ESL Practitioners Research Articles

Professionalism and Professionalization of Adult ESL Literacy

Adult ESL practitioners operate in a context in which full-time positions are rare, resources are scarce, and turnover is high. But efforts to professionalize the field should not be taken as an indictment of the professionalism of the adult ESL workforce. Even under adverse current working conditions, professionalism in the field is high, as is demonstrated by participation in ongoing professional development and the range of professional development models in use. Whereas both certification and credentialing have been proposed as ways of enhancing the professionalization of the field, credentialing may be more appropriate because it can provide for multiple routes of access to the profession. The article discusses three major models of adult ESL literacy professional development: craft or mentoring models, applied science or theory to practice models, and inquiry or reflective practice models. The article concludes by outlining each model, describing examples of each in adult ESL literacy and suggesting ways in which they can be effectively combined, looking to innovative teacher development practices in K-12 education as a guide.

Work satisfaction and the ESL profession

Abstract This paper reviews the topic of work satisfaction with particular reference to the ESL field. An overview of the literature indicates that work satisfaction is a complex response which incorporates many influences inside and outside of the work environment. The available survey data, primarily from members of the TESOL organisation, suggest that ESL practitioners are basically satisfied with their work, though they experience dissatisfactions in certain areas such as promotions, pay, and some administrative aspects. It is maintained that the key to ensuring work satisfaction and the positive career conditions which educators in ESL desire and deserve is professional recognition.

Broken Promises: Reading Instruction in Twentieth-Century America

m One of the most important developments in the social sciences in recent years has been the growing awareness that prevailing theories may reflect the legitimizing philosophies of dominant groups. The critical approach to social science theory seeks to discover the ways in which theory and practice serve the interests of groups that dominate the state apparatus, including education. This is nowhere more evident than in language studies, where the interests of the state and those of minority language groups are often directly contradictory. What is disturbing is that the field of ESL has been remarkably free from such critical analysis. For instance, most ESL practitioners accept the view that learning English is a path to economic and social advancement, rather than a barrier to groups who often have no realistic opportunity to become fluent in English. Thus most second language acquisition (SLA) theories emphasize psychological and social-psychological factors such as motivation, while ignoring the links between language learning and power and dominance. With few exceptions (such as Fairclough, in press), work in ESL/SLA ignores questions such as: Who benefits when minority language groups are required to learn English for employment? What are the consequences of the belief that a single language is more effective than several languages for national communication? How does ESL serve to block the access of large numbers of people to economic resources and political power? Given the failure of ESL/SLA to confront such questions, it is not surprising that ESL is often seen by members of minority language groups as an agent of sociopolitical domination. Although no ESL book deals with these questions, a new book in a closely related field-reading instruction-offers ESL specialists a valuable window into critical analysis. Patrick Shannon's Broken Promises: Reading Instruction in Twentieth-Century America