Literacy and second language acquisition.

The different degrees of illiteracy

The mission of learning a second language is already challenging for most people, but it is even more so for the group of learners who have yet to become literate. Illiteracy occurs at different levels. When we talk about illiterates we are talking about the group of learners who have never learned to read and write and therefore cannot do so. In addition, we speak of semi-literate when trainees are low-literate in their mother tongue. When it comes to second language acquisition, we distinguish an additional category, namely the differently literate. This group can read and write, but in a different script. For example, a learner can read and write in Arabic, but in the NT2 program he must now first learn the Latin script.

Reflecting on language

Before the acquisition of the second language, there is the mother tongue. An illiterate person can function well orally in their mother tongue. When they hear: It is going to rain this afternoon, they understand that later in the day drops are going to fall from the sky. So the meaning comes across. But if you ask them how many words the sentence It's going to rain this afternoon consists of, they find it difficult. Thus, illiterates can use language to convey a message well, but they cannot reflect on language. In other words, people who are not literate are not aware of the structure and form of language.

Once you learn to read and write in the mother tongue, your awareness of language grows. You learn that language consists of different sounds and that you can link them to certain signs; the sound-sign link. Someone who is literate has a visual notepad in the working memory, on which we can subdivide the sounds we hear into signs and thus visualize the words. If you are literate, then you have mastered a skill; namely, to convert spoken language into visual words and sentences in working memory.

This skill greatly affects how we process spoken language. There is limited space in our working memory to store things. Here, remembering sounds takes much more space than remembering characters. Did you know that this is why illiterates are often less able to remember and repeat spoken words and sentences?

The impact on second language acquisition

Illiteracy affects the acquisition of new second language skills in several ways. For example, how do you learn to read and write in the second language if you have never learned about sound-sign pairings and are not yet aware of them? Adult illiterates often do not yet master the new language orally either, so they cannot refer to spoken language when learning sound-sign links. Obviously, learning words, for example, is also almost impossible for this target group. Not only because they cannot read the words. But illiterates are also less able to remember spoken words. They can only remember sound combinations and this takes up too much space in working memory. Thus, they will forget words faster than literate NT2 learners.

Illiteracy also affects less obvious skills, such as listening. As in the native language, illiterates have difficulty remembering spoken language. Whereas a literate second-language learner can reflect on and store new constructions from spoken language, this is different for the illiterate second-language learner. The visual notepad is absent and therefore spoken language quickly disappears from working memory. This makes reflecting on the language, an important part of the language learning process, difficult. Giving corrective feedback (feedback that explicitly states what the error is) therefore makes little sense with this target group. If an illiterate person says: I went to the toilet and this is corrected by the teacher with: No, you went to the toilet, the illiterate person cannot learn from this correction because he is not able to reflect on spoken language.

Speaking skills in the second language are also difficult for the illiterate person. This is because in the visual notepad we not only visualize spoken language, we also visualize the words we want to say. By using the visual notepad, we can plan our speech ahead, so to speak. Especially in second language, this planning is important because it takes longer to find the right words. So you can imagine that the lack of this notepad affects how fluent an illiterate person is in the second language.

Tips for a good start

Starting with literacy is exciting. Students have no idea of what they are going to learn and what is expected of them in class. After all, they have never been to school. In addition, these students have been learning by doing all their lives. So begin actively and together. Watch the learning materials on a big screen, walk through the school and discuss what is on display, or visit the Hema and check out the school supplies.

Goals and expectations

Literacy takes time, and it is important for trainees to stay motivated throughout. To help your learners, it is important to set high, concrete expectations and emphasize what the learner will be able to do by the end of the learning process. What works nicely is to have trainees present to each other what they have learned. Actively celebrate the goal achieved.

Appropriate teaching materials

Using the right teaching materials is very important with this target group. One of the most widely used teaching methods is DigLin+. A method that bets on a way of learning in which autonomy and a digital learning environment with images and sound play the most important role. The goal is to help the alpha learner move more quickly through the initial stages of learning based on two main principles. The first main principle of DigLin+ is inductive and implicit learning. Research has shown that 90 to 95 percent of knowledge is acquired implicitly. Through built-in patterns in DigLin+'s exercises, the student is introduced to regularity in language and writing without explicit instruction. A second main principle of DigLin+ is the student's autonomy. The student navigates the program more and more independently and keeps track of his own work schedules and progress. As a result, the student gains insight into what he or she is learning, his or her motivation to learn grows and what has been learned becomes more enduring.

Overview

Make sure the materials are available to the student. Put trays of colored pens on the table, display your materials thematically and place appropriate books on the tables before the lesson begins. Learners are thus invited to explore and actively learn.

Practice, practice, practice

Finally, for this target group, practice, practice, practice. Once the basics are established, many meters need to be made. There are many fun simple reading books available to get started with. It is important that you do not resort to children's books; after all, you want the student to feel taken seriously. A great tip is the booklet Water to Milk; a collection of folk tales about trickery and deceit, wealth and poverty, right and wrong, love, humor, and more. The stories are taken from oral traditions of various countries, such as Turkey, China, Kazakhstan, Suriname, Indonesia, Morocco, Australia. The nice thing is that the stories are written and narrated on 3 different levels, which is also useful for heterogeneous classes. And have you finished? Then you can continue with the second part Beren op de weg.