Improving English skills - on-site vocational English as a second language classes

Nation's Business, May, 1993 by Roberta Maynard

As workplace diversity increases, so does the need to improve the ability of workers to communicate in English. And many small firms that have not previously considered English skills as part of their training programs are seeking ways to provide such help to employees. Those businesses are drawing on private companies and public agencies for help in promoting English as a second language (ESL) on the job.

In 1990, the three largest minority groups in the work force were blacks, Hispanics, and a category that the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics calls Asians and Others. By 2005, the sharpest rise-- to 11.1 percent from 7.7 percent--will be among Hispanics. Asians and Others are expected to grow from 3.1 percent in 1990 to 4.3 percent.

The growth in ESL is also evident in publishing. Ten years ago, about 50 ESL textbooks were available from the major U.S. educational publishers combined, according to Andreas Martin, executive marketing manager for Prentice Hall, a publishing company in Englewood Cliffs, N.J. Today, there are between 300 and 400 separate ESL titles.

Meanwhile, a growing number of sources are providing work-site English training. These sources include adult-education programs, public schools, comnity colleges, independent instructors, and private companies such as Tru Lingua, Inc., in Santa Ana, Calif.

Nearly 10 years ago, at its Santa Ana location, Tru Lingua began providing Spanish-language instruction to managers of a fireplace-manufacturing company. The goal was to improve communication between English-speaking managers and Spanish-speaking workers.

Within three months, says Tru Lingua's president, Tru Miller, it was obvious that managers had so many other job priorities, such as travel and meetings, it was difficult to get them to class.

But Miller also discovered that the company's Hispanic plant workers were interested in taking English classes. So she began an on-site pilot class of 15 students. By 1990, vocational ESL (VESL) had become the primary focus of her company's operation.

One of the most appealing aspects of VESL programs is that they are tailored to each workplace. As a result, the training is much more likely than general English instruction to result in higher worker productivity, experts say. Employers get more for their investment dollar if workers are learning vocabulary and information specifically related to the work they do.

In a conventional class, for example, students learn how to phrase such sentences as: "The book is on the table." In a work-site class, that might be replaced by: "The forklift is in the plant."

A teacher in a general English class would use standard exercises for a grammar lesson on the past tense, whereas a VESL instructor might use a history of the company written in the past tense.

The type of material taught and the workers selected for the courses depend on the company's objectives. To determine those objectives, VESL instructors meet with company managers, tour the facilities, and may even spend time observing workers, studying their jobs.

Workplace instruction may be long-term or short-term, depending on the company's goal. One firm arranged for a five-day project to teach employees with limited English skills about a new workplace law. Another short-term class taught workers how to read labels on mixing materials to avoid errors.

But a more common' goal of employers is the general upgrading of language skills for a number of ethnically diverse employees, which is a much more long-term proposition. This can be an eye-opener for businesses new to ESL. "Employers don't understand how long language instruction takes," says Robin Schrage, coordinator of the English in the Workplace program run by the public school system in Fairfax County, Va. The program contracts to do on-site training for clients, which include hospitals, banks, landscaping firms, manufacturing companies, and nursing homes.

Fairfax's minimum arrangement is for 60 hours of instruction with 10 to 15 people in a group, meeting for at least three hours weekly. But students may need much more instruction, depending on their initial skill levels. Schrage says that "it may take 120 to 180 hours of instruction" to improve the English skill level of a group significantly.

That is not to say that employers shouldn't see some results early, such as workers' improved communication, their general comfort level with English, and their willingness to interact with others.

An example of how ESL training can meet a company's needs is SICPA, a 100-employee ink-manufacturing company in Springfield, Va. SICPA wanted to prepare production workers for changes brought about by new manufacturing technologies and by a move to Total Quality Management, which required employees to track and write down more information. SICPA hired a firm to teach a class of 13 that included Hispanic, Cambodian, and African workers. SICPA paid for materials and instruction; half of the instruction was on company time.

"The employees are better workers as a result" of the course, says Katherine Harkman, SICPA's human-resources manager. "I was concerned about attendance, but we didn't have a problem. They really enjoyed it, and everyone in the class improved. Some have gone on to a local community college to take English on their own."