Family Literacy Centers and The Adult English Language Learner Katie Smith University of Colorado at Colorado Springs

Thesis statement Adult ELLs are a growing population in the United States. Family Literacy is recognized as a way to help families of diverse populations learn together and integrate into society. This presentation will discuss the characteristics of the adult ELL and their special needs as well as the different approaches to Family Literacy. Conclusions will be drawn and Implications for Educators discussed.

Statistics 1990-1996: 6.8 million considered Limited English Proficient End of 2000: 17.4 mil 2003-2004: fastest growing segment of adult education programs (Buttaro, 2004) 45% enrolled adults in adult ed attend ESL classes 1.2 million according to the U.S. Dept of Ed. (Mathew-Aydinli, 2008)

Characteristics of the Adult ELL Range in age from 16-90 years Educational backgrounds range from pre-literate to doctorate holders. Literacy in their native language ranges from pre-literate to advanced levels English language needs range from basic survival skills to transitional classes toward higher education 73% of Hispanics speak less than very well and 40% of Asian Americans fall into this same category ( Mathew-Aydinli, 2008)

Family plays a critical role Special Needs Families make the difference (Constantino, 2006) Special Needs Child care Transportation Academic and work counseling Accommodations for work schedules Needs change each year as the population changes. According to Sowa (2004), population rather than content defines adult education

Important Considerations Families length of residence in the US Prior educational experiences Understanding of the variety of family structures Parents are the primary educators of their children Parents must be able to share power, responsibilities and ownership in the way their children are educated. (Tett, 2001)

Barriers to successful partnerships between Adult Ells and Educators Misperceptions between teachers and parents Traditional forms of parent involvement discounted efforts made by 1st generation immigrant parents (Menard-Warwick, 2007) Language barrier Time conflicts Many teacher education programs are monocultural ( Winn-Tutwiler, S.J. 2005) Schools need to know their client base (Davis, 1995)

Family Literacy Centers Traditional Adult ESL “Deficit thinking” Model Created to develop a workforce in order to compete in a global society ( Sowa, 2001) Help those achieve status quo and fulfill expectations of society Designed to ‘fix the non mainstream families to fit into their colonial concept Families trained to change or improve their parenting skills and support school goals (Reyes& Torres, 2005)

Liberatory or Humanist Literacy Based on Paolo Freire’s liberation philosophy Self-transformation and self advocacy Collective action Students become partners in learning Students have a say in what they learn Community Based Organization (CBO) Grassroots organization Serves a particular population or constituency Serves typically hard to reach people and the underserved ( Sowa,2001) Family Literacy programs will be more or less effective to the degree that the participants most pressing concerns are taken into consideration. (Amstutz, 2000)

Case Studies Chang ( 2002) Family Literacy Nights provided a “circle of supporters’ to the 1st generation of Asian Americans. Teacher development prepared them to use the Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences in order to consider the best instructional strategies for their adult students. Macias (2002) Even Start program in a housing project which involved parents learning English, helping their children with their school work and learning how to advocate for themselves when they needed to. Warwick (2002) Adult Ed program in a neighborhood elementary school which provided variety of non-credit classes including ESL Cook-Cottone ( 2004) Family Literacy program that involved mentoring parents, grandparents, and extended family members in order for them to mentor their children

Conclusions and Implications ESL continues to be a growing segment of the Adult education population Family Literacy Centers within Adult Ed programs have seen a shift toward more Community Based Organizations that seek to meet the ELLs where they are and to involve them in their own learning opportunities Communities need to take on more of the responsibility to relieve the schools from their already stretched resources. Schools need to continue to provide professional development for their teachers in order to better serve their diverse populations.

References Amstutz, D.D.(2000) Family literacy: implications for public school practice. Education and Urban Society, 32(2)207-220. Chang, J.M. (2004) Family literacy nights: building the circle of supporters within a beyond school for middle school English language learners. Research on Education, Diversity, & Excellence. University of California at Santa Cruz. Cook-Cottone . C.P. (2004) Constructivism in family literacy practices: parents as mentors. Reading Improvement, 41(4), 208-216. Davis, B. (1995) How to involve parents in a multicultural school. ASCD. Mathew-Aydinli, J. (2008) Overlooked and understudied? A survey of current trends in research on adult English language learners. Adult Education Quarterly, 58(3) 198-213. Menard-Warwick, J. (2007) Biliteracy and schooling in an extended family Nicaraguan immigrant household: the socio-historical construction of parental involvement. Anthropology and Education Quarterly, 38(2)119-138 Reyes, L. V., Torres, M.N.(2007) Decolonizing family literacy in a culture circle: Reinventing the family literacy educator’s role. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 7(1) 73-94. Sowa, P. A. (2001) Teacher educational beliefs and student literacy practices. A case study of a community-based ESL-adult literacy program (Doctoral Dissertation, University of Kansas, 2001). Tett, L. (2001) Parents as problems or parents as people? Parental Involvement programs, school and adult educators. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 20(3) 188-198.