Planning A Workplace Literacy Program

The Planning Steps Step 4: Design a Company-Specific Program Conduct a Literacy Audit Now that there is a commitment to implement a program, the first step is to conduct an informal literacy audit to learn about the specific literacy skills that workers need in order to do their jobs. The informal literacy audit involves analyzing job descriptions, studying the written materials used by workers, observing workers on the job, and interviewing workers and supervisors. Job descriptions: See if you can obtain copies of the pertinent job descriptions from the company liaison and analyze them for the reading, writing, and computation skills required to do each job. Here are some questions to ask for your analysis: What does the worker have to read (e.g., a chart, directions, notes from the supervisors)? What does the worker have to do with what is read (e.g., follow directions, make a decision)? What does the worker have to write (e.g., description of a problem with equipment, list of numbers, note to other workers)? Who has to be able to read what the person writes (e.g., co-worker on another shift, supervisor, the worker him/herself)? What math skills are needed? For what purpose? What type of spoken communication is required? Is the worker a member of a team? What special skills does that teamwork require? To what extent is problem-solving a part of the job? Work-related materials: Ask the company liaison to collect as many job-related written materials for you as possible. Include materials used by workers in doing their specific jobs as well as materials used by all workers, (e.g., personnel handbook, pay stubs, company directory, bulletin board notices, newsletters, training materials). Study these materials for overall content, intended purpose, vocabulary, reading level, and appropriateness for their audiences. Company tour: Arrange to spend at least one day touring the worksite to observe workers on the job. Also visit company areas used by all employees. Compare what you learned from the job descriptions and work-related materials to what actually takes place on the job. Notice any written materials and observe if and how they are used. If you are planning an ESL program, note the vocabulary and grammatical structures used in conversation, including conversation among workers and between supervisors and workers. Note both technical and informal terms that workers and supervisors use to refer to machinery or processes. If possible, get permission to take photographs during the tour. It is extremely helpful to have photographs of the workplace to use as learning tools. This is especially true for ESL work. Here are some tips from English at Work on taking photographs with relevant workplace content: Photograph workers carrying out their actual functions, with a clear sense of workplace context. Catch them in motion, not posed. Use close-ups for important objects, minute work tasks, and written material. Frame social relationships between workers and supervisors, clients and other workers. Capture the interactions that are most critical to workers. Try to get shots that show as well the broader social contextóthe workplace, a union meeting, etc. Catch the spontaneous moments, the varied expressions of emotion that are the human side of any work experience. Interviews: If you have permission from management, interview workers and supervisors to determine their perceptions of the reading, writing, conversation, and math skills needed on the job. In Participatory Literacy Education, Raul Anorve describes his approach to doing an initial literacy audit as follows: Tour the plant, taking photographs of worksites, machines, and so on. I interview supervisors and managers, helping them to understand the program while asking them to identify areas of concern for employees' basic skills. For example, I may ask how they would train a new worker and what skills they would focus on. I look at the company's training facilities. I ask how they communicate with workers. I also study the production process so I can understand the content in which the learners work. Along the way, I collect sample reading and writing materials, which can include union contracts, posters, and other [items] representing workplace themes. [Then] I meet with the workers in two-hour sessions. I show them enlargements of the photos I took and ask them to identify what they see. In this discussion process, key themes and vocabulary emerge for treatment later in classes. By interviewing both management and workers, I seek to clarify the relationship between workers' knowledge and management's assumptions. I do not focus initially on identifying skill gaps (that is, on workers' ëdeficits'). Instead, I try to pull out what workers already know. In the process, the workers' self-esteem is reinforced. Traditional skill assessments tend to focus on deficits, and they are therefore intimidating to workers. Workers typically have had bad experiences with tests in school, and they often suspect that workplace testing will be used to limit their opportunities for advancement. I do conduct testing, but only if the workers themselves ask for it. To ensure confidentiality, test results are shared only with the learner involved. In addition to determining the literacy skills needed on the job, there are side benefits to doing a literacy audit. The audit process creates awareness of the workplace literacy program that is being planned. The interviews with workers and supervisors can be an important in-person recruiting activity. Design the Program Once you have the results of the informal literacy audit, you are ready to design the workplace literacy program for the company. Begin by stating the specific goals for the program. You may want to develop short-term and long-term instructional goals. Short-term goals may focus more on the worker literacy skills achievement and improved job performance. Long-term goals may also include such work-related outcomes as increased productivity, improved morale/motivation, promotability of workers, reduced absenteeism, and reduced job turnover. Use the information gathered from your literacy audit to help you make final decisions about your curriculum and training to ensure that it meets the goals you have set with this particular company. Be sure that you include input from human resources. Present the information from the audit to tutors in a form that will help them develop appropriate lessons. You can also provide specific tools such as sample vocabulary list, suggestions for spoken dialogues for use with ESL learners, or descriptions of problem-solving role play activities. next page