--- Forwarded Message from Pete Smith <[log in to unmask]> --- >User-Agent: Microsoft-Entourage/10.1.1.2418 >Date: Tue, 07 Dec 2004 11:09:02 -0600 >Subject: Re: #7726.1 ESL for literacy (!) >From: Pete Smith <[log in to unmask]> >To: Language Learning and Technology International Information Forum <[log in to unmask]> >In-Reply-To: <[log in to unmask]> It was great to see the question and Nina's post on ESL/literacy. I'll follow up on Nina's answer...just the the old days, eh, Nina? The research results in the Lightbown work parallel years of anecdotal evidence from non-profit agencies in supplying audiotape materials to students with learning challenges (physical and/or learning differences). I have spent ten years associated with Reading & Radio Resource (formerly North Texas Taping and Radio for the Blind), a non-profit that supplies audio versions of school textbooks and literature to students--we estimate that 100,000 schoolchildren in Texas hear our volunteers' voices annually, reading everything from children's literature (the Bluebonnet winners, of course!) to 12th grade Biochemistry textbooks (the Texas editions of all state-adopted books). If a child faces a learning challenge, a teacher/administrator/ parent need only contact the agency and materials are read and provided in either cassette or MP3 format. You haven't lived until you've seen a group of dedicated volunteers read 1100 pages of Biochemistry! Here's the ESL link: under the Chaffee Amendment (which eases non-profit services such as these to the learning challenged), LEP students qualify (until graduation from secondary school). Although 80% of R&RR's listeners face a learning disability (ADD, dyslexia, etc.), ESL learners are a growing audience. The ability to simultaneously read/listen to school materials, according to years of anecdotal evidence, improves school performance and lowers failure/drop-out rates among the listening groups. This agency has been reading since 1969, and accumulated more than 100,000 hours of audio, with more titles being read yearly as new titles and textbook editions come onto the scene. I would be delighted to tell interested folks about R&RR off-list, and am off to re-read the chapter that Nina cited. Best wishes to you all from Texas, Pete -- Dr. Pete Smith Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs University of Texas at Arlington [log in to unmask] *********************************************** LLTI is a service of IALLT, the International Association for Language Learning, and The Consortium for Language Teaching and Learning (http://consortium.dartmouth.edu). Join IALLT at http://iallt.org. Otmar Foelsche, LLTI-Editor ([log in to unmask]) ***********************************************