REAL Literacy for IHEs
The REAL Literacy model works for all learners and all contents. We have worked with institutes of higher education to provide training to help professors facilitate adult multilingual learners. We help high education instructors tailor their instruction with an andragogical and heutagogical framework to appeal to undergraduates who are just starting their careers and graduates who wanting to improve their own knowledge and skills.
TAP: Teach, Apply, & Practice Workplace Literacy Model
Adults learning an additional language, in their new country of residence, are emergent bilinguals and, as such, can play a valuable role in the workplace. “Multilingual problem solvers have multiple perspectives on how to solve problems and are crucial to any healthy workforce and economy” (Sanchez, 2019). The primary goal of adult education programs is to improve the economic mobility and job preparedness of learners, to help them “integrate” into their new country. For example, in the United States, the College and Career Readiness Standards for Adult Education (CCRSAE) and the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006 amended by the Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act (U.S. Department of Education, 2019) are designed to improve career and technical education and help students gain the skills they need to compete for in-demand, high-wage jobs in their communities.
Within this context and goal to help adults access and be successful with learning and using English, teachers of workplace readiness literacy need to have a set of specific strategies and supports to help learners develop work-related literacy skills. Teach, Apply, & Practice (TAP) provides strategies to teach, apply, and practice work-place vocabulary, reading, and writing within the context of the texts of target professions.
For a detailed description of TAP, refer to Slakk, S., & Peyton, J. K. (2019, August 30). TAP into workplace literacy: Teach, Apply, Practice [PowerPoint slides]. Literacy Education and Second Language Learning for Adults Annual Symposium. Pittsburgh, PA.
For information about LESLLA visit Literacy Education and Secondary Language Learning for Adults.
Sanchez, R. J. (2019, May 6). Positive Impact of Multiliteracy. Multiliteracy Symposium: Celebrating the Diverse Linguistic and Cultural Assets of All Our Students. Washington, DC: U. S. D.O.E Office of English Language Acquisition. https://www.ncela.ed.gov/files/symposium/el-symposium-program-may2019-508.pdf.