We Had a Good Thing Going: The Rise, Fall, and Future of Vocational ESL in the United States-Reference-Cited by-同舟云学术

We Had a Good Thing Going: The Rise, Fall, and Future of Vocational ESL in the United States

Published:2023-04-26 Issue:3 Volume:73 Page:231-247
ISSN:0741-7136
Container-title:Adult Education Quarterly
language:en
Short-container-title:Adult Education Quarterly

Author:

Hardin Katherine¹^ORCID

Affiliation:

1. Department of Integrated Studies in Education, McGill University, Montreal, Canada

Abstract

Vocational English as a Second Language (VESL) is a form of adult language education that teaches communicative skills in the context of preparing learners for a particular vocation. Despite their pedagogical and logistical benefits for adult language learners, such programs are uncommon today. This literature review traces the emergence and disappearance of VESL in the United States through a corpus study. It then explains these trends by analyzing second language acquisition research and policies related to adult education. It finds that VESL remains a promising approach that fell out of favor due to welfare and workforce policy reforms in the 1990s. It concludes by arguing for the continued relevance of VESL today and the need for adult educators to be vigilant of unintended policy impacts on their programs.

Publisher

SAGE Publications

Subject

Education

Link

http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/07417136231168381

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