The Impact of a Reading Intervention for Low-Literate Adult ESL Learners

The goal of this study was to test a promising approach to improving the literacy
skills of low-literate adult ESL students under real-world conditions. In their
review of the research on ESL instruction in related fields, including adult second
language acquisition, reading and English as a foreign language instruction,
Condelli & Wrigley (2004) concluded that instruction based on a systematic
approach to literacy development was a promising intervention for low-literate
adult ESL learners that would be valuable to study (Brown et al., 1996; Cheek &
Lindsay, 1994: Chen & Graves, 1995; Carrell, 1985; Rich & Shepherd, 1993;
Roberts, Cheek & Mumm, 1994). Specifically, the factors identified as defining a
systematic approach to literacy development included: (1) a comprehensive
instructional scope that includes direct instruction in phonics, fluency, vocabulary
development and reading comprehension, (2) a strategic instruction sequence,
(3) a consistent instructional format, (4) easy-to-follow lesson plans, and
(5) strategies for differentiated instruction.