Impact of Undocumented Immigrants on Adult ESL during COVID-19 and Beyond

All over the United States, adult ESL programs enroll students who are undocumented immigrants, often unbeknownst to the instructors who teach them. During the COVID-19 crisis, adult ESL enrollments decreased overall, but most especially for the undocumented immigrants who were most disadvantaged during the crisis. In order for program administrators and instructors to better understand the situation, this article explores who those with undocumented status are, why they have come to the US, and how well they are being served by public and private institutions and organizations. It details the nationality and settlement patterns of the undocumented immigrants as well as reasons for their departure from their homes around the world and their journeys to the United States. This article also discusses solutions for issues undocumented students face, including pedagogical approaches addressing the needs of undocumented learners given their migration experiences, funding to expand classrooms and hire teachers qualified to meet the needs of these students, and better collaboration between public schools and nonprofit organizations

Adult ESL Education in the US

This article discusses the state of the art in the field of “adult ESL” in the US. It identifies the size, characteristics, and settings of adult education and discusses relevant professional standards, assessment procedures, and teacher preparation. Three approaches to noncredit adult ESL education will be presented (Functional Literacy, Critical Literacy, and New Literacy Studies), each of which has relevance to current status and funding of adult ESL within the Department of Education. A broader view of curriculum design and expansion of technological applications are recommended to address the growing needs of immigrants from Latin America and around the world

Cooperative Jahn-Teller Distortion in PrO2

We report neutron diffraction data on single crystal PrO2 which reveal a cooperative Jahn-Teller distortion at TD = 120 +/- 2 K. Below this temperature an internal distortion of the oxygen sublattice causes the unit cell of the crystallographic structure to become doubled along one crystal axis. We discuss several possible models for this structure. The antiferromagnetic structure below TN = 13.5 K is found to consist of two components, one of which shares the same doubled unit cell as the distorted crystallographic structure. We also present measurements of the magnetic susceptibility, the specific heat capacity and the electrical conductivity of PrO2. The susceptibility data show an anomaly at a temperature close to TD. From the specific heat capacity data we deduce that the ground state is doubly degenerate, consistent with a distortion of the cubic local symmetry. We discuss possible mechanisms for this. The conductivity shows an activated behaviour with an activation energy Ea = 0.262 +/- 0.003 eV.Comment: 12 pages, 14 figures, 2 tables. Additional suggested structure in v

On the equation of state of a dense columnar liquid crystal

An accurate description of a columnar liquid crystal of hard disks at high packing fractions is presented using an improved free-volume theory. It is shown that the orientational entropy of the disks in the one-dimensional fluid direction leads to a different high-density scaling pressure compared to the prediction from traditional cell theory. Excellent quantitative agreement is found with recent Monte-Carlo simulation results for various thermodynamic and structural properties of the columnar state.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev. Let

What Is the Value of Service-Learning for ESL Teacher Preparation?

This study describes the results of a survey administered to present and former students enrolled in a Master’s in TESOL Program at a large urban university in Southern California. Respondents who had had a service-learning or experiential learning assignment were asked to identify to what extent and in which areas their service-learning or experiential learning experience benefited them. Responses by students and alumni who had had a service-learning experience and those who had not had a service-learning experience were also compared for significance. In addition, responses of service-learners by gender, language background, and visa status were compared to identify important trends in perceived benefits of ser vicelearning. Overall, students were quite positive about their service-learning experiences with most benefit indicated in general teaching theory and second language acquisition and least benefit in citizenship and civics. Results of a MANOVA indicated significant differences in benefits for service-learners versus non–servicelearners

Raman and Infra-red properties and layer dependence of the phonon dispersions in multi-layered graphene

The symmetry group analysis is applied to classify the phonon modes of $N$-stacked graphene layers (NSGL's) with AB- and AA-stacking, particularly their infra-red and Raman properties. The dispersions of various phonon modes are calculated in a multi-layer vibrational model, which is generalized from the lattice vibrational potentials of graphene to including the inter-layer interactions in NSGL's. The experimentally reported red shift phenomena in the layer number dependence of the intra-layer optical C-C stretching mode frequencies are interpreted. An interesting low frequency inter-layer optical mode is revealed to be Raman or Infra-red active in even or odd NSGL's respectively. Its frequency shift is sensitive to the layer number and saturated at about 10 layers.Comment: enlarged versio

Perceived Benefits of Technology Enhanced Language Learning in Beginning Language Classes

This paper examines the perceptions of benefit of Technology EnhancedLanguage Learning (TELL) on students’ language learning, comfort &enjoyment, and increased confidence using technology at a large SouthernCalifornia University during one university term. Through a surveyadministered to 345 beginning language students, 11 tutors and 12instructors, and through selective interviews and classroom observations,several questions were examined: 1.) Perceived confidence, benefits, andcomfort/enjoyment with TELL for instructors, tutors, and students at thebeginning and end of the semester; 2.) Students’ perceived impact ofTELL between pre and post survey measures on second language skills,learning culture, student motivation to learn a language, and preparingstudents for class tests and quizzes; 3.) Whether or not target languageorthography, exposure to TELL, student gender, and instructors’ ortutors’ previous confidence in using TELL, impacted perception of benefitby students; 4.) Positive and negative aspects of incorporating a TELLcomponent in the language classroom for instructors and tutors. Theresults showed that incorporating TELL in a new, but limited, way in allbeginning level classes at one university was a positive experience formany participants, especially in the areas of comfort/enjoyment, andincreased confidence in using technology. However, unless tasks wereclearly tied to learning objectives, students did not recognize theirinstructional value