Although federal funding for workplace literacy has ended, some companies offer some remedial instruction in English as a Second Language. However, because of the cost of getting employees to a point where they are comfortable with English, many programs are being reduced. (JOW)

According to interviews with 26 human resource managers, 78 supervisors, and 226 workers in New Zealand, managers and supervisors acknowledge significant changes in the literacy demands of work and concern with the capacity to train. Employees reported less difficulty with literacy tasks than supervisors/managers believed. Examination of workplace…

This call for a policy focuses on the need for understanding that for literacy to be an investment, it must provide desired outcomes for people and the societies in which they live. (Adjunct ERIC Clearinghouse for ESL Literacy Education) (Author/VWL)

The Army's Job Skills Education Program is a computer-based instructional program that teaches basic academic skills in a job-related context. Its transferability to the civilian workplace provides another tool for enhancing workplace literacy. (SK)

Compares four small-group literacy-learning approaches (cooperative, collaborative, participatory, and workplace team) in terms of assumptions, relationship to literacy, learning activities, and teacher role. Concludes that they are validated more in theory than in practice; more attention to gender, class, and culture is also needed. (SK)

According to workplace instructors of English as a Second Language (ESL), such classes are essential if employees have little exposure to English off the job; ESL instruction enables learners to observe others' language-learning strategies and fulfills varied needs: standard English, language attack skills, and a forum for clarifying and…

Uses an ethnographic approach to study literacy as a cultural practice rather than as isolated skills within individuals. Finds that the emphasis on literacy, teamwork, and learning meant opportunities to increase workers' skills and wages but also increased burdens. Discusses implications for education and work. (RS)

Offers step-by-step guidelines for creating effective team work in a workplace basic skills program, including preplanning, determining worker skills, developing curriculum, evaluating, and reporting the results. (JOW)

Business, labor, and education representatives from Canada and the United States exchanged positions on workplace literacy. Discussed were the need for a consumers' guide to workplace literacy, labor's stake in literacy, educators' negotiations with businesses in providing services, and program evaluation. (JOW)

Workplace-English-as-a-Second-Language (WESL) programs are successful to the extent supervisors can be involved and supportive. They know that language and literacy needs are pertinent to tasks at hand and are the individuals that employees try to please most. Supervisors need help, encouragement, and information about the WESL program from…

A group of 58 Pennsylvania workers completed the R.O.A.D. course, which involved functional context and interactive software to improve drivers' reading skills to pass the Commercial Driver's License exam. Comparison with pre- and posttest scores of 10 in a control group showed that R.O.A.D. completers had significantly higher scores. (SK)

Training employees in basic skills necessitates sensitivity to their self-esteem. This can be achieved if the organizational culture supports training, the program is voluntary, it uses the group's strengths, it challenges them on an adult level, it does not resemble traditional schooling, and it builds in quick success. (SK)

Georgia's Certified Literate Community Program is a state-supported, community-based effort that provides all levels of instruction--from basic skills to technical writing--to adults at all educational levels. The goal is to enable every capable adult to attain reading, speaking, writing, problem solving, and comprehension skills. (SK)

Converting job materials into a basic skills curriculum requires collection of information about job functions; worker abilities; social, cultural, and interpersonal aspects of the workplace; and written materials used on the job. A balance should be struck between literacy and job skills. (JOW)

Good workplace education partnerships begin with honest assessment of the problems to be addressed, building of a vision or common mission, commitment to shared responsibility, identification of resources, and the decision to act in concert toward achieving common goals. Models include basic two-partner collaborations and multiple-industry or…