Robb-- sorry you are having difficulty grasping this concept. ?? I said nothing about focusing on phonological awareness to the exclusion of anything.?? In fact, I noted that when ESL instruction is done in traditional ways, phonological awareness is pretty much included/implicit in instruction.?? My issue is that because good ESL methodology is often not used in adult ESOL, these skills are overlooked or under--addressed.?? Furthermore, since a great many adult ESOL learners need to also acquire literacy, it behooves their teachers to know which foundation skills need to be in place for literacy to develop well.? As I noted in other posts, literacy instruction often starts without assuring that these foundation skills are in place.?? 

I find that the importance of this issue-- building the phonological skills of adult learners, especially those with lower levels of education=--is a real blind spot for those who have a narrow ESL focus.? It is because I have had to look at an extremely broad spectrum of research across many fields that the importance of phonological awareness and the result of neglecting it became clear to me.? It certainly is never addressed or brought up in ESL-- which is perhaps why it is new to you.?? 
Robin?? 




 


 

-----Original Message-----
From: Robb Scott <jayhawk76 at yahoo.com>
To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Sent: Wed, 20 Feb 2008 11:55 pm
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 1098] Re: (no subject)










I just wanted to add here two ideas.
First, just because you can describe
a linguistic phenomenon in great detail
does not mean your language learners
would be benefited by focusing attention
on each and every one of those details.
Second, there is research supporting the
view that adult language learning and
child language learning follow very
similar paths and require principally
the same one thing: lots and lots of
comprehensible input. You may be slowing
down the language acquisition process
by emphasizing phonological or phonemic
awareness to the exclusion of content
based experiences. -Robb Scott
--- "Hays, Linda" <Linda.Hays at dese.mo.gov> wrote:


> Sarah,

> 

> 

> I think the software you are talking about is called

> Fast Forward.  You

> can find additional information about it at:  

> 

> 

> Boosting Brain Processing Efficiency For K-12

> Reading Success ...

> <http://www.scilearn.com/> 

> 

> Fast ForWord software from Scientific Learning

> strengthens brain

> processing efficiency for learning and reading

> success. 

> 

> www.scilearn.com/ 

> 

>  

> 

> Linda Hays

> 

>  

> 

> ________________________________

> 

> From: focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov

> [mailto:focusonbasics-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of

> Sarah Beaman-Jones

> Sent: Wednesday, February 20, 2008 2:25 PM

> To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List

> Subject: [FocusOnBasics 1090] Re: (no subject)

> 

>  

> 

> Robin,

> 

> Several years ago when Parents As Teachers focused

> on brain development,

> they talked about windows of opportunity for

> learning.  They stressed

> that although the window is closed, it is possible

> to "shout through the

> window".  During the training I received, it was

> stressed that there is

> always a possibility for learning.

> 

> Regarding the phonemic awareness issue, I read, but

> can not cite, an

> interesting experiment.  The focus of the experiment

> was to train

> Japanese adults to hear the difference between the r

> and l sounds.  The

> process was to use a speaking computer and have the

> sounds drawn out

> very, very slowly.  The concept was that teachers do

> not speak slowly

> enough or consistently enough to have an impact.  [I

> have noticed, for

> example, that some adults who have been to speech

> therapy will say

> 'arah' for r.  We all tend to add a sound to

> consonants.]  The result of

> this experiment was the the subjects were able to

> hear the difference in

> the two sounds and, having heard it, they were able

> to correct their

> pronunciation.

> 

> 

> Sarah Beaman-Jones 

> Literacy Program Director

> 

> LIFT-Missouri

> 815 Olive Street, Suite 22

> St. Louis, Missouri  63101

> 

> 1-800-729-4443 ext. 206

> www.lift-missouri.org

> 

> 

> 

> >

----------------------------------------------------

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> Message sent to rbscott at ksu.edu.




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