Importantly, this R &D took place within a context in which students did not have many external worries to distract them. They had transportation, food, housing, medical care, dental care, clothing, and supervision for time management. By holding all these factors constant, the impact of the curriculum was better demonstrated. These contextual factors are not so easily controlled in most civilian adult literacy programs.

Reference: For more on the FLIT program see Chapter 7 in Sticht, T. (1997). Functional Context Education (FCE) Workshop Resource Notebook (http://www.nald.ca/fulltext/context/cover.htm)

Case Study #2: Vocational English as a Second Language (VESL): Integrating Electronics Training With English as a Second Language

[Editors Note: This descrition of a VESL Electronics course was written by R. Wesley Popham, a teacher/researcher in the Action Research Center (ARC) of the San Diego Consortium for Workforce Education and Lifelong Learning (CWELL). It also reports research using a quasi-experimental design with pre- and post tests on both general literacy and job-related literacy tests contrasting Popham’s integrated ESL+Voced course with two comparison courses. The article is taken from Passports to Paradise (reference).]

The Electronic Assembly Training class (EA) is run by the San Diego Community College District, Division of Continuing Education's Mid-City Center in conjunction with the International Mutual Assistance Association (IMAA) of San Diego. This particular class has been in existence continuously for 12 years as an off-site, community-based facility providing job training for Electronic Assemblers.

Although there are several other Electronic Assembly Training classes throughout the San Diego Community College District, this class is unique in that it has a Vocational English as a Second Language (VESL) component attached to it that is specifically focused on Electronic Assembly in the workplace. The primary goal of both classes is to provide particular skills to enable students to become employed upon completion of training. The VESL component of this training is the topic of this discussion.

Both the VESL (Vocational English for Electronic Assembly Terminology) and the EA (Electronic Assembly hands-on training) are designed to be interdependent. In order to complete training and receive a certificate in Electronic Assembly Training, students are required to attend both EA and VESL classes. This holds for native English as well as non-native English speaking students. Students attend training from 8:30 am to 3:00 pm, with a 30 minute lunch, five days per week for 10 weeks (previously 8 weeks). The VESL component is from 8:30 to 11:30 am and the EA component is from 12:00 to 3:00 pm. Training is open-entry/open-exit which means that students begin and complete training at various times throughout the 10-week cycle.

Classes are both multicultural and multilevel. Because the facility is located within a predominantly Asian community, the majority of students tend to be of Vietnamese, Laotian, Chinese, Cambodian and Hmong descent. The next largest population tends to be people of African descent, Spanish descent, then other (e.g. European). Although a small percentage, a number of U.S.-born, English speaking students have successfully completed training along with multicultural students.