheers, Susan
Assessment CoP
Thank you Robin!
Your post is not too long.
I totally agree with Robin's comments. The most important one is perhaps the one about recognizing that print carries meaning. Many struggling learners do not understand that from the start. The other is about relevancy. We have to be concerned about what is important/needed by learners. And I want to add IMMEDIACY. I found this to be crucial to learners when I did a project related to attendance and persistence based on findings by J. Comings. Our learners have very little time in our classes and they want and need to be able to apply what they learn now in their lives.
Nicole
Hi Dr. Robin,
Thanks for accepting my invitation to join in on this discussion strand. It should be very rewarding for you to know that so many colleagues in our field have recommended you and your work to be part of our future guest discussion.
Our group members will all be happy to know that Dr. Robin Lovrien has accepted the invitation to be involved in our future guest panel discussion on this topic.
More information will follow ~
Rochelle Kenyon, SME
Disabilities in Adult Education
Hello Teresa,
Welcome to this discussion and thanks for your comments!
I will add your suggested speakers to our list.
Thanks for recommending the Minnesota ABE Disability Specialists' training website. The following one, "What Adults With Disabilities Wish All Teachers Knew" sounds so interesting to me. The summary is as follows:
This session will give you an opportunity to listen to video-taped testimonials of ABE students with various disabilities. Participants will gain useful information about stroke, TBI, LD, ADHD, common symptoms, resources and instructional strategies to implement in the classroom.
I am going to follow up with the disability specialists from Panda and see whether we can arrange to have this training presented as a webinar for our Disabilities Group.
Thanks for recommending the publications on your Calgary Immigrant Women’s Association website at http://www.ciwa-online.com/resources/publications // I will delve into that site this evening,
I certainly appreciate all the comments being shared by our group members from Disability and English Language.
Rochelle Kenyon, SME
Disabilities in Adult Education
Hi Susan,
You have given me so many more ideas to consider. I am very familiar with Dr. Paul Gerber and have read - and heard him speak about self-advocacy and Success Attributes. I will add your suggested speakers to our list.
I have communicated with Dr. Robin Lovrien and can see that she has already started responded to messages in this discussion strand.
Thank you for sharing the site about EU-Speak 2, Enhancing the Knowledge and Skills of Teachers with Low Educated Immigrated Adults at http://research.ncl.ac.uk/eu-speak/ > I was not familiar with that.
Your contributions to this discussion are much appreciated. Rochelle Kenyon, SME