Publication: Cross-Cultural Issues in Adult ESL Literacy Classrooms

• McGroarty, Mary

Instructors in adult ESL classes in the United States need
no reminder that their classrooms serve as a meeting place
for learners of many and often disparate cultural
backgrounds. They recognize, further, that for many
learners, the ESL class serves the crucial function of
cultural as well as linguistic orientation. Yet
intellectual recognition of these issues does not always
provide specific pedagogical direction; that demands not
only the sound judgment born of training and experience,
but also an understanding of the cultural factors that
shape the actual processes of classroom instruction. This
digest identifies some of the cultural factors that can
influence learner and teacher behavior during classroom ESL
literacy instruction.