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The Problem
Businesses face the need to train and educate new
employees, as well as the existing workforce, to upgrade workforce literacy. It
is as if students have graduated from high school or college but did not learn
the skills needed for the workplace. Even those who did well in school can
benefit from improving the skills that they have.
Costly mistakes can be avoided, and employee efficiency,
productivity and safety can be improved by raising their reading comprehension.
The Solution
The Language Enrichment Program is a
self-instructional program that effectively raises adult reading comprehension,
reading speed, and academic motivation. It has been used to prepare adults to
pass licensing and certification tests in the same manner that it has been used
to qualify high school athletes for college scholarships by raising their SAT
and ACT test scores.
Implementation
Workforce literacy can be enhanced through the use of
The Language Enrichment Program. Since the program is self instructional, no
trained proctors, teachers, or tutors are required. The program is completely
self-contained, teaches its content in easily understandable small steps, and
can be used by adults of any ability or background, whether entry-level
employees or middle to upper level management. Whether time is set aside before,
during, or after the work day or whether the program is used off site, The
Language Enrichment Program is flexible enough to meet the needs of any
setting. The Language Enrichment Program focuses upon the structure of
English sentences. It is the sophisticated, compressed style of expository text
in the workplace—whether technical manuals, contracts, legal briefs, medical and
scientific literature—which makes it difficult for many employees to read
efficiently. The Language Enrichment Program painlessly gives repeated
practice in perceiving language structure and practicing the inference skills
required to read material of any complexity with greater comprehension.
The program can be used by groups of employees or a single
employee in any scheduling combination. Because learners work through the
program at their own pace, learners simply continue where they left off at the
next session. Sessions can be as long or as short as is convenient. Sessions
probably should not be shorter than fifteen minutes, or longer than two hours,
though motivated learners may use the program for as long as they desire at each
sitting. Within reason, lapse of time between sessions has no negative effect
upon achievement gains. The program takes between 24 to 72 clock hours to
complete for an average achievement gain of two years improvement in reading
comprehension. The range varies from one to five years, with a very few
individuals demonstrating even greater gains.
Significant observed side-benefits of using the program
include improved writing skill, vastly increased understanding of English
grammar and linguistics, increased reading speed, a new ability to read and
comprehend expository text, improved academic achievement in all other learning
contexts, and the improved motivation that comes with successful learning.
Who Can Benefit
The Language Enrichment Program can be used in any
setting where reading with greater comprehension would be a workplace asset.
Since The Language Enrichment Program is content centered rather than
grade level or skill based, the program works effectively for learners of any
ability. The Language Enrichment Program has been used on a limited basis
to upgrade academic skills of college students entering a nursing program. Such
students frequently fail to be retained in college nursing programs, or fail to
qualify to enter them, because of reading deficiencies. Such students, and many
employees, comfortable with narrative reading, find expository prose an
insurmountable hurdle. The Language Enrichment Program solves that
problem. It has been used to prepare trainees for work in the building trades.
The Language Enrichment Program has been used effectively with adults who
are learning to speak, read or write English as their second language. Using
The Language Enrichment Program prepares employees in any profession to
benefit far more from whatever other training they may receive. Whether a person
must read informational trade books or instruction manuals, is preparing to pass
a certification examination, or preparing to advance in the legal profession,
the improvement in reading comprehension produced by using The Language
Enrichment Program makes for a wise investment in improving workplace
literacy in any business, professional, or industrial setting.
Program History
The Language Enrichment Program has been written out
of the developer’s experience as a writer and editor of technical training
materials for the electrical, automotive, petroleum, and insurance industries.
The developer served as writer and editor with the Resources Development
Corporation in East Lansing, Michigan, headed by Dr. John Ball and Dr.
Donald J. Lloyd. Dr. Lloyd, an internationally recognized linguist, was the
developer’s college professor for several linguistics courses in graduate school
at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. Materials written or edited by
the developer while working for Resources Development Corporation were
utilized by the American Petroleum Institute, Ford Motor Company, and other
industries pertaining to numeric machine control and other engineering fields.
Titles published by Resources Development Corporation directly under the
developer’s own name include AC Motors and Motor Controllers, Positive
Displacement Pumps, and Automotive Hand Tools. The developer decided
to apply his technical training writing expertise to solve the reading problems
of students in his own public school classroom, and succeeded. The Language
Enrichment Program is the result. |
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