Describes a study carried out in a pre-apprenticeship job-training program held at a community college in central Canada, in which learners from a variety of language backgrounds were enrolled. Information was gathered on factors affecting progress in such programs through student questionnaires, interviews, and participant observation in the…

Considers societal changes, namely the computer revolution and the World Wide Web, that have impacted information literacy standards and have left students lacking needed skills for employment and postsecondary education. Identifies desired outcomes of information literacy, discusses the need for lifelong learning, and suggests roles for business,…

This article explores the concept of the "vocational" in contemporary educational discourses, and argues for the centrality of vocational aspects of learning in making meaning. The existing tensions are seen to lie between discourses that place the vocational at the bottom of a hierarchy of knowledge and value, and discourses concerning…

Findings from an evaluation of a workplace literacy program funded by the State of Indiana are presented. Working with employers, providers were given considerable latitude to design their own training regimens. The state awarded certificates to workers who achieved certain levels of proficiency in reading, math, critical thinking, problem solving…

This paper validates the concept of exemplary practice in work-based education (WBE) programs. The validation uses two theoretical frameworks: Social Cognitive Career Theory, and Billett's research on workplace learning. The empirical component of the validation study consists of two widely differing case studies of high school students in work…

This publication is an update of an earlier Ohio Literacy Resource Center workplace literacy bibliography and contains 20 resources from 1993 to the present. Items have been selected based on a number of criteria: they had to be of high quality, have practical use, and be readily available to a wide audience of workplace literacy practitioners.…

Developed as part of the ABCs of Construction National Workplace Literacy Project, this instructional module contains materials designed to help students develop study and test-taking skills. Presented first are 10 strategies for preparing for tests. Discussed next are test-taking strategies and the importance of self-talk in successful test…

Developed as part of the ABCs of Construction National Workplace Literacy Project, this instructional module teaches general, specialized, and technical terms encountered by persons employed in the occupation of millwright. Included in the module are the following: a discussion of the difference between general, specialized, and technical…

Developed as part of the ABCs of Construction National Workplace Literacy Project, this instructional module is designed to help persons preparing for the occupation of millwright develop strategies for finding the meanings of compound words used in technical writing and the workplace. Presented in the first section is a method for deducing the…

Research has shown that an effective assessment of workplace literacy programs requires both formative and summative evaluations. Workplace literacy program impact is best measured using a mixture of standard assessment tests and custom-designed instruments. A broader conception of adult literacy learning can be assessed by using interviews and…

This guide, which is intended for project directors, coordinators, and other professional staff involved in developing and delivering workplace education programs, explains the implications of identifying critical job tasks and details a process by which educational partners can facilitate identification of critical job tasks. First, critical job…

The Job Literacy Analysis (JLA) was developed in response to the need for analyzing the literacy requirements of various occupations in an effort to match the instruction to the job and to enhance the job relatedness of curricula. It is a systematic, comprehensive process for identifying the important literacy skills needed by workers to function…

This manual is intended for use in presenting a course which provides the content-specific general chemistry education required for the safety awareness and job enhancement of persons employed as waste handlers. The course, which was designed to be delivered to technicians at job sites in a lecture/demonstration format with several hands-on…

A project described the literacy skills, tasks, and materials of the entry-level and the mid-to-executive level secretary jobs. It tested Job Literacy Analysis (JLA), a six-step methodology resulting in a job literacy description that includes a representative collection of the most important materials required for competent performance of the job…

Job Literacy Analysis (JLA) is a systematic, comprehensive process for identifying the literacy requirements of jobs. It examines materials used for real tasks in real jobs and provides data about the materials used in jobs, tasks performed using them, and skills required to perform the tasks. Researchers reviewing the materials and tasks infer…