We've Moved!
Visit SDSU’s new digital collections website at https://digitalcollections.sdsu.edu
Description
Literacy in English is increasingly important for the success of U.S. immigrants. To address the issue of low literacy rates among immigrants, various family literacy programs have been developed throughout the country. Unfortunately, administrators and instructors of these programs often struggle with the low attendance rates of their students, thus the topics of learner persistence and retention have become prevalent in adult education. The purpose of this study is to examine the factors that affect attendance rates, and thus learner persistence, with adult ESL students in classes at San Diego elementary schools. This mixed-methods study uses questionnaires and unrecorded interviews with both learners in San Diego family literacy programs, and the administrators of these programs. Sixty participants from three different family literacy classes completed questionnaires focusing on demographics, and various situational, institutional, and dispositional factors that have been shown to affect persistence and retention. Each participant's responses and Fall semester 2009 attendance rates were statistically analyzed using Pearson correlation to reveal relationships among all factors. Attendance rates were calculated based on a participant's start date, so that even if a participant enrolled in class the last month of school, but attended every subsequent day, he or she could have a 100% attendance rate. Questionnaire results reveal that the majority of participants are middle-aged females from Mexico with less than ten years of formal education completed. Correlation analysis reveals that demographics did not have significant relationships with attendance rates, but five other variables did, including two barriers to persistence: not attending class due to work, not attending class due to housework; and two supports to persistence: liking the teacher, and enjoying learning. The strongest relationship was found with a participant's start date; participants who enrolled after the first week of classes had significantly lower attendance rates. These results bring up compelling issues to address at the institutional level, specifically concerning the integration of new students into class after the first week.
