Hello colleagues, I think most members are aware of the international professional organization Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL). TESOL has quite a few different interest groups, and the adult education group has always been the largest of them.
TESOL recently "defined a core set of principles for the exemplary teaching of English learners. The 6 Principles are universal guidelines drawn from decades of research in language pedagogy and language acquisition theory. They are targets for teaching excellence and should undergird any program of English language instruction."
Here's a link to a 4-page quick visual guide on these six principles that includes more details.
It would be great to have a discussion around these six principles. Members, what resonates with you?
Cheers, Susan Finn Miller
Moderator, English Language Acquisition
Comments
Thank you for sharing this Susan. As I read and reread the principles, I thought that with a few tweaks, they would also apply to the ABE/HSE classroom as well. Wonder if anyone else had the same thought.
Hello Di and all, That's an interesting point! I would agree that the basic concepts would apply by broadening beyond language development.
Come to think of it, though, we are focused on more than just language development in ESL, aren't we? Many language learners are enrolled in civics or citizenship classes. Plus there are many language learners in ABE and HSE classes who are learning not only to read and write, but also understand science, social studies and math.
Moreover, we are learning more and more about the effectiveness of contextualized instruction. The effectiveness of the Integrated Education and Training model illustrates that students can accomplish a lot with support. I just had a beginning level student show me a certificate of completion from a 80-hour training in Metal Casing from a local technical school. I'm betting this individual learned a great deal of English during this training-- even though language development was obviously not the main goal of the class.
Would love to hear other members' thoughts!
Cheers, Susan Finn Miller
Moderator, English Language Acquisition