Professional development
opportunities for adult educators, especially those working
with adults learning English as a second language, are
inadequate. In-service training opportunities are also very
limited. After becoming employed by a program, most adult
educators work part-time, perhaps at several different
locations, and are offered little ongoing professional
development (Chisman, Wrigley, & Ewen, 1993; Crandall,
1993; Crandall, 1994). Even fewer universities and colleges
offer instruction geared to prepare teachers for the
workplace. However, such courses do seem to be showing up in
some university catalogs now, (e.g. American University, the
University of Illinois at Carbondale) and this may be an
area where growth will occur in the next few years (See
Jameson, 1997, for a more complete listing). NWLP-funded projects required
programs to chronicle the staff development that occurred
during the course of their projects. However, little money
was allocated for this purpose, and some workplace
instructional program directors reported that in the face of
little time, money, and materials to change their ways, many
ESL instructors relied on their old, familiar methods of
teaching: using a grammar-based approach at worst, or a
notional/functional approach at best with minimal input of
workplace language and materials (Burt, 1994). As discussed above, the Pima
County project manager advises hiring an excellent staff,
making them full-time, with benefits if possible, and paying
them for all staff development, curriculum development and
teaching hours. She also recommends that programs have
monthly trainings and staff meetings. REEP and Fairfax
County provide periodic training for their teachers.
However, as described above in the section on securing
funding, the nature of the job mitigates against having
frequent organized trainings: Teachers are usually part-time
and often work in several different locations at different
times of the day or evening. In fact, it would seem that the
problems of adult education in general are only exacerbated
in the world of workplace instruction. An issue with volunteer
programs is staff turnover. As teachers are not paid, staff
turnover can be high, higher probably than in programs where
staff is contracted and paid for hours of instruction. The
English for Special Purposes (ESP) special interest group of
the Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages
(TESOL) organization has a task force that is working on
developing standards for teacher certification in workplace
ESL. Requiring standards for certification will not change
the fact that many adult ESL practitioners teach, and will
continue to teach, without special training or credentialing
in the field of ESL itself, not to mention workplace
instruction. Setting up standards is, however, a first step
toward demonstrating an awareness of the distinctness and
importance of workplace English as a second language.
ESL instructors working with
adults need training in adult learning theory, multicultural
issues, and techniques and content for English as a second
language. Workplace ESL instructors need additional
training. Mansoor (1994, pp. 1-4) lists the following
examples of knowledge and skills needed for instructors
offering instruction at the workplace: Recently, professional
development is taking place in cyberspace on the various
electronic networks, including WEC-L, TESLIT-L, and
NIFL-ESL. While these lists provide opportunities for
practitioners to share resources and training tips, these
forums do not fill the training gap for educators offering
ESL instruction at the workplace.