Exploring the hidden challenges for LESLLA learners in language learning materials

Abstract

It has been our experience as teacher educators and researchers that teachers new to LESLLA learners often have difficulty identifying the myriad challenges that most learning materials pose for this population (Triulzi et al., under review). We consider how Western-style formal education and knowledge, originating in Western Europe but now found globally, permeate textbooks and other language learning materials and may potentially undermine successful learning on the part of Literacy Education and Second Language Learning for Adults (LESLLA) learners. We describe three common obstacles for LESLLA learners in conventional language learning materials: (1) literacy as starting point for learning; (2) lack of immediate relevance to learners’ lives, experiences, and knowledges; (3) extensive use of decontextualized tasks and school ways of thinking. Our goal is to help all stakeholders—teachers, teacher trainers, administrators—develop an awareness of these largely invisible obstacles in pedagogical practices. To this end we have developed a checklist, which we present here, to use in the evaluation of language textbooks and learning materials.