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

Who are Texas’ Limited English Proficient Adults?

No one profile can adequately describe all adult English language learners. In fact, educators working with this population have identified several sets of characteristics that warrant our attention if we are to support these learners’ success.

They range from unskilled to advanced professionals. Some are well educated, with a strong academic background, but they often lack the social and linguistic skills needed for effective communications, team building, and conflict resolution. Others have had minimal formal education and need to upgrade their literacy and English language skills in order to advance in the workplace and benefit from academic, occupational, and on-the-job training opportunities.

Many are highly motivated and possess a strong work ethic; they are looking for opportunities to succeed in the workplace. Generally, they have some difficulty communicating with supervisors, co-workers, and customers. They often depend on others for interpretation or translation. Following written instruction and completing forms are often challenging to the English language learner – just as they are to many native speakers of English.

Today, English language learners in Texas speak more than one hundred different languages. For many of these individuals, English may be their second, third, or fourth language. While the young are quick in acquiring oral and aural communication skills, studies reveal that it takes from 2 to 5 years to become socially adept in a second language and from 5 to 8 years to become academically on a par with native speakers (Burt, 2003). If their English skills remain rudimentary, the chances that English language learners will perform near the bottom of their classes and/or drop out increase. The level of English language proficiency students need to read textbooks, pass tests, excel in their studies, and make successful transitions to post secondary education and training goes far beyond oral and aural communication skills, although active listening skills and the ability to communicate so that others can understand are critical starting points.

Generation 1.5

Gabriella Nuttall (Nuttall, 2005) refers to English language learners she meets in the post secondary arena as Generation 1.5 learners. Some have come through the American K-12 system but may have never stepped foot into an ESL classroom in the K-12 setting. Some were born here or came to the U.S. at a very early age, and were never identified as English language learners. In other cases, they might have been enrolled in ESL classes but quickly placed out because of strong oral communication skills and a tendency to work hard and do well in their coursework. Following are some common characteristics of this learner group:
  • were born in the U.S. or arrived at a young age
  • act like “average” American teenagers but often follow family ethnic and cultural traditions at home
  • have learned English primarily by listening and speaking; they are “ear” learners rather than “eye” learners
  • have strong oral communications skills
  • often tend to do well in coursework that requires oral interaction (e.g., class discussions, debates, interviews)
  • are often academically illiterate in their first or home language
  • may speak their first or home language fluently but with an American accent and limited vocabulary
  • continue to improve their English language skills
  • tend to fall behind native speakers in terms of reading and writing skills
  • have read mostly fiction if they have read at all
  • are not familiar with a variety of academic texts and may read below grade level
  • have limited academic vocabulary
  • have received formal grammar instruction but may not grasp basic usage relationships
  • may find themselves in remedial or developmental classes at the post secondary level

Application Activity: Identify and discuss the characteristics shared by the English language learners in your classroom. You may be able to add to this list, or you may want to revise the list to more accurately describe your students.

I would describe the English language learners in my classroom as ……

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