Literacy Links

Special Populations

Reflections on Research:
Special Populations in Adult Literacy and ESL

by Ralf St.Clair, Ph.D., Research Associate
Texas Center for Adult Literacy and Learning
Texas A&M University

The aim of this column is to provide a starting point for going more deeply into the issues raised in this issue's articles. If you are interested in learning more about the research lying behind practice, I hope this brief overview will give you some ideas.

Diversity of learners and a wide variety of program models have always been part of adult literacy and ESL education. However, the acknowledgement of diversity in adult education all too often failed to translate into diverse forms of provision until the last few years when tailoring provision for special populations became increasingly important. The first factor influencing this development was stronger links between funding accountability, both at the state and federal level. When trying to predict the effects of programs as closely as possible, it makes sense to identify target learners specifically. A second factor is the increasingly systematic nature of adult education provision - as a system grows and becomes stronger it tends to identify a set of norms. At this point, people who do not fit the norms become special populations. Finally, emphasis on special populations has become a way to open up discussion on teaching and learning, and how to best serve marginalized individuals. A positive aspect of the growing interest in special populations is the recognition that not all learners are the same and that they need appropriate provision. Programs for special populations provide an opportunity to focus teaching on the specific needs of one group of people. This allows instructors to be prepared, and the best resources collected, for that learner population. On a cautionary note, providing effective service to special populations requires that policymakers and funding agencies recognize different measures of efficiency and effect with different learners. Some people may never show increases on standardized tests because they find tests difficult to complete. Other learners will not complete programs due to seasonal work opportunities or family commitments. It is important not to overlook the value programs can provide to these learners even if it cannot be captured in measures of retention, grade point advancement, or GED attainment.

There are very many special populations in adult literacy and ESL, including migrant workers, underemployed workers, TANF recipients, homeless people, and incarcerated individuals. Here I have only enough room to provide background on adults with learning disabilities, based on resources obtainable from the Texas Adult Literacy Clearinghouse or from the Web. By examining the research on this population we can get an idea of how the adult literacy and ESL field is approaching the issue, and also what gaps exist. A quick ERIC search at http://www.eduref.org/ turns up a fair amount of materials on this topic - 327 articles and books. The ones I have selected to write about are significant contributions with implications practitioners could find interesting.

A good starting point for information on adult learning disabilities is the ERIC digest "Adults with learning disabilities" (Kerka, 1998). Here it is estimated that 5-20% of the population may have some form of learning disability. The key steps to dealing with a disability of this type are for the learner to recognize the situation and determine what changes in the educational process will be most helpful. It is important for educators to acknowledge the emotional dimensions of living with a learning disability, both as a result of discrimination and the potential for individuals to behave or speak inappropriately.

The most comprehensive resource on adult learning disabilities is "Bridges to Practice" (National Adult Literacy and Learning Disabilities Center, 1999), a large multi-volume set of books and videos. The section on understanding learning disabilities is well referenced but short, and the definition of learning disabilities begins "a general term that refers to a heterogeneous group of disorders manifested by significant difficulties in the acquisition and use of listening, speaking, reading, writing, reasoning or mathematical abilities (p.12)." The examples of characteristics of people with learning difficulties may not be very useful to a practitioner, since many of them reflect the traits of almost all adult literacy learners. "Bridges to Practice" also argues that all learners should be viewed as highly probable to have a learning disability. I am concerned that such an approach can lead to the assumption that literacy difficulties must always have a cause within the individual learner, whereas many social and environmental factors can be more significant.

An older, but interesting and inspiring, resource is "If only I could read, write, spell" (White, 1995). This short book describes an action research project conducted by a group of instructors who were concerned about the difficulty some learners experienced in the adult literacy classroom. Practical strategies for assessment of learners and development of teaching strategies make up the majority of the publication. More recently, the article "The challenge of adult literacy" (Skinner, Gillespie, & Balkam, 2000) outlined a program designed to assist learners with disabilities. In this case, the whole curriculum was changed to allow people with mild to moderate disabilities to work alongside learners without diagnosed disabilities. Interestingly, the instructors involved felt that the change benefited all learners by making the program more hands-on and adaptable.

One recent article "Adults with learning disabilities" (Corley & Taymans, 2001) summarizes a great deal of current research on the issue, and suggests that one important dimension of working with this special population should be efforts to encourage learners to develop self-determination. The article lists a number of specific strategies to use, and should be of interest in programs where literacy runs alongside employment or lifeskills training. The authors link learning disabilities with other forms of disability, such as physical disabilities, which have long had self-determination as one of the goals of intervention.

ESL instructors will find the ERIC digest on "ESL instruction and adults with learning disabilities" (Schwarz & Terrill, 2000) informative. The authors point out that it is possible for a learning disability to turn up only in second language instruction because the learner knows how to get around it in their first language. For example, the symbol-sound relationship is far more predictable in Spanish than English, meaning that it is harder to deduce the correct word in English. However, it is also made clear that there are many other factors affecting the learner's ability to learn English - including the stress of immigration, lack of practice outside the classroom, and perhaps limited academic comfort in the first language.

Surveying the research suggests that there is indeed a need to engage with issues of learning disability in the adult literacy and ESL classroom. What is less clear is the nature of learning disabilities, including the very basic question of what actually counts as a learning disability and what counts, for example, as an individual trait. How potential learning disabilities interact with social and community factors is also unexplored. Finally, while some sources I have listed provide suggestions for ways instructors can address the issues in the classroom, there remains the problem that unless the organization recognizes learning disabilities, or the issues of any special population, the resources needed to make a difference may simply not be there.

The notion of special populations remains, it seems to me, a two-edged sword. It can help to make educational provision work for people previously badly served, but if this comes at the cost of defining people as different from a mythical "normal" it may be too much of a price to pay.

References

Corley, M. A., & Taymans, J. M. (2001). Adults with learning disabilities. Canadian Journal for the Study of Adult Education, 15(2), 149-167.

Kerka, S. (1998). Adults with learning disabilities. Columbus, OH: Eric Clearinghouse on Adult, Career, and Vocational Education. [Available free from the Clearinghouse]

National Adult Literacy and Learning Disabilities Center. (1999). Bridges to practice: A research-based guide for literacy practitioners serving adults with learning disabilities. Washington, DC: National Institute for Literacy. [Available on loan from the Clearinghouse]

Schwarz, R., & Terrill, L. (2000). ESL instruction and adults with learning disabilities. Columbus, OH: ERIC Digest ED443298. [Available free from the Clearinghouse]

Skinner, L., Gillespie, P., & Balkam, L. (2000). The challenge of adult literacy: Students with learning disabilities in the ABE classroom. Adult Basic Education, 10(3), 147-166.

White, C. (Ed.). (1995). If only I could read, write, spell: Identifying and helping adults who find learning difficult. Knoxville, TN: University of Tennessee. [Available on loan from the Clearinghouse]

About the Author

Ralf St.Clair is a Research Associate with the Texas Center for Adult Literacy and Learning (TCALL) and Assistant Professor of Adult Education at A&M. Born in Glasgow, Scotland, he has been working in adult education for almost twenty years. Ralf received his doctorate from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. One of his favorite education memories is when a youth group he was working with in Winnipeg hid his white car in a snow bank. Ralf and partner Jenny believe that the most effective teacher they have ever met is their 11 month old son Grant.