Research on Childhood Trauma and ESL Acquisiton

[Andrew Smyth]

Dear FLING list members:

Can anyone on the list give me some leads on research about how
childhood trauma (especially in war-torn countries) affects adolescents
and adults as they try to acquire English as a second language, as well
as strategies for helping them?

I am working with someone who teaches ESL to political refugees from
Bosnia, Afghanistan, and elsewhere, and some of her younger students
never quite picked up their home language, usually because they were
traumatized by war and its subsequent family disruption.  Thus, they're
having a very difficult time making the transition to English.  I'm not
sure where to look for information and research that might help her
address the problems these students are facing, so I would greatly
appreciate any help from list members.

Sincerely,

Andrew Smyth
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: asmyth.vcf
Type: text/x-vcard
Size: 324 bytes
Desc: Card for Andrew Smyth
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/fling/attachments/20020303/41d49007/attachment.vcf>