SHOP TALK #4:
Getting, Surviving, and Thriving on the Job

Published June 27, 2006

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:

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.

But there are some very specific differences between traditional ESL and work-related instruction. The SCANS 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 differ greatly from an academic basic skills program.

The Workplace Foundation Skills Framework provides a common language to describe the literacy, language, and basic skills and competencies all adults need to obtain or maintain jobs, and to advance to higher paying positions. The framework is an adaptation by Pennsylvania’s Adult Basic and Literacy Education (ABLE) system of Equipped for the Future’s Content Standards Wheel. By clicking on the Skills Wheel in the upper right hand corner of the Pennsylvania Department of Education Website, you can access ABLE’s Focus Bulletin and information about the downloadable Resource and Instructor’s Guide). As a visual, the wheel speaks volumes and can be used to initiate discussion with employers and local workforce development. The wheel identifies the work-related needs of three groups often served by Adult Education:

• The emerging immigrant workforce with little or no work or educational history
• Recent hires in need of additional education opportunities in order to advance
• Long-term employees needing to upgrade their skills to meet job demands

SHOP TALK is a series of informative releases intended to address issues, concerns, and questions related to meeting the educational needs of Texas’ emerging, incumbent, and displaced workers. For additional information or to request that a particular topic be addressed, contact Barbara Tondre at btondre@earthlink.net