Professional development for LESLLA teachers 1 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR LESLLA TEACHERS: A STATUS REPORT

Teachers of low-literate adult ESL learners work in challenging contexts. Their learners are unique; they are new to English and also new to print literacy. Teachers of this level must be both language teachers and reading specialists, and they often have not had many opportunities for professional development that focus on their learners. Workshops and conferences often assume literacy in learners, and it can be difficult to apply the ideas and resources shared to low-literate adult ESL classrooms. Where can teachers of such learners go to grow professionally and connect with colleagues? This report outlines current efforts in professional development for these underserved practitioners and presents an argument for nurturing a growing format of PD for LESLLA: study circles. LESLLA AS A UNIQUE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT NEED Many adult immigrant and refugee students in the United States are well educated in their first languages, and they are academically prepared for English coursework upon arrival to their new country. For the most part, these are the learners that adult ESL teachers have come to expect in their programs, and such literate students are the only ones discussed in many certificate and graduate programs for teachers (Vinogradov & Liden, 2008). But other students have had limited or no formal schooling, and some have never learned to read in their first languages. McHugh, Gelatt and Fix (2007) estimate that about 750,000 adult immigrants in the US are not literate in English or their native language(s). Such learners are referred to in many ways: emerging readers, adult emergent readers, pre