LINCS Resource CollectionsWorkforce Competitiveness
English Language Acquisition This portion of the larger Practitioner Toolkit: Working with Adult English Language Learners focuses on activities to develop reading development. It defines types of native language literacy (e.g. preliterate, non-alphabet literate) and addresses four components of developing reading skills (phonological processing, vocabulary knowledge, syntactic processing, background knowledge). Sample reading activities are provided which address these skill areas. The activities are developed for beginning and multilevel classrooms.
This practical resource stresses the importance of building oral (speaking and listening) communicative skills necessary for the workplace and community.
This guide provides a framework, based in research conducted by the American Institutes for Research, to build quality professional development opportunities for those working with English language learners.
This step by step training resource for developing ESL work-based programs includes agendas, content, participant activities, handouts, transparencies and trainer resources.
This article addresses five points that are at issue for English language learners in the workplace (e.g., language and identity, measuring outcomes) and how employers might address them formally (e.g., through targeted ESL classes, educating non-immigrant workers) and informally (e.g., providing opportunities to use English on the job, involving leadership).
This article reviews available research literature in the ESL Workplace learning field. Burt seeks to go beyond naming desired outcomes and assessments; current research focuses primarily on length of time to learn English and learning "American-Like" behavior.
This short article provides general information about mental health and stresses that refugees face in adjusting to a new culture and specific things ESL teachers can do to assist their students in the adjustment process based in current research.
This guide gives an excellent introduction to mental health issues that refugees may experience and the role of the ESL teacher in and out of the ESL classroom.
The author presents five current approaches to teaching second language writing, the theoretical perspectives on which they are based, their implications for practice, and the messages they send learners.
This resource synthesizes and reviews an extensive body of research on adult English language learners and learning to read, including what facilitates this process.
This article provides a brief but concise overview of three aspects of Second Language Acquisition (SLA): learner motivation, role of interaction, role of vocabulary.
This article focuses on classroom and program (administrator) practices that promote successful transitions for L2 learners to postsecondary education. The brief covers research and theory related to instructional strategies useful in supporting adult ELL students' transition to college.
Title: Teaching Reading to Adult English Language Learners: A Reading Instruction Staff Development Program
This comprehensive and self-contained resource was developed by the Center for Applied Linguistics for the Adult ESOL Program, Office of Adult And Community Education, Fairfax Co. Public Schools. The resource contains materials for four workshop sessions, including a Facilitator Guide, Facilitator Notes, and Participant Handouts.
This training manual was a collaborative project of the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development and the Center for Literacy Studies at The University of Tennessee, using a volunteer task force of Tennessee adult education supervisors and ESOL teachers working together with the authors.
This article identifies outcomes and ways in which ESL programs can prepare L2 learners to successfully transition to GED or other academic courses.
The curriculum guide was designed to prepare intermediate level ELL adults for career-path employment and post-secondary education in advanced technology fields. It is composed of two courses (A and B) that run for 14 weeks, 12 hours per week.
This resource describes and discusses three different workforce preparation venues (workplace classes, vocational classes, Adult ESL classes) for English language learners.
In this short article the authors combine a comprehensive overview of: why practitioners need to understand and use research; how researchers and teachers can pair up to conduct and appreciate research; how research findings can be incorporated into classroom practice; and the role of follow-up with participating teachers.
This article provides a research based rationale to identify which general teaching reading strategies work for all learners and which of those strategies do not work for English Language Learners (ELL) - for example, why teaching semantic vocabulary sets works for native speakers but not for ELL).
This research report reviews the challenges of integrating immigrants into the workplace and offers seven lessons that will assist in successfully supporting this process. Reported outcomes are based on an extensive literature review, interviews with experts in the field, benchmarking and a discovery forum.
This paper promotes the development of language skills and learner autonomy as a process in which these skills combine to support each other (as opposed to developing them in isolation). The paper covers the theoretical background of learner autonomy, learning and language acquisition. He then offers some practical suggestions and resources to carry out this type of classroom project.
Technology This resource traces the history of distance education, defines commonly used terms, and examines the potential online education has to meet the adult basic learners' needs. The resource draws on national, state, and international research which examines efforts of particular programs' efforts to implement distance education programs. This resource provides questions to help guide the development of an online education program and lists other products that programs have utilized to build their programs.
"While computers in particular hold much promise, we must understand how they can and cannot help students, and what they are and are not currently capable of doing. Why does some computer-assisted instruction improve students' learning, while other does not? What does research tell us about the most effective ways of using technology in instruction? Researchers who have looked at the use of commercially available software in classrooms have not found marked differences between how learning happens when a computer is used and when it is not. Instead, effective use of technology reinforces several learning principles already used in successful ABE instruction."
This book is designed to provide adult literacy and ESOL staff developers and teachers with
some simple, user-friendly guidance on using project based instruction and technology to build a web site with students.
Workforce Education Practitioners frequently request job-related basic skills curricula and materials. The Embedded Learning Portal offers access to a variety of work-related basic skills curricula that are embedded in a functional context of job areas in specific industry clusters.
Many employers require at least a GED for new entrants into the workplace; however, many new entrants lack fundamental background information concerning the workplace and the world of work in order to stay with the job or move up in the field. This curriculum resource prepares students for the GED credential while providing important background information, skill instruction, and practice within a hospitality career context and career pathway model.
This guide contains 22 stories written by adult basic educators in Pennsylvania who describe the many different ways they have used PA’s Foundation Skills Framework to develop and/or provide work-related programs for adult learners in various settings, such as adult education classrooms, prisons, workplaces, unions, sheltered workshops, and English Language Acquisition programs.
This thorough, concise, and well-organized career development curriculum is appropriate for instructors and other service providers who work with mid- to higher-level adult learners in the process of choosing a career, changing a career, or exploring education options that match their goals.
Research Papers/Articles
This report from the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL) uses numerous data sets to provide evidence about what is known about adult learning nationally and across each of the fifty states and to identify gaps that hinder increasing numbers of Americans from earning a living wage (defined by some as 150 percent of minimum wage).
The authors analyze recent employment and wage trend data, as well as projections from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), to investigate the future demand for workers in "middle-skill" jobs -- i.e., those requiring some postsecondary education or training (associate's degrees, vocational certificates, on-the-job training) but less than a bachelor's degree.
The authors review and synthesize existing research in three key "powerful forces" in the nation: 1) Wide disparity in literacy and numeracy skills among American school-aged and adult populations, with particular ethnic/racial groups especially at risk; 2) Profound restructuring of the U.S. workplace driven by globalization, technological change, and higher skill demands; and 3) Changing demographic trends (i.e., an aging and more diverse workforce).
Title: Skills to Live By: Participant Reflections on the Value of their Sectoral Training Experience
This resource describes the third phase of a sectoral approach (targeting high priority industry clusters and related jobs) to education and training for low income and low-skilled individuals, especially to identify the successes and challenges they have faced participating and remaining in the labor market four years after training.
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The Workforce Competitiveness Resource Collection includes resources applicable to workforce basic skills education, English language acquisition, and/or technology. Although these topics are separate, some of the selected resources will be useful across topics. For example, a resource listed under English Language Acquisition might also be appropriate for use under Workforce Education, or one listed under Technology might be useful with adults in the workforce. 
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