The present trend in developing and using semi-direct speaking tests has been supported by test developers and researchers' claim of their increased practicality, higher reliability and concurrent validity with test scores in direct oral proficiency interviews. However, it is universally agreed within the language testing and assessment community…

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of limited English proficiency on employee performance in manufacturing companies to help explain the degree to which employers are willing to invest in ESL or other initiatives designed to overcome language barriers. Design/methodology/approach: While the primary emphasis of this study…

The authors present a comparative study of 2 in-company educational programs aimed at developing frontline operator capabilities in forensic methods. They discuss the relationship between the application of various forensic tools and conceptual techniques, the process (i.e., curriculum) for developing employee knowledge and capability, and the…

This paper explores the impact that SCORM conformance has had on workplace e-learning. The author describes a project in which she was requested to "repurpose" some materials that had originally been designed for the face-to-face teaching of English as a Foreign Language, into SCORM conformant e-learning materials. The rationale for this request…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explain the rationale for designing and implementing an action learning and research process to significantly transform the work behaviour of tradition-bound bakers to embrace leading ideas of a new workplace culture in order to diversify the product range of the moon cake and generally improve the…

This study examined the effects of organisational learning initiatives on employee motivation. Four initiatives consistent with theories of organisational learning were a priori ranked in terms of concepts that underpin intrinsic-motivation theory. Eighteen employees in a UK petrochemical company were interviewed to ascertain their experiences of…

The term 'work process knowledge' refers to the knowledge needed for working in flexible and innovative business environments, including those in which information and communication technologies have been introduced to integrate previously separated production functions. It involves a systems-level understanding of the work process in the…

Over the last decades educational researchers and politicians have shown a growing interest in the concept of learning in practice, i.e. learning in the workplace. Learning in practice plays an important role in connection with lifelong learning, as the workplace is an obvious setting for realizing this aim. Theories about learning in practice…

This paper examines young workers' beginning engagement in learning through work, placing it in the context of Australian policy on entry-level training. Eleven young people were followed through their first year of full-time work and the significant adults involved in their working and learning lives were also interviewed. The study demonstrates…

Seven years ago, SC Johnson--A Family Company approached Gateway Technical College with a need to further strengthen their incumbent workforce's technical training and education. Retirements, brain drain, and competition for technical expertise were the forces driving SC Johnson to develop a comprehensive, flexible, and timely workplace education…

This Issue Brief examines participation in formal, post compulsory learning activities (such as college programs and courses, employer-provided training, and other coursework) in which computer technologies were used to deliver instruction. The analysis uses the 2001 Adult Education and Lifelong Learning Survey of the National Household Education…

The instruction of both native and foreign-born persons in the essentials of the English language, numbers, civics, geography, and history is an important task. The United States Bureau of the Census reports that in 1920, nearly 5,000,000 of our population over 10 years of age could not write in any language. The number who need instruction in…

In the work of Americanization, which is, in the broad sense almost entirely educational, the teacher is of first importance. Not every person who can do good work as a teacher of a grade or of particular subjects in a school for children or youth can do equally good work as a teacher of classes of adult foreign-born persons. The preparation for…