D: Factors Affecting the Learner's ExperienceThe following is a list of factors that may affect the experience of your learner in your lessons. Consider these as you develop your partnership with the learner. 1. EducationThe education level of your learner will determine, to a degree, the strategies that you will use. If you have a learner who has been successful in formal educational settings and is confident in her abilities, find out how she learned and what ways she learns best. Often, we need to find the skills a learner already possesses that work well in a language learning environment. If the learner has not been to school or was unsuccessful, the best way to teach her is to be open, respectful and minimize the amount of paper you give her. For learners who are not literate in their first language, you will need to use different strategies and cover a lot of preliminary material. You may need to show your learner how to hold a pencil, form letters and the function of lined paper. According to Miriam Burt and Joy Kreeft Peyton7 there are many different types of learners: Preliterates: learners who speak a language
that has no written form. (These are the learners who may not
know that Nonliterates: learners who speak a language that has a written form but have not learned how to read and write. Semiliterate: learners who have had limited access to literacy instruction in their first language. Nonalphabet literate: literate learners from other countries whose languages use a nonalphabetic script (for example, Chinese). Non-Roman alphabet literate: learners who are literate in a non- Roman alphabet (Korean, Greek and Russian). Roman-alphabet literate: learners from other countries who already know the Roman alphabet. 7 Miriam Burt and Joy Kreeft Peyton. (2003). Reading and Adult English Language Learners: The Role of the First Language. In National Centre for ESL Literacy Education and Centre for Applied Linguistics [on-line], Available: cal.org/ncle/digests/reading.htm. [2003, April 15] |