Educational Background

Learners' language proficiency and literacy are often linked with their educational experiences in the following ways:

• Learners with limited or no literacy in their first language have probably had little or no experience with formal education. They may not be accustomed to sitting at desks for long periods of time, listening to a teacher, interacting with other adults as fellow learners, getting information from print, and studying outside of class. Their educational experience may have involved watching and learning from others. Therefore, their learning will be different from that of learners who have had more experience with formal education. Literacy instruction with these learners is more likely to be successful when they believe it is relevant to their lives and they feel comfortable in the instructional setting (Hardman, 1999; Klassen & Burnaby, 1993).
• Learners who are highly literate in their first language are more likely to have had formal education in that language, but their prior educational experiences may differ from those they have in the United States (Constantino, 1995; Tse, 1996a, 1996b). They may come to classes in the United States expecting a great deal of direct teaching and traditional approaches to learning, such as memorizing vocabulary lists and doing mechanical exercises. They may also tend to focus more on reading accuracy than on fluency. To improve their reading fluency and increase their exposure to English vocabulary, they may benefit from pleasure reading of texts appropriate to their reading proficiency level (texts in which they can read approximately 95 percent of the words) (Cho & Krashen, 1994; Coady, 1997; Laufer, 1997; Sökmen, 1997; Tse, 1996a, 1996b).

Second-Language Proficiency

Adult English language learners have varying levels of proficiency in English, which may influence their reading speed and comprehension (Tan, Moore, Dixon, & Nicholson, 1994). Studies suggest that learners need some level of proficiency in the second language to read effectively in the language (Alderson, 1984; Carrell, 1991; Tan, et al., 1994). It is as yet unclear how much of a grammar and discourse foundation is needed before one can read effectively. It seems, however, that the amount of foundation needed will vary, depending on the students themselves (Grabe & Stoller, 2002).

Goals for Learning English

Adults learning English have different needs for literacy. Some of the most common are to be successful at work, participate in their children's education, achieve U.S. citizenship, participate in community activities in English, and pursue further education (Marshall, 2002).