The effect of media choice on English literacy acquisition for preliterate Hmong adult learners
Author(s):
Griffin, Suzanne Marie Seidl
Format:
Thesis
Degree granted:
Ph.D.
Publisher:
Ann Arbor : University of Washington, 1990.
Pages:
430
Language:
English
Abstract:
Studies of English as a second language (ESL) instruction for refugees have not examined the effect of instructional media choice on English literacy acquisition by preliterate adult learners. Through a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods, this study examined media choice and the effects of three kinds of media (video, photographs, and live teacher demonstrations with real objects) on English literacy acquisition for 37 Hmong adults enrolled in ESL classes. Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) showed that subjects' preinstruction scores on the literacy section of the Washington State Adult Refugee Project ESL Oral Placement Test strongly related to their performances on the postinstruction English literacy achievement test. When preinstruction literacy was used as a control variable in subsequent analyses of the data, choice of instructional media (subjects' own selection of instructional media, rather than assignment to media by the teacher) had no significant effect on English literacy acquisition. Observational data and subjects' achievement test mean scores showed that, for subjects who were familiar with these media, bilingual video and color photos (in combination with flash cards) were more effective than teacher demonstrations in promoting English literacy acquisition. Other strong influences on subjects' English literacy acquisition in this study were their familiarity with the technologies and symbolic codes of media used in instruction, and their understanding of how their instructional activities related to acquisition of English literacy. Despite repeated explanations of the study through Hmong translators, subjects regarded this experience as a new kind of ESL class. They repeatedly questioned how these activities related to learning English. Variables which did not significantly affect English literacy acquisition were: the match between subjects' preferred perceptual modes and the characteristics of instructional media which appeared to appeal to these modes, amount of previous formal ESL instruction, and the subject's age and sex.