This paper explains the rationale and methods for integrating workplace literacy with English literature instruction for high school or adult students. The workplace literacy/English literature activities presented include: (1) a newsletter format reporting on the major historical periods in English literature; (2) a business project report used…

Suggests that students read less often in school than most workers do on the job, that they read less competently, and that they face easier material which they read to less depth. (AEA)

Changing views of learning in the workplace necessitate new assessment approaches. Narrative provides a vehicle for self-reflection and examination of complex realities. Related techniques are scenario building and process mapping. (SK)

Education for liberation respects learners' cultures and situations; it poses a particular challenge for workplace literacy education, which must respond to employers as well as to workers. (Editor)

Melville's "Bartleby" and "The Paradise of Bachelors and The Tartarus of Maidens" provide insights into workplace literacy on the following issues: existential nature of literacy, empowerment versus compliance, class and gender exploitation, and the use of literacy as a tool to label, control, and delimit people and their…

In workplace reading classes, employees practiced self-monitoring, use of background knowledge, identification of the purpose of reading, work-related vocabulary, and concept mapping. A survey one year later showed most were still using self-monitoring, prior knowledge, purpose of reading, and critical vocabulary on the job. (SK)

A survey of 2,021 Nevada employers received 1,124 usable responses indicating significant differences in their interest in adult basic education services. Larger organizations were more interested (57% of those with more than 500 employees). They were most interested in methods to encourage attendance and in availability of information about…

The Screening Battery of the Adult Basic Learning Examination and a demographic questionnaire were completed by 65 employees in small manufacturing firms in Oklahoma City. Despite overall educational attainment of 11.5 years, grade equivalents of scores were 7.6 for reading comprehension, 8.9 for problem solving; 21.5% were classified as…

In a survey of 16 companies with over 500 employees, 12 respondents believed illiteracy was a national problem. Eight considered it a local problem. Eleven believed that schools adequately prepare employees. Limited interest in financially supporting reading programs was expressed. (SK)

A National Workplace Literacy Project implemented by the Center on Education and Training for Employment and the Ohio State Building and Construction Trades Council involves a partnership that employs teacher-worker co-learner methodology. It uses the DELTA (DACUM Enhanced Literacy Task Analysis) process to identify learner needs. (JOW)

Raises the following questions: who participates in workplace literacy; how do literacy programs change workers' participation in workplace culture; how does the culture change; how do literacy programs affect industrial relations; what is the role of unions; and how will power relations of literacy programs be affected by changes in modes of…

Examines complexities of the supposedly simple idea of literacy in the discourse of vocational education within the changing discourse of vocational and workplace education. Looks at two workplace educational initiatives: Secretary of Labor's Committee for Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS); and the Northwest Workplace Basics Curriculum Management…

Surveys 200 public relations practitioners and investigates whether the type of writing and over-all time spent writing vary with years of experience. Finds that higher levels of writing efficiency come with writing experience, and shows that female practitioners spend a higher percentage of their workday on writing tasks than do their male…

On the one hand, contemporary corporations want people who are geographically, culturally and temporally remote to work together to generate new knowledge and accomplish routine work--they want to generate multi-disciplinary, globally dispersed communities of practice. On the other hand, they need to exert some control over this divergent,…

This article seeks to explore the influence of the knowledge economy on the status of writing and literacy. It inquires into what happens to writers and their writing when texts serve as the chief commercial products of an organization--when such high-stakes factors as corporate reputation, client base, licensing, competitive advantage, growth,…