Engaging  Adult  Learners  with  Limited/Interrupted  Formal  

Educa9on  

Andrea  DeCapua  The  College  of  New  Rochelle  

 

Helaine  W.  Marshall  LIU  Hudson  

U.S.  teachers  and  learners  assume  that:    

1.  the  goals  of  instrucAon  are    

a)  to  prepare  learners  for  their  future  b)  to  produce  independent  learners  

2.  the  learner  brings  along  

a)  an  urge  to  compete  and  excel  as  an  individual  

b)  preparaAon  for  academic  tasks  

     (Adapted  from  DeCapua  &  Marshall,  2011)    

Adult  Learners  with  Limited  schooling  

North  American    Classrooms  

Immediate        Relevance  

Future              Relevance  

Shared  Responsibility  

Individual    Accountability  

PragmaAc  Tasks   Academic  Tasks  

CONDITIONS      

PROCESSES    

ACTIVITIES    

Interconnectedness  

Oral  Transmission  

Independence  

WriTen  Word    

(Adapted  from  DeCapua  &  Marshall,  2009,  2011;  Marshall,  1994,1998)  

Aspects  of    Learning  

Two  Different  Learning  Paradigms  

   

MALP      Adult  Learners  with  Limited  schooling  

 

North  American  Classrooms  

 

Interconnectedness   Independence  

 Shared              Responsibility  

Individual    Accountability  

 PragmaAc            Tasks  

     Academic                    Tasks  

Accept    learner  condiAons  

Combine  learner  &  North  American  processes  

Focus  on  new  acAviAes  with  familiar  language    &  content  

   Immediate          Relevance  

 Oral              Transmission  

Future              Relevance  

 WriTen  Word  

with  

 

(Adapted  from  DeCapua  &  Marshall,  2009,  2010,  2011;  Marshall  1994,  1998)    

BeDy’s  Class  

•  Ages:              18-­‐61  

•  Educa9on:              None  to  5th  grade  

•  Classes:        

–  ESL    –  Hmong  Literacy  –  Life-­‐skills  Math  –  Problem  Posing  

•  Origin:              Hmong  from  Laos  

 Class  Survey:  Crossing  the  Mekong  

•  Interviewing  at  home  

•  Sharing  data  in  class  •  Drawing  map  &  flags  

•  Entering  data  in  table  •  Using  sentence  frames  

•  Responding  to  quesAons  

 Paj  Ntaub  

Prototypical  MALP  Project  Class  Surveys  

           Characteris9cs  that  foster  MALP    

•  Interpersonal    •  Relevant  topics  likely  to  emerge  

•  Natural  movement  from  oral  interacAon  to  wriTen  product  

•  Provision  for  both  group  and  individual  task  delegaAon  •  InstrucAon  in  academic  ways  of  thinking  

 

DeCapua,  A.  &  Marshall.  H.  W.  (2011).  Breaking  new  ground:  Teaching  English  learners  with  limited  or  interrupted  formal  educa9on  in    US  secondary  schools.  Ann  Arbor,  MI:  University  of  Michigan  Press.    

Mutually Adaptive Learning Paradigm – MALP ©

Teacher Planning Checklist

A. Accept Conditions for Learning

A1. I am making this lesson/project immediately relevant to students.

A2. I am helping students develop and maintain interconnectedness.

B. Combine Processes for Learning

B1. I am incorporating shared responsibility and individual accountability.

B2. I am scaffolding the written word through oral interaction.

C. Focus on New Activities for Learning

C1. I am focusing on tasks requiring academic ways of thinking.

C2. I am making these tasks accessible with familiar language and content.

Survey:  Students’  Free  Time  

Survey:    Immigra9on  Issues  

More  MALP  Projects  

•  Newcomer  Booklets    

•  Murals    

•  Timelines  •  Autobiographies  •  Social  Bookmarking  

•  CollecAons    

 

Apple  Collec9on  

Benefits  of  Collec9ons  

•  Building  definiAons  •  Learning  ways  to  categorize  objects    •  Developing  vocabulary      – academic  terms  – descripAve  adjecAves    

•  CollaboraAng  on  a  class  project    

Talking  &  Wri9ng  about  Collec9on  

Talk/write  about  the  items  in  the  collecAons  using  sentence  frames  

        My  apple  is  a/an  ____key chain________.    

It  is  ___________,  ___________  and  ________.    

It  is  a/an  ________,  ________,  _________  key chain.    

More  about  MALP?  •  Our  books  (University  of  Michigan  Press):  

Mee#ng  the  needs  of  students  with  limited  or  interrupted  formal  educa#on  (2009)  Breaking  new  ground:  Teaching  students  with  limited  or  interrupted  formal  

educa#on  in  U.  S.  secondary  schools  (2011)  

Making  the  transi#on:  Culturally  Responsive  Teaching  for  struggling  second  language  learners    (summer  2013)  

 •  Our  websites:      

hDp://malpeduca9on.com  

hDp://malp.pbworks.com  

•  Our  ar9cles:                              TESOL  Journal,  ELT  Journal,  Preven#ng  School  Failure,  Urban  Review  and  more  

•  Our  email:  adecapua3@gmail.com          helaine.marshall@liu.edu