To investigate the extent of literacy programs in the workplace, an indepth look was taken at the different types of literacy programs in the workplace to determine what can help the state of literacy in the United States. The literacy efforts in the workplace among federal, state, and local government, schools, unions, businesses, corporations,…

A Chicago area private consulting firm worked in cooperation with the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) program to train applicants in word processing operations. Careful task analyses of on-the-job word processing were used to develop a curriculum based on realistic goals and expectations. Small groups of CETA eligible applicants…

Vocational English Second Language (VESL) programs have traditionally given immigrant, migrant, and refugee language learners access to employment. VESL programs provide not only the language input needed for learning specific job tasks but also address the sociocultural skills of language needed to negotiate in today's workplace. The demand for…

This proceedings contains 23 papers in French and the following 45 papers in English: "Arthur Lismer" (Barer-Stein); "Bootstrapping and Shoestringing to Academic Respectability" (Baskett); "Teaching by Teleconference" (Boak, Kirby); "Doing What Is Possible" (Butterwick); "Connections between Individual…

This report summarizes the proceedings of a 1-day conference on employment and training needs of the 1990s. Information summarized includes background and purpose, design and methodology, keynote speaker and presentation, synthesis of small group work, and implications and future community actions. The keynote speaker, Anthony Carnevale noted that…

A survey of 42 Massachusetts workplace literacy programs was conducted in fall 1989 to determine whether the programs generally fit a standard definition of workplace literacy derived from "A Guide to Developing Instruction for Workforce Literacy Programs" by Jorie W. Philippi. The study's seven-item questionnaire included the definition…

A description is provided of the Lower Merrimack Valley Workplace Education Project (WEP), an educational project that offers English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) and job-specific education classes to hourly employees in the Semiconductor Division of Alpha Industries. The challenge of the project was to create a WEP that could accommodate the…

A survey of the literacy proficiency of 1,500 Australian adults indicates that: (1) people who demonstrate some proficiency with using printed material should not be classified as illiterate; (2) appropriate rating scales should be developed for assessing adults' literacy skills; (3) more detailed analysis of the characteristics of those who…

Project POWER is a workplace literacy program conducted by Triton College. The project offers courses in English as a Second Language (ESL) and Adult Basic Education (ABE) to employers who are willing to pay their employees for half their class time and for 15 percent of the instructional costs. By the end of January 1990, the project had…

This examination of the relationship between illiteracy and the labor market in California describes in general terms the effects of widespread illiteracy on employers, the unemployed, employees, and the California economy. It discusses current programs which address the lack of basic literacy skills in the labor market, and identifies some of the…

Compiled to assist those who are interested in building better workplace literacy programs, the first ERIC/RCS FAST (Focused Access to Selected Topics) Bibliography is a selection of representative documents from searches of the ERIC database. The bibliography is divided into the following groups: eight sources that provide an overview of concerns…

Profound changes in the structure of the workplace and in the nature of jobs now make reading, writing, and other communications skills vital to the performance of even entry-level jobs. However, massive numbers of present and future workers have only minimal or marginal proficiency in the basic skills. The problem will get worse as the labor pool…

Demographic forecasters predict that fewer young workers will be entering the work force at the turn of the century, with women, minorities, and immigrants constituting five-sixths of the net additions to the labor force. Since these groups generally have comparatively low educational levels, the labor pool of the near future will be characterized…

A study was conducted to construct measures of reading competencies that are frequently needed in an occupational environment and to describe the influence of the components of reading practice on these competencies based on the conceptual framework of ethnographic psychology. The reading practices of 25 electrical engineers and 30 electronic…

These two volumes report a pilot study that examined the job-related literacy and numeracy demands made on school leavers who entered selected apprenticeships. Volume I presents narrative materials. Detailed descriptions of literacy and numeracy demands are provided for 10 trades: electrical-fitter-mechanical, fitter-turner-machinist, fitter…