LIT2T Leadership Guide

50 TO: TABLE OF CONTENTS Evaluation Division, Citizenship and Immigration Canada . (2010). Evaluation of the language instruction for newcomers to Canada (linc) program (Ref. NER201102_01E). Retrieved from website: http://publications.gc.ca/site/eng/384737/publication.html Guo, Y. (2013). English as a Second Language (ESL) Programs for Adult Immigrants in Canada: Critical Issues and Perspectives. In Nesbit, Brigham, Taber, & Gibb, T. (EdBuilding on Critical Traditions Adult Learning and Education in Canada (pp. 330-341). Toronto, ON: Thompson Educational Publishing Healey, Hanson-Smith, Hubbard, Ioannou-Georgiou, Kessler, & Ware, P . (2011). TESOL technology standards description, implementation, integration. Alexandria VI: TESOL Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages. Spencer, B. & Lange, E. (2014) The purposes of adult education: A short introduction. Toronto, ON: Thompson Educational Publishing. Walker, & White, G. (2013). Technology Enhanced Language Learning: Connecting Theory and Practice. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 10.3 The Information Practices of Adult Immigrants [The SLT sector’s role in informing and guiding information seeking among newcomers] Nadia Caidi and her colleagues at the University of Toronto have researched and written thoughtfully on the information practices of immigrants with “an eye toward information and information practices that help migrants in their settlement and inclusion into the new country” (CAIDI, ALLARD, & QUIRKE, 2010, P.493) They have examined “research from communication and media studies, immigrant and refugee studies, cultural studies, and sociology” (P. 494) in considering how information seeking and processing behaviours can serve an individual’s efforts to settle, adapt or even ‘assimilate’. They identify “barriers to seeking orienting information documented in previous studies also apply to immigrants, namely, struggling with information overload, difficulties in identifying where to gain access to information that is appropriate to their needs (and in this case, in a language that they can understand), and problems related to the credibility of information” (SAVOLAINEN, 2008, P.95(P.5) Without patterns, local networks or information practices, finding the information to navigate life in a new country can be daunting and complex. It can be described as a “culturally alien information environment. “Both information needs and barriers to accessing adequate information are significant. During the immigration process individuals need to make sense of the values and patterns in their lives, which are generally in flux. New patterns and networks must be established; all of this has an impact on information practices and the ability to find relevant information. Srinivasan and Pyati (2007) coined the term “diasporic information environment” as a way to capture the complexity of immigrant lives that operate on both local and transnational planes and holds that individuals seek information on a daily basis in complex ways and from a variety of sources in order to manage their lives (Savolainen, 1995, 2007, 2008(Caidi, Allard, & Quirke, 2010, p. 501) While recognizing there has not been enough research into the information practices, Caidi and Allard speculate that, “…Information seeking may be problematic for vulnerable populations in economic poverty as they also tend to suffer from information poverty. Information poverty is characterized as lacking necessary resources such as adequate social networks and information-finding skills that enable everyday life information seeking. It has been argued that