Getting in Touch: Goals and Issues

Lucille Fandel

Project HABLE (Hispanic Adults Basic Literacy in English) at El Centro Del, provides basic English literacy classes and basic mathematics to students with limited English skills. The program has four levels of ESL. The experiences of levels one and two are described in this article.

The Participants Level one is composed of people who come to the program with little or no English skills. Participants in level two may have some of the basics but are not yet able to converse or write easily in English. Both groups are Hispanic immigrants, sometimes with little formal education, generally between the ages of 21 and 45. There are many outside demands on the learners as they study English. Most are parents. Some also work outside the home. They may come to class late if the school bus fails to pick up their children or if they have been on an all night shift. They may not come to class at all if the children are home sick or on school vacation or if they are asked to work overtime. They have little time for homework. Nevertheless, the learners are highly motivated.

Two Experiences

What follows are accounts of my efforts to surface participants' goals and issues using two different tools. I do this at the beginning of each new cycle for two reasons: First, as Elsa Auerbach writes, "the essence of a participatory approach is centering instruction around content that is engaging to students. " It is of primary importance to uncover themes and issues as an integral part of classroom interaction. This co-investigation "assures relevance of content, " "shifts the balance of power" toward students gaining more control over their own learning, and, in itself, helps develop "literate" skills. A second important reason for surfacing goals and issues is so that, at the end of the cycle (and at any point during the cycle) I can dialogue with learners about their progress and whether or not the course is meeting their needs.

1. "Mapping Your Neighborhood"
Using "Mapping Your Neighborhood" a tool that I adapted from English At Work: A Tool Kit for Teachers, I ask participants to think about where they most urgently need to be able to use English given the various places where they live, work, recreate, shop, go for services, and visit. (NOTE: With level one students I use their first language to give instructions. ) Using a piece of newsprint and a marker I then model the drawing of pictures of some of the places I go being careful to use examples the learners would be unlikely to copy. I then ask them to work in groups of three to do a composite picture of where they most need English.

I hang the pictures above the blackboard then ask individuals to tell more (in English, if they can) about the needs represented in the pictures. I also record this on newsprint and keep this list on the classroom wall for the duration of the cycle. Periodically, I refer to the list-for example as we move into a new theme--to encourage the sense that the lesson content is relevant to the interests they listed in the beginning of the cycle.

I also refer to the newsprint list at the end of the cycle as part of a mutual evaluation of our accomplishments as well as a reminder of skills yet to learn.

2. Where Do I Want to Go?
Within the HABLE program, each new cycle of classes might find some participants staying on at the same level and some new students joining them. Since some students repeat the class (and since I enjoy trying new things) I have tried a fresh approach to surfacing learners issues and goals. This new tool from the U .K. 's Center for Research into Education of Adults. The Progress Profile 3 includes a "five questions," a progress review, prompt cards, and tutor notes.

The tool, according to its authors,

is designed to help students, tutors and the organization to improve learning and teaching... It offers a framework that will assist students and tutors to plan, organize and monitor the work done. ..The purpose is...two fold. First, students' learning is likely to be more effective if it is based upon their own definition of aims, and progress towards those aims. Second, [organizations] will be better able to evaluate and develop their provision if progress can be monitored within an agreed framework."

The view of literacy on which the tool is based includes the ideas that there are multiple literacies, and that coping in one situation does not necessarily mean that a person is "literate" in other situations, that reading, writing, listening and speaking are all communication skills that involve interaction with spoken and written text, and that many interacting factors affect our ability to communicate.

I have used and adapted, the "Five Questions: "

1. Where do I want to go?
2. What do I need to learn?
3. How am I going to get ther?
4. How far have I got?
5. Where to next?

This tool has served our classes well in various ways:

At the beginning of a cycle...

-to let me know from the beginning of my time with a particular group how participants see their language needs;

-to let participants know that I consider their learning to be their responsibility

- that I expect them to set their own individual language goals; and

- to discover some of their issues around which we can do language work.

At the end or a cycle...

- to help participants look back and assess their own progress and

- to facilitate a conversation between each learner and myself regarding whether they should move on to the next level or not

(Note: If a standardized test was also administered to a student at the end of a cycle we would also talk about these results too .) This would help avert a situation wherein a student felt the teacher had passed them over for "promotion" or pushed them to the next level before they felt ready to move.

Limitations

I did find some limitations to this tool:

- It is difficult for lower level students to understand what they have to do with this tool. This may be due not only to their more limited command of the language but also, in the case of many, to a lack of experience doing this kind of planning exercise. Higher level students have a much easier time with it.

- The process was tedious, especially for lower level students.

- The original material, as I received it, in cluded some samples of goals which could be printed on a series of different index cards to give ideas to those students who needed them. These I adapted to fit what I knew might more likely be goals for a particular group.

- Using these " cards " made the exercise
easier and more satisfying for some. Others didn't need them.

I continue to use this evaluation tool with intermediate level students as it serves well to foster reflection--within teacher and students, informing and involving us all in the learning process.

References

Auerbach, Elsa , "Ways In: Finding Student Themes" in Making Meaning. Making Change: A Guide to Participatory Family Literacy and Adult ESL. (U.Mass Boston, 1990).

Barndt, Deborah, Mary Ellen Belifiore, and Jean Handscombe. English at Work. A Tool Kit for Teachers. (Center for Workforce Education, 1991)

ALBSU Research Project, Progress Profile. (Nottingham, England: Center for Research into Education of Adults, 1990)

Originally published in Adventures in Assessment, Volume 1 (November 1991),
SABES/World Education, Boston, MA, Copyright 2003.

Funding support for the publication of this document on the Web provided in part by the Ohio State Literacy Resource Center as part of the LINCS Assessment Special Collection.