Project Overview
The 'Learner Portraits' project is a web-based, multimedia documentation and presentation of the development of immigrant-learner identity in 14 adult immigrants to the Portland area in the early part of the 21st century. The project developed out of research at the National Labsite for Adult ESOL (the 'Lab School'), a project on adult learning and literacy sponsored by the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy (NCSALL). The project also received support from the Spencer Foundation.
The learners are representative of the ages, first languages, and
educational experiences of adult English language learners in the community college systems in the
Portland area.
On this website, you can find information about our data collection methods,
the theory behind the research, and some main themes and conclusions. By clicking on the links to each learner,
you will find biographical information for each learner as well as the learners' voices from video recordings
of classroom interaction with teachers and peers. Video-taped interviews (in English and in the students' home
languages) also bring in learners' own voices to comment on their immigrant-learner experience.
John Hellermann
Dominique Brillanceau
John Hellermann
Dominique Brillanceau