The Readers’ Guide to Essential Skill Profiles (HRDC, 2003) states that the nine Essential Skills:
The ES approach captures workers’ skills, and to some extent knowledge requirements, in the form of concrete tasks carried out in real-life work situations. Because of the broad-based approach, language is not the only construct of interest in this framework. In fact, of the nine skills that are identified as essential, only four relate directly to the language proficiency construct.
For the purposes of comparative study, those components of Essential Skills that reflect the language proficiency construct have been selected for alignment. This alignment has been undertaken in the awareness that authentic tasks elicit an overlapping of language skills which, in turn, are also entwined with the cognitive demands of the task.
As shown in the table below, the CF presents an alignment of CLB skills with four of the nine Essential Skills.
| Canadian Language Benchmarks | Essential Skills |
|---|---|
| Speaking | Oral Communication |
| Listening | |
| Reading | Reading Text |
| Writing | Writing |
| Reading and Writing | Document Use |
As indicated by the descriptions of CLB and ES in the sections above, this is not a straight-forward alignment, but rather an intersection that reflects the complex and multi-dimensional relationship between two very different underlying scales. Because the CF has been designed primarily to meet the needs of English as a Second Language professionals seeking to incorporate meaningful workplace content and Essential Skills resources into adult second language classrooms and curricula, the document has been organized in the following manner. For each skill, a chart is first presented in order to provide a quick overview of the general relationship between the two scales. This initial chart is then followed by a presentation of criteria laid out in a series of tables. For each skill, these tables display the key characteristics of tasks and behaviours.
Each series of tables includes a global description of ES and CLB performance, along with sample task descriptors. For example, the global descriptors for ES Oral Communication and CLB Speaking / Listening include content relating to language functions, information, context, and limitations or risks associated with each of the CLB-ES alignments. The task descriptors offer insights into sample tasks that are considered appropriate for each of the relevant levels on both scales.
In approaching the framework, it is important to give due consideration to the material presented in these tables and to reflect upon the complexity and ambiguity of the CLB-ES relationship. In other words, it will not suffice to simply consult the alignment tables and refer to the simple juxtaposition of levels in order to make assumptions about ES materials for specific purposes.
There are many potential purposes for which the CLB and ES Comparative Framework might prove useful. In particular, the CF has been created with the following needs in mind: