Steve Kaufmann: I offer a free workshop that covers a lot more about the
relationships of language, listening, and reading. The general strategy of
following an instructional sequence going from oracy to literacy for the
least literate students holds promise for adult literacy programs. I
originally worked on "reading by listening" with blind students who of
course do not read visually. Thanks for your observations. Tom Sticht


Workshop on Listening & Reading Processes of Adults

Presented by Tom Sticht, International Consultant in Adult Education

Recently there has been a growing interest in listening research and
instruction with adult literacy learners in various industrialized nations.
For this reason adult literacy providers may be interested in my workshop
that I first presented in 1999. I have recently (2006) participated in
seminars in London, England on listening, speaking, and reading processes
and instruction with adult learners and have incorporated new research into
my workshop.

The Workshop on Listening & Reading Processes of Adults addresses aspects of
the Workforce Investment Act of 1998, Title II: The Adult Education and
Family Literacy Act that focus attention on relationships among listening
and reading abilities of adults. In particular, this includes information
about phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary  and comprehension
in reading and how this builds on and adds to adult's listening skills.
The questions, methods and findings of four decades of research on adult's
listening and reading skills will be summarized. The workshop emphasizes
the role of adults' listening and speaking skills in family and workplace
literacy contexts.

Listening has been identified as a critical work-related skill but it has
been almost totally ignored in national assessments of adult literacy. 2008
is the 100th anniversary of E. B. Huey's 1908 classic book, "The Psychology
and Pedagogy of Reading" in which he stated that, "The child comes to his
first reader with his habits of spoken language fairly well formed, and
these habits grow more deeply set with every year. His meanings inhere in
this spoken language and belong but secondarily to the printed symbols...."
. This workshop presents extensive research and data from the United States
and United Kingdom on the oracy (speaking and listening)  skills of adults
and how these skills relate to workforce development and the
intergenerational transfer of language and literacy skills from parents to
their children.

Goals. The goals of the Workshop on Listening  & Reading Processes of Adults
are (1) to summarize four decades of  R & D on adults' listening and reading
skills; (2) to present information on writing  as a second signaling system
for  speech and how that involves phonemic awareness and phonics training
in bridging from listening to reading for information and for learning, (3)
to illustrate techniques for training listening skills for learning by
listening and to improve reading fluency and comprehension, and (4) to
illustrate how listening and literacy practices can be assessed using
various methods including the use of the telephone to provide assessments
of the need for listening and literacy education among the local  adult
population.

Outcomes. Following the workshop, participants will be able to (1) discuss
the R & D on listening and reading using specific references to the R & D
literature and use this information in their planning for adult literacy
education, (2)  incorporate information about the place and manner of
articulation and other types of information relating listening and reading
processes of adults into their planning for program development that helps
adults bridge from oral to written language skills, (3) use this
information in planning for the development of teaching and learning
activities for both native language speakers and for English as an
additional language for non-native English speakers, and (4) apply the
information to the design and conduct of local needs assessments for adult
literacy education including the assessment of adults' knowledge and
literacy practices  by listening in telephone interviews.

I charge no fee for any of these workshops or presentations, but sponsors
must pay travel expenses and make all arrangements for the events. Contact
me at tsticht at aznet.net if you want to arrange for a workshop (or other
presentation) in your area.

About Tom Sticht, UNESCO Mahatma Gandhi Medal Laureate

Tom Sticht is recognized internationally for his work on the education and
training of under-educated youth and adults. He holds a Ph.D in psychology
from the University of Arizona and has taught at the Harvard Graduate
School of Education, University of British Columbia, and the U. S. Navy
Postgraduate School. He has published over 170 books and articles on the
education of under-educated youth and adults.
Dr. Sticht has served on the Secretary of Labor's Commission on Achieving
Necessary Skills (SCANS); the National Commission on Working Women; and he
chaired the California Workforce Literacy Task Force. Earlier he was
President, Applied Behavioral & Cognitive Sciences, Inc. and  Project
Coordinator for the San Diego Consortium for Workforce Education & Lifelong
Learning.
Articles on Dr. Sticht's work have appeared in newspapers and magazines in
several countries including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the
Boston Globe, the London Times, the New Zealand Herald,  and the Wall
Street Journal. In 1994, Dr. Sticht was the first adult literacy
specialist elected to the Reading Hall of Fame in the United States, in 1997
the Reading Research Quarterly reported that the work of Paulo Freire and
Tom Sticht were the two most influential lines of adult literacy research
in the last 30 years,  and in 2003 he was awarded UNESCO's Mahatma
Gandhi medal for 25 years of volunteer work on the International Literacy
Prize Jury that selects the annual winners of UNESCO literacy prizes..

For additional information contact Tom Sticht, Email: tsticht at aznet.net

Thomas G. Sticht
International Consultant in Adult Education
2062 Valley View Blvd.
El Cajon, CA 92019-2059
Tel/fax: (619)444-9595,
Email tsticht at aznet.net