© 1986 by Oxford University Press
Articles |
An experimental vocational course in English as a second language
Ann Rae was, at the time of writing, the co-ordinator for the MSC provision for ethnic minority unemployed at Walsall Industrial Language Training Unit. She has a PGCE in TEFL/TESL and an MA in ELT and Linguistics. She has thirteen years' teaching and lecturing experience in English as a Mother Tongue, EFL and ESL, at various state and private institutions from school to university, in Britain and West Germany. Her current interests include language testing, psycholinguistics, teacher training, and computer-assisted language learning.
This article follows on from Jane McLaughlin's article ‘ESL for the unemployed’ fELT Journal 3912:88–95). Mclaughlin describes a variety of projects, including linked-skills courses, set up by the Inner London Education Authority (ILEA). Here the theme is taken a stage further, with a detailed case study of one linked-skills course in child-care piloted in the West Midlands area of England. Background information to the course is followed by details of recruitment, the syllabus, classroom practice, assessment, and some of the outcomes.