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STUDENT LESSONS
Outreach and Retention in Adult ESL Literacy Programs
by Shirley Brod
Spring Institute for International Studies
Adults learning
English as a second language (ESL) come from different cultures and countries,
vary in their educational backgrounds, and have diverse reasons for learning
English (Valentine, 1990). While reports of overcrowded classrooms and long
waiting lists for classes might indicate that intensive outreach and retention
efforts are not necessary (Chisman, Wrigley, & Ewen, 1993), many successful
programs work hard to enhance outreach and ensure retention. This digest
discusses outreach methods; it examines learners' reasons for enrolling in ESL
classes and for leaving the classes; and it suggests ways to improve retention.
Outreach
A variety of methods exist to attract learners to adult ESL programs. Learners,
the media, program partners, and bilingual support staff can publicize and
promote the program.
Learners
Because satisfied, successful learners who enroll and then re-enroll for
subsequent classes are the best advertisement for a program, established
programs begin recruitment by talking to learners who are signing up for
services to find out who they are, how they learned about the program, and why
they have chosen this program. If the enrollees are returnees, they are asked
why they are re-enrolling.
Adult learners can post flyers in their apartment complexes, neighborhood
markets, churches, and community centers. They can represent their programs in
free or low-cost booths at county fairs, engage in competitions for the number
of learners that one learner can refer to the program, and give testimonials
that the program can use in advertising. These learner promotion efforts can
have a huge impact on enrollment. Eighty to eighty-five percent of the learners
in the Arlington Education and Employment Program (REEP) in Virginia say their
enrollment is due to word of mouth (personal communication, S. Grant, March
1995).
Program partners
Multiple partners in workplace programs, including businesses, unions, chambers
of commerce, and professional organizations, can collaborate with the
educational entity to offer a coherent program. Often companies have budgets to
publicize programs and pay for receptions to celebrate learner progress. Regular
graduation ceremonies, to which former learners, family members, and friends are
invited, can serve to honor the participant and heighten the profile of the
program in the community or at the workplace. Representatives from community
organizations and related service agencies as well as members of the press can
also be invited to these ceremonies.
The media
Radio and cable television stations can advertise the program in English and in
the native language when possible.
Bilingual support staff
Support staff who can talk about the program and answer questions in the native
language of the prospective learners can provide accurate information and put
learners who speak little or no English at ease.
Why Learners Enroll in Adult ESL Classes
Why do learners enroll in ESL classes? A federally-funded study of adult ESL
learners in Iowa (Valentine, 1990) found seven reasons for their participation
in ESL classes including improving oneself and one's personal effectiveness in
U.S. society, being better able to help one's children with their schoolwork and
to speak to their teachers, improving one's employability by being able to get a
better job or to enter job training, functioning better with everyday uses of
the language such as shopping and using the telephone, experiencing the success
of knowing that one can learn the language, improving reading and writing skills
in English, and being able to help people in one's native country.
Why Adult Learners Leave Programs
The curricula of most programs address at least some of the goals listed above.
What keeps learners from staying in these programs? Why do a third of all adult
ESL learners leave their programs by the end of the second month (Development
Associates, 1994)? Bean, Partanen, Wright, and Aaronson's study of attrition in
urban literacy programs (Brod, 1990) categorizes personal and program factors
that mitigate against retention.
-
Personal factors
include low self-esteem coupled with lack of demonstrable progress; daily
pressures from work and home problems of schedule, childcare, and
transportation; lack of support of the native culture and family culture for
education; and the age of the learner.
-
Program factors
include lack of appropriate materials for low-level learners; lack of
opportunity to achieve success; lack of flexibility in class scheduling;
classes so multilevel that those with no literacy skills are mixed with those
quite literate (or those with very high oral skills are mixed with those with
very low oral skills); lack of peer support and reinforcement; and
instructional materials that are not relevant to learners' needs and lives.
Ensuring Retention From the Start
What should programs do to ensure that adult ESL learners persist long enough to
meet their educational goals? Attrition often begins at enrollment. Intake that
is slow, cumbersome, and impersonal, and that may include an intimidating test,
can discourage learners before they begin (Brod, 1990). All staff at the
learning site‹testers, registrars, office personnel, teachers‹need to facilitate
smooth and speedy enrollment, underscore learners' abilities, and show them what
the program can do for them (Silver, 1986). Bilingual intake can accurately
assess learners' wants and needs, uncover impediments to attendance (e.g.,
transportation or childcare), and make registrants comfortable and ready to
return to the learning site for classes.
Setting Realistic Goals and Reporting Progress
Adults learn best and remain in programs longest when they participate in
establishing their own educational goals (Brod, 1990). Learners with minimal
English speaking ability are not likely to graduate into credit ESL or be ready
to take GED classes in a few short weeks or even months. However, learners may
be able to use the telephone to set up an appointment with the dentist, or may
be able to ask directions to the restroom in a shopping mall (and understand the
response). Programs that, at the outset, require the learner and the teacher to
discuss realistic learner goals and to develop a time line for attaining these
goals will be more successful in retaining learners.
