Describe the Program/Site Visited
Advanced Reading is offered by San Bernardino Adult School as English as a Second Language (ESL) program for local adult students to enhance students' vocabularies, comprehension and speed, as well as other reading-related skills. San Bernardino Adult School was established in 1920 as a part of San Bernardino City Unified School District to provide quality, lifelong educational opportunities and support services that address the unique and changing needs of individuals in diverse multicultural community to local students. Shuping Wang is the instructor of this program, who has taught English in this school for seven years since 1997 she got her master degree of Teaching English to Speaker of Other Languages (TESOL) in California State University, San Bernardino. Before that, she had taught English in Taiyuan Technical Secondary School for five years since she got her bachelor degree of English in China.
The English-Language Development (ELD) Levels of Students
The students in this program are at advanced ELD level placed in college reading classes with native. Generally, placement is the result of the placement tests. There are several starting points for students to enter at the right level. The counselor will help students decide on the best class by using their placement results of Nelson-Denny Reading Test or Crafton Hills College Assessment (CHCA) Test, high school or college grades, learning skills, motivation and other factors. Score between 0-34 on the reading portion of CHCA test, or 4th, 5th, 6th grade level on Nelson-Denny Reading Test is placed into Introduction to Reading classes. Score between 35-64 on the reading portion of CHCA test, or 7th, 8th, 9th grade level on Nelson-Denny Reading Test is placed into Intermediate Reading classes. A minimum score of 65 on the reading portion of CHCA test or minimum of 10th grade level on Nelson-Denny Reading Test is placed into Advanced Reading classes.
The counselor can show students the skills needed for each class. Introduction to Reading classes are the first in a sequence of courses that introduc skills of vocabulary development, reading comprehension, phonetic awareness and usage. Practice in reading passages is at a developmental level. Intermediate Reading classes are the second in a sequence of courses that introduc the same skills of "Introduction to Reading", but practice in reading passages is at a intermediate level. Advanced Reading classes are designed to enhance students' reading skills, involving attending lectures and doing in-class assignments. Students must also complete individualized laboratory activities designed to increase vocabularies and comprehension, and based on assessed reading ability.[1]
From Placement to Instruction
Starting at the right class will let students move from class to class successfully and get to the point they need in the shortest amount of time. Teachers can have access to students' Nelson-Denny Reading Test, and use it to modify reading goals, lessons and materials. The post test is a good indicator of a student's reading progress. Teachers can see students' weak points through the performance in different sections of the test and provide well targeted teaching. Teachers put particular emphasis on students' weaknesses by teaching some skills, providing more practice, and suppling more authentic materials, activities and projects. Teachers can also know students' ELD levels according to different levels of classes and make appropriate syllabus.
Curriculum and Instruction
The general ELD curriculums consist of Reading and Study Skills classes and English classes. There are several levels in each kind of these two types of classes. Students start at the right level of classes and move forward to the higher one. Reading and Study Skills classes are classified into three levels: Introduction to Reading, Intermediate Reading and Advanced Reading. English classes involve three levels: Basic English, Preparation for College Writing and Freshman Composition. When students finish Freshman Composition classes, they can get into Advanced Transferable Courses in English which include five levels: Intermediate Composition and Critical Thinking, Intermediate Composition and Literature, Creative Writing, Literary Magazine Production, and Literature. Literature classes are divided into many kinds: Classical Mythology, Children's Literature, Literature by Women, The Film Experience, Literature and Religion of the Bible, Fiction, Survey of American Literature, Survey of British Literature, Shakespeare and Masterworks of World Literature I/II.
Instructional Program Models
Advance Reading is a Scheduled and Pull-out ESL Class. ESL teachers follow the syllabus for instruction and they are employed to teach ESL only. Students improve their English reading skills in this class by getting out of their mainstream classes. And they are immersed in total English.
Course Content and Methods of Instruction
This course is designed to enhance students' reading skills and to focus on increasing vocabulary development and reading comprehension, as well as reading speed. It combines Cognitive and Behavioral pedagogies into instruction. It covers theory and practice of reading skills and speed needed for the performance with emphasis on oral and written evaluation of printed material, vocabulary development, comprehension skills, flexible reading rate with the application in textbook, fiction and nonfiction reading. It also enables students to fulfill the graduation requirenment for demonstrated reading proficiency. Teachers use a range of vocabulary words depending on students' abilities for vocabulary knowledge and usage, which include prefixes, suffixes and roots; context clues, synonyms and antonyms; other-than-primary meanings of words. Reading speed exercises, practice and specific instructor-selected skills related to reading are designed to increase and vary reading speeds, depending on the type of material and the reading purpose. Comprehension exercises are designed for comprehension skills. During a semester the student will complete approximately comprehension cards, ten-minute timed fictions readings, vocabulary lessons and computerized lessons according to abilities, vocabulary study, lectures on reading skills and selected readings from modern novels.
Usually, the teacher teaches reading skills and defines words and the passages meaning by PowerPoint in the class, meanwhile giving some assignments to draw students' attention. For example, posing some questions related to the lecture to let students find the answers, giving a topic related to the textbook for group discussion, such as main ideas, details, transitions and patterns of organization. And then the teacher will provide some reading selections, such as novels and movies, to extend students' knowledge of identifying the fact and opinion, cause and effect, and comparation and contrast. In the end of the class the teacher will give a quiz about vocabularies. Three hours lecture and individualized laboratory activities are needed to be completed in the lab each week. Students can do their assignments at their own paces through the software, and the teacher can check students' performance by logging on. Students will take the Nelson-Denny Reading Test again at the end of the semester, and another examination designed by the instructor will be given in the second last class. Through these tests, the instructor can know if students make progress or not and adjust the teaching plan.
Representative Texts and Instructional Materials
In general, the syllabuses of Reading classes are based on the reading textbook series by Townsendpress. Teachers make syllabuses by following two textbooks which are "Ten Steps to Improving College Reading Skills" by John Langan and "Improving Vocabulary Skills" by Nist and Mohr. The computer softwares used in the lab are Electronic Defense Laboratories (EDL) Quantum Reading Series and EDL Reading Strategies. Other materials are Special Review Assessment (SRA) Comprehension Cards, EDL Word Clues and instructor handouts on selected topics and novels.
Program Critique
The program is delivering adequate instruction in reading and study skills, but a little too much. One of my suggestions is empathy. The core of empowering the ability of reading is not practice or instruction, but the passion. Reading is to widen students' views and to color their world, so empathy is a better way for a better understanding, which leads students to put themselves in the letters. Because many students are immigrants in the Advance Reading classes, teachers can use this as the feature of the classes. For example, let students share some novels, articles, poems, songs, even blogs which can reflect the values, customs and characters of their own nations. Through this way, students can not only actively extend their knowledge of reading, but also enhance the identification of themselves and their culture. It is a win-win approach to make the class more energetic and more interactive by sharing and exchanging knowledge and culture with each other between students and students, between teachers and students.
Another suggestion is motivation. Tests should be not only examinations but also motivations. Nelson-Denny Reading Test in the end of the semester is just for the self-check of students, but not for the motivation of learning. Actually, it can be part of motive power for more active, autonomic learning. Students can use their higher test results to move forward to a higher level of classes, which is a better way for themselves to save more time. And that will be the most impetus for adult students.
[1] Crafton Hills College. Crafton Hills College Course Outline. Retrieved October 20, 2009, from http://www.craftonhills.edu/Faculty_&_Staff/Curriculum/Reading/READ925.pdf
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