Through Language to Literacy

Methodology

Introduction

This literacy research project was funded by the Ministry of Education through a grant to the National Association of Home Tutor Schemes Inc., as part of the NZ government's Adult Literacy Strategy. The first objective of the project was to develop measures of literacy gain for adult students with very low levels of literacy and English. It also aimed to identify other factors which impact on learners' progress.

A more general objective of the research was to better understand the educational needs of Non-English Speaking Background (NESB) students at emerging levels of literacy, and determine appropriate methodologies for effective educational provision. The research produced generalised measures of literacy gains, which will be available for use in courses with similar, low literacy level learners. It will also indicate the relationship between classroom testing and students' self-assessment.

Moreover, the research encouraged further development of the curriculum and the provision of on going professional development support of the tutors involved in the project. As a consequence, the findings should inform future teaching practice and course design. An additional outcome will be the establishment of an information base to inform the judgements and decisions of the Ministry of Education regarding policy development and the funding of programmes.

Tests consisting of competency-based tasks linked with the curriculum were developed and administered in August and December 2001. Students also completed three self-assessments and a personal profile. Case studies and classroom observation supplemented the quantitative study. While it is acknowledged that literacy has a much broader definition than just the ability to read and write, the nature of the literacy programme and the time span made it difficult to expand on the narrower definition of literacy. However, other important personal variables were taken into account in the measure of progress, as was the students' starting point in first and second language proficiency on our own literacy measures of those who were undertaking the programme.

Research Questions

The research questions for the project were:

Part A: Personal profiles

Tutors

1. What are the profiles of the tutors involved in the project in terms of:

• age, gender, ethnicity?
• educational and linguistic background?
• socio-economic status and change from country of origin to NZ?
• NZ length of residence and age at time of immigration?
• proficiency in first language, English and other languages?
  

2. Language and educational attitudes.

What beliefs do tutors have about:

• literacy?
• preferred learning styles of students?
• learner characteristics that lead to successful language learning?
• methods of classroom assessment being used in the project and informally?
  

Students

1. What are the ages, countries of origin and gender of current learners?

2. What was the socio-economic background of the learners in the study and what has been their change in status in NZ?

3. What is their educational background?

4. What are their current proficiencies in English and their literacy levels in their first language, compared to English?

5. What are their personal reasons and goals for learning English?

6. What has been the length of residence and what was the age at time of migration to NZ of current learners?

7. What English language provision have current learners experienced in NZ?

8. Do learners have a literate background?

9. Language and social attitudes: how are these perceived by the learners:

• from the host community of their culture, ethnicity and language and
• in terms of their own usefulness in learning English?
  

Part B: Self-assessment

1. What are the English language reading and writing abilities of low-level literacy learners on a range of communicative, authentic literacy tasks when compared between points:

• at the beginning of a period of instruction
• at the mid-point
• at the end of a period of instruction
  

2. Has any comparative gain been made on the self-assessment scale across the period of instruction?

3. What variables have contributed to the greatest degree of perceived gain in a) reading ability and b) writing ability, for example, bilingual tutors, native speaking tutors and intensity of tuition?

Part C: Performance testing

1. How valid is the learners' self-rating of their literacy assessment when actual performance is judged by their tutors?

2. How can language proficiency at low-level and pre-literacy stages be conceptualised so that it may apply to adult learners needing survival and social literacy skills in English in the NZ context?

3. Can low-level English literacy skills be meaningfully assessed and measured in terms of performance on a range of authentic and communicative tasks?

4. Can oral self-assessment of literacy skills be used as a valid alternative to actual performance testing among low-level and pre-literate learners?

The research questions reflect the main focus of this study - the design, development and use of measures of literacy gain among learners who are studying English language literacy skills in order to survive in the NZ context. It is important to acknowledge that the learners involved come from disadvantaged backgrounds with a history of pre- or low-level literacy in their first language. In addition they are highly likely to suffer from anomie, post-traumatic stress syndrome and gender bias in communities where men are more likely to be educated and literate than women.

Research participants

One hundred and eighteen students from refugee and immigrant backgrounds participated in the classes. Sixty-two students completed most aspects of the research except the final writing tests, which 55 students completed. Students were representative of a range of language competencies. Some students were literate in their first language whilst others were pre-literate both in their first language and in English. Thus, the outcomes in terms of progress in literacy and English were expected to be different.

The English classes participating in the project were established in 2001. The students on the programme came from a range of ethnic backgrounds. They were: Somali, Ethiopian, Afghani, Cambodian, Vietnamese, Chinese, Indian, Iraqi or of Macao and Hong Kong origin. Tutoring in these classes was administered and delivered by the West and South Auckland ESOL Home Tutor Schemes. The duration and timing of the classes varied. Some were 12 hours per week whilst others were two hours weekly. The teaching delivery in three of the 12-hour classes and one 2-hour class was bilingual. The remaining four classes were taught by native-English speakers. Two of these were 12-hour classes and the other two were 2-hours each week. All classes ran for 20 weeks during the research and assessment cycle.