Developing Literacy and Learning Skills
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Key Strategies for Enhancing Adult Literacy
Who cares if you can read or write? In today’s world, it’s tempting to rely on AI tools for everything from writing a research paper to understanding complex concepts. But here’s the catch: when it comes to expressing your own thoughts in class or problem-solving at work, relying solely on what you’ve seen or heard isn’t enough.
True learning requires engaging with information in multiple ways, and literacy skills including language comprehension and executive functioning, are crucial for navigating and understanding the vast amount of information. Simply accessing videos or listening to your classmates isn’t going to cut it.
Your brain needs more than just images and comments to absorb, retain, and use information. While you might see the answers in your head, without the words to express your thoughts, you’re at a loss. Traditional ways of consuming information through media literacy, such as reading books or newspaper articles, are vital to develop language comprehension skills, communicate effectively, and practice lifelong learning.
What Exactly Is PEARL Fluent Literacy™?
At PEARL, we simultaneously structure performance and learning tasks to use the systems of language comprehension and executive functioning. Through developing fluent literacy, we customized yet structured and explicit literacy programs, reshaping both individual and organizational approaches to how learners master new content, use information, and develop core skills to learn, communicate, and perform tasks seamlessly.
With PEARL, we support and empower adults
The following practices guide our approach
Learning Goals
Plan, monitor, and achieve learning goals, enhancing information literacy.
Information Strategies
Strategies to store, recall, and apply information to think, plan, and communicate ideas.
Connect Long-Term
Connect and retain both images and words to solidify concepts in long-term memory.
Selective Attention
Engage in selective attention abilities through internal dialogue.
Inform Effectively
Generalize, summarize, describe, contrast, analyze, inform, explain, argue, and infer information effectively.
Phonological Awareness
Gain phonological awareness by hearing and identifying individual sounds in spoken words.
Fluent Comprehension
Strengthen reading, listening, writing, and speaking skills to develop fluent comprehension and expression.
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Science of Reading
The Science of Reading encompasses a body of research accumulated over time from multiple fields of study. This research uses methods to confirm and disconfirm theories on how children and students best learn to read. Structured Literacy, on the other hand, explicitly teaches systematic word identification, vocabulary, and decoding strategies.
Structured Literacy
PEARL integrates approaches from Structured Literacy with an emphasis on the interplay between the systems of language and executive functioning. This integration aims to produce fluent literacy, enabling individuals to speak, write, listen, and read efficiently. As a result, our unique approach to quality education and literacy training empowers individuals to communicate effectively and execute tasks seamlessly.
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Understanding Ott’s Literacy PEARL Model
Have you been labeled with adult ADHD and do people say, “if you would just pay attention”, learning would be easy for you?
But “paying attention“ isn’t just about awareness and focus. Attention requires working within a whole system of executive functions—directing resources, planning, monitoring, and achieving goals that are directed by language and influence each part of your performance.
At PEARL, we analyze and evaluate how attention and language direct working memory, self-regulation skills, flexible thinking, and higher-level thinking to read, write, speak, and listen effectively to learn and perform tasks in the classroom, at school, at work, and in life.
The PEARL model of fluent literacy integrates the systems of executive functioning managed by attention with the systems of language to initiate and complete critical thinking tasks required for fluent reading, listening, speaking, and writing to achieve high job and academic performance. This model also impacts both youth and adult literacy skills, addressing the needs of diverse age groups.
- Pragmatic, Expressive, Attention, Receptive, Language
Content below would be worked into the Image HotSpot we spoke about.
Core Components of the PEARL Model
Fluent literacy is the proficient knowledge and ability to read, write, speak, and listen enabling individuals to think critically, communicate effectively, and execute tasks seamlessly. If there’s a glitch in one executive functioning and language system, this causes gaps in literacy, communication skills, learning, and working.
Executive Functioning Systems
Selective Executive Attention
- Select the appropriate task to focus on.
- Aware of the required skills to complete a task.
Intuitive Working Memory
- Verbal Working Memory: remember words, numbers, and sentences
- I remember the directions while working
- Visual/Spatial Working Memory: remember pictures, objects and their location
- I retrieve information from the blackboard, notes and text.
- I remember where my files are located and can access them without assistance
Self-Regulation
- Filter, interrupt, and correct thoughts and external distractions
- Hearing a bird outside the window, I focus on reading my literature assignment.
- I dismiss thoughts about dinner when I attend a late day meeting.
- Direct task completion through organizing
- I check the directions as I write my answer to verify my answer is complete.
- I create lists and use them to schedule my time and achieve goals.
Flexible Thinking
- Consider different perspectives
- I present an argument with more than one point of view.
- I discuss the operation plan with all team leaders.
- Switch between tasks
- I read the board, listen to the teacher, and write notes.
- I write a proposal and respond to questions from staff at the same time.
- Monitor and revise goals
- I revisit the question, revise my paragraph, and create transitions.
- I incorporate feedback from my business unit leaders and adjust the operational plan to meet all needs.
Critical Thinking
- Generalize, summarize, analyze, define, describe, inform, infer, explain, argue, compare, invent.
- I identify the main idea and list all supporting points from a reading.
- I solve complex problems and communicate my ideas clearly.
- I write responses to explain my thoughts with a variety of sentence structures in an organized structure.
Language Systems
- Phonology: The system of sounds.
- Morphology: The system of word parts.
- Orthography: The system of spelling words.
- Syntax: The system of word use.
- Semantics: The system of word meaning.
Types of Language Required for Fluent Literacy
From self-talk to conversations to public speaking, language use is constantly required to complete simple to complex tasks. If there’s a glitch in the development of a language system, you’ll be compromised in your ability to understand, communicate, or adapt language. Critical thinking systems analyze, define, and explain information through both executive functioning and the three forms of language.
Receptive Language
Can I understand language when I read or listen?
Expressive Language
Can I communicate my ideas when I speak or write?
Pragmatic Language
Can I adjust my language to fit the situation?
