Although basic skills and English language instruction are often viewed as real needs at the workplace, few companies provide this for their workers. Those that do are motivated by one or more of these factors: product quality improvement, commitment of top management to training and education, or the sales effort of an educational provider. Those…

Recent trends in immigration and foreign student enrollments are placing a growing demand on community colleges for English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) instruction. A 1991 study of course sections at 164 two-year colleges nationwide revealed that ESL had grown from 30% of all foreign language courses offered in 1983 to 51% in 1991, and that the…

Traditionally, student assessment has focused on measuring learner skills. Assessment of literacy needs, from the learner's perspective, is also an important part of an instructional program. This digest focuses on ways to determine what learners want or believe they need to learn. Many of the activities described can include or lead to assessment…

Newspapers can be inexpensive and useful tools in the literacy classroom, but newspapers written for native English speakers are not always appropriate for English-as-as-Second-Language (ESL) students. Adapting the newspaper to classroom instruction is a natural way to introduce students to cultural and linguistic concepts. The newspaper can be…

Preparation of instructors is considered to be one of the greatest needs in adult basic education (ABE) and English-as-a-Second Language (ESL) programs. Many ABE and ESL teachers and volunteer instructors receive little or no training, either in subject matter content or in the process of teaching English to adults. The challenge for the adult…

This Digest describes factors that may restrict access to adult literacy education in North America and discusses several potential solutions to these problems from programs that have aimed to provide adult literacy instruction to specific minority groups. Although the barriers and potential solutions apply to all minority groups, two populations…

In adult English-as-a-Second-Language literacy education and staff development, practitioner inquiry has emerged as a powerful approach toward improving practice. A variety of activities occur under the umbrella of practitioner inquiry, all of which are grounded in the knowledge and questions held by practitioners. The characteristics of inquiry…

Since the end of World War II, the United States has provided haven for nearly two million refugees who were involuntarily displaced from their homelands. In addition, during the last several decades, over one million legal immigrants have also found their way into the United States. Although the proportion of elderly may be small among these…

This digest discusses some of the challenges facing libraries in the area of service to adults learning English as a Second Language. It describes services provided for this population by some libraries, and suggests tools and approaches that other libraries can use. It also outlines actions that participants at the 1991 White House Conference on…

This digest reports on findings from recent literacy surveys and interprets these findings in light of theoretical and definitional issues involved in estimating literacy; examines approaches commonly use to measure literacy and enumerates concerns about the limitations of these approaches in linguistically diverse contexts; and concludes with a…

Ethnography is a research approach that seeks to understand and represent the points of view of the members of a particular culture. As in other forms of qualitative research, the data collected are rich in their descriptions of people, places, languages, and events. Ethnographic research can be characterized by its multi-instrumental approach,…

This digest provides general information on obtaining English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) teaching positions abroad. The considerations involved in teaching EFL abroad and the qualifications needed for teaching EFL in various countries are outlined, and general information sources on EFL employment opportunities are listed and described. A section…

As the nation has become aware of the scope of adult illiteracy and its tremendous cost, literacy programs have proliferated. New populations of language minority adults are becoming eligible for and involved in an increasing number of these programs. They include, among others, refugees whose training is no longer funded by the Office of Refugee…

This digest describes cultural considerations and effective approaches for limited English proficient (LEP) individuals' workforce development, including the impact of recent training legislation. LEP persons often come from both a different language background and a very different cultural background; so English-language instruction must provide…

This digest considers the misconception that grammar is a collection of arbitrary rules about static structures in a language by challenging 10 common myths about grammar and its teaching. The myths include the following: (1) grammar is acquired naturally; it need not be taught; (2) grammar is a collection of meaningless forms; (3) grammar…