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Charting a Course: Responding to the Industry-Related
Adult Basic Education Needs of the Texas Workforce
Handbook Two: Workplace Savy for Workforce-related Instruction
Modules #5 & 6

Module Five: Identifying Adult Learners’ Work-Related Proficiencies and Needs

Language Competencies in the Workplace

For adult learners with limited English proficiency, language competencies cut across occupational domains such as manufacturing, healthcare, and sales and service. Increasingly sophisticated levels of language skills are needed by English language learners if they are to take advantage of opportunities to advance and pursue careers. Advances in technology and changes in workplace organization have redefined the nature and level of essential skills and knowledge workers need to function effectively in today’s workplace. The chart below provides a useful summary of the communication and critical thinking skills demanded in the workplace.

ESOL Worker Competencies

To get a job (other than through familial connections), English language learners must be able to orally provide personal information, express ability, express likes and dislikes, and ask and answer questions. They also need literacy skills to read a want ad and complete an employment application.

To survive on a job, English language learners need to be able to follow oral and written directions, understand and use safety language, ask for clarification, make small talk, and request reasons or explanations related to specific job tasks or company policies. If there are manuals and job aids involved, they need to be able to locate written information; find facts or specifications in text materials; determine the meaning of technical vocabulary and those enabling words attached to them like twist, stir, insert, and pour; and cross reference text information with charts, diagrams, and illustrations.

To thrive on a job, they must be able to have discussions; give as well as follow directions; teach others; hypothesize; predict outcomes; state a position; express an opinion; negotiate; interrupt; and take turns. On a literacy level, knowing how to access and use written information from diverse sources is critical.
(Grognet 1996, Burt, 2002)

Are there historical precedents for adult education’s involvement in workplace education, and particularly workplace ESOL? The Workforce Investment Act (WIA), July 1998, identifies “workplace literacy services” as part of the adult education and literacy services provided by local adult education programs. Adult education programs play a critical role in assisting non-native speakers of English – an ever growing percentage of America’s workforce – in obtaining the language skills needed to get a job, survive on a job, and thrive in a job, with the potential for upward mobility.

Differences between Traditional ESL and Work-Related Instruction
The Secretary’s Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS, 1991) report efficiently states the distinction: “The most effective way of learning skills is ‘in context’; that is, placing learning objectives within a real environment rather than insisting that students first learn in the abstract what they will be expected to apply.” The curriculum in workforce-related instruction must be contextually appropriate and designed to achieve the learning objectives identified as priorities. In addition to curricular differences, other factors such as assessment, evaluation of learning outcomes, and overall curriculum delivery formats may differ significantly from a more traditional, academic basic skills program.