Research Proposal: Improving Employment Outcomes for Adult ESL Students: Efficacy of an Intervention Strategy for Language
Meeting the educational and training needs of adult Spanish-speaking and other minority group immigrants with limited English proficiency (LEP) has been found to be critical in determining the long-term and short-term economic advancement of members of such populations; specifically, mastery of English language skills, including both oral and written skills, is seen as a critical determinant of immigrantsÆ success (Holman, 1997; Rogers & Lyons, 1999). Many, if not most, adult Spanish-speaking immigrants arrive in the united States poorly prepared to move into the economic mainstream, largely as a consequence of limited mastery of English, educational and training deficits, and other potentially or actually disadvantaging variables (Holman, 1997). Because of this, research is needed to determine the effectiveness of adult education programs targeting Spanish-speaking men and women (age 18 and over) who experience difficulties in obtaining meaningful employment (and subsequent economic advancement) as a consequence of linguistic deficits.
Lozada (1998) described a pilot program implemented by Miami-Dade Community College that targeted adult learners for whom Spanish was the primary language. The G.R.E.A.T. (Guantanamo Refugee Education and Training Program) Program offered participants, males and females over age 18 with and without a secondary school or higher degree or diploma, an opportunity to participate in an intensified multi-week education, training and language skill enhancement program. Results of the program indicated that as studentsÆ English language skills and level of formal education increased, so did their achievement in course requirements and development of greater English language oral and written fluency.
However, while many of the participants in the program described by Loza...