After setting goals with the learner, programs need to provide regular feedback
on progress so that the learner continues to perceive goal attainment as
possible. Competency checklists can be used to show learners their progress.
Colorado's competency-based program provides a competency verification process
leading to certificates of achievement at three levels of ESL. Another indicator
of progress is the awarding of certificates. For many learners, even if
significant academic progress has not occurred, receiving certificates for
regular attendance can bolster self-esteem. Providing an audience for this
recognition through ceremonies and potluck dinners with families and friends in
attendance supports learners and makes the adult education program visible to
the community. In any circumstance, measuring and reporting the outcomes of
learning should be done in ways that are relevant and meaningful to the
individual learner.
Using Varied Approaches to Instruction
Adult literacy programs may utilize competency-based instruction, whole
language, language experience, learner writing and publishing, and Freirean or
participatory approaches (Crandall & Peyton, 1993). These approaches often
include peer counseling, cooperative learning, and problem-solving activities
that draw upon the support of peers to foster the socialization so important to
adult learners. Programs that use a variety of strategies and techniques to
address the differing learning styles, previous educational experience, and
multiple skill levels present in most adult ESL classes will have a greater
chance of meeting the educational needs and expectations of the individual
learners within the class (Shank & Terrill, in press).
Service providers face the challenges of identifying and communicating with
potential learners, becoming educated about their cultures, anticipating and
providing for their individual needs, and developing appropriate courses for
them (Vandalov, 1994). A program receiving an influx of soldiers who had been
drivers and mechanics in Iraq might include driver education as part of its
basic curriculum. Similarly, a program with immigrant women from Central America
might choose to include a family literacy component where participants can learn
material relevant to their lives.
Collaborating to Provide Services
For learners in adult basic education, adult secondary education, and ESL
programs, research indicates that long-term persisters are likely to be those
who use support services (Development Associates, 1994). Educational programs
that collaborate with or refer learners to agencies that help with
transportation, childcare, healthcare, employment, and tuition make attending
class more realistic for adult learners. And, in workplace programs, company
management and the direct supervisor can actively encourage attendance by
participating in outreach efforts, scheduling workers so they can attend the
classes, and reinforcing content learned in the classes (Arlington County,
1990).
However, even with a multitude of support services, a variety of approaches and
activities, and frequent benchmarks for success, it is difficult for any one
program to meet all the educational needs of every learner. Formalized
collaboration across programs and agencies may be needed. To support this
collaboration among adult ESL service providers, the U.S. Department of
Education awarded grants to three projects (in Massachusetts, Texas, and
Virginia) to develop replicable models for transitioning ESL adults from one
service provider to another. The Virginia project created a unified system in
which the adult education provider coordinated curricula and services with a
community-based organization, a vocational institute, and an institution of
higher education. Together they provided a wide range of educational services to
learners from native language literacy, to basic survival skills, to preparation
for vocational or academic study (Mansoor & Grant, 1993).
Conclusion
Programs employ multiple strategies to enhance outreach and ensure retention.
Active collaboration among service providers, programmatic attention to the
educational needs of each learner, and involvement of learners at every stage of
the process are necessary in attracting learners to programs and in guaranteeing
that these learners will continue to study until they have met their educational
goals.
References
Arlington County Public Schools. (1990). Recruiting employees
for ESL classes. Arlington, VA: Author. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service
No. ED 326 076)
Brod, S. (1990). Recruiting and retaining language minority
students in adult literacy programs. ERIC Digest. Washington, DC: National
Center for ESL Literacy Education. (EDRS No. ED 321 621)
Chisman, F., Wrigley, H.S., & Ewen, D. (1993). ESL and the
American dream: A report on an investigation of English as a second language
service for adults. Washington, DC: Southport Institute for Policy Analysis.
(EDRS No. ED 373 585)
Crandall, J., & Peyton, J.K. (1993). Approaches to adult ESL
literacy instruction. Washington, DC and McHenry, IL: Center for
Applied Linguistics and Delta Systems. (EDRS No. ED 364 127)
Development Associates. (1994). National evaluation of adult
education programs: Third interim report: Patterns and predictors of client
attendance. Arlington, VA: Author. (EDRS No. ED 369 996)
Mansoor, I., & Grant, S. (1993, October). Building bridges
between programs. WATESOL News , p. 1.
Shank, C. & Terrill, L. (1995). Teaching multilevel adult ESL
classes. ERIC Digest. Washington, DC: National Center for ESL Literacy
Education.
Silver, M. (1986, March). Open enrollment: The professional
management of chaos. Paper presented at the Teachers of English to Speakers
of Other Languages annual convention, Anaheim, CA. (EDRS No. ED 273 095)
Valentine, T. (1990). What motivates non-English-speaking adults
to participate in the federal English-as-a-second-language program. Research
on adult basic education, No. 2.
Vandalov, V. (1994, November). Working with new populations:
Refugee service providers' perspectives. Paper presented at the English
Language Training Consultation of the Office of Refugee Resettlement,
Washington, DC.
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