What instructional practices best meet the needs of literacy-level adult English language learners?
Some teachers—especially those new to teaching adult English language learners—express concern about teaching learners who aren’t literate in their native language or never went to school. In many ways, this concern is unwarranted. Having or not having had access to formal education does not correlate to cognitive functioning, interest, and energy. Most literacy-level learners will need explicit instruction in basic literacy skills (e.g., phonological processing, vocabulary development, syntactical processing). However, these learners bring an array of lifeskills knowledge (often including some oral proficiency and knowledge of American culture) problem-solving skills, and enthusiasm to the process. Some confusion also lies with deciding who the literacy-level learners are. Some educators and texts talk about low-level literacy students or use the term illiterates when talking about adult immigrants who can not read or write. The first term, while descriptive, has a mildly negative con
