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This document is the result of two years of intensive, dedicated work by a remarkable team of nearly two dozen researchers. It takes the first steps on a long overdue journey to fully understanding the realities and promise of ESL program service in community colleges across the nation. The report offers an in-depth look into several community college ESL programs, with a focus on "non-credit ESL." All of the programs offer high quality ESL instruction and are considered exemplary according to a range of criteria presented in the Introduction. The study examines a rich variety of innovative and successful programs and strategies in use in these institutions--and considers them in terms of generating learning gains, retaining students, and bringing about transitions to further education. The paper also examines the ins and outs of all this activity in a way that gives those providing adult ESL service a menu of ideas and concrete suggestions for their own program improvement purposes. Among the effective strategies examined in this report are high intensity instruction, learning outside the classroom, and the use of "learner-centered thematic" curricula. Special attention is given to curricular integration, co-enrollment, vocational ESL (VESL) programs, and the Spanish GED. Issues of faculty training, development, and quality are examined, and recommendations are given for "engineering innovation" in ESL colleges and programs. The study finds that, excellent as the programs studied are, their outcomes are not always as great as they could be. It identifies some reasons for that, and looks at some of key barriers to taking the successful programs and practices to scale--such as inadequate ESL funding, administrative and policy issues, limits in available ESL assessment tools, lack of peer learning opportunities for planners and practitioners, and a paucity of fundamentally-needed research, especially longitudinal research. A major section of the report deals with costs and funding issues--calling not only for a substantial increase in funding for adult ESL, but more targeted funding. Five appendices are included: (1) Executive Summary; (2) Acknowledgments; (3) College Fact Sheet, Colleges Participating in CAAL Meeting June 9-10, 2005; (4) Innovative Practices Documents by Colleges in CAAL Community College ESL Project; and (5) VESL Immersion Program (VIP) College of San Francisco. (Contains 40 footnotes.) [Additional funding provided by The McGraw-Hill Companies and Dollar General Corporation.]

The paper, prepared as a background paper for a larger project on adult English as a Second Language (ESL), discusses a variety of issues and challenges in improving adult ESL services in the United States. An introductory section offers an overview of demographic and educational factors affecting the education of limited-English-proficient (LEP) individuals. Challenges facing adult ESL instruction are then enumerated, including cultural diversity, fragmentation of effort, instability of program funding and support, and the marginalized status of such programs. Factors in the development of quality adult ESL programs are explored. These include: appropriate program design; a learner-centered curriculum and instructional approach; a professional staff treated as professionals; and adequate resources, facilities, and support services. Two initiatives aimed at improving education for language minorities are described and their accomplishments outlined: the 1967 Bilingual Education Act and the federal refugee program. Finally, a series of recommendations for expanding and improving adult ESL instruction are made, predicated on establishment of a new Department of Education office for language minority adult education. Contains 32 references. (MSE) (Adjunct ERIC Clearinghouse on Literacy Education)

After an introduction to the use of the whole language approach in adult literacy instruction, this paper describes some techniques or activities used in two adult literacy programs in Vancouver with participants who speak English as a first and as a second language. The Municipal Workplace Literacy Program, operated by the City of Vancouver (British Columbia), is a voluntary and confidential 80-hour program that offers one-half paid release time and serves mostly non-professionals. The Little Mountain Neighbourhood House/Vancouver School Board Tutor Training and Practicum Centre program serves recent immigrants, mostly of Chinese origin but also Indian, Central and South American, Polish, and Russian. Approximately half of the participants have university degrees from their countries of origin; the other half have had little or no formal schooling. Both programs use many whole language techniques, including shared reading, transcribed text, sustained silent reading, language experience, and interactive writing for adult literacy learners. Two additional strategies are used as well: an affirmation strategy that has come to be called "Affirmation: The Immigrant's Two Lives and the Cycle of Grief," and a strategy borrowed from the work of novelist Milan Kundera that involves the use of an existential code that inspires and guides the writing. The affirmation strategy uses simple drawings, gestures, translation, and some English to describe the learner's work, relationships, language and cultural connections, education, interests, etc. During the first 20 months of the program, only 2 of the 120 participants dropped out. Contains 17 references. (LB) (Adjunct ERIC Clearinghouse on Literacy Education)

Efforts to simplify language used in consumer documents come from the consumer movement and a public disillusioned with big business and government. Even before President Carter's 1978 executive order mandating simplification in government regulations, some agencies were revising regulations for clarity. However, these efforts were based on too little knowledge of language complexity. The little existing research on legal language suggests that, more than by a specialized vocabulary, it is characterized by overly complex sentences, the overuse of passives, whiz-deletion and unclear pronoun reference, archaic and misplaced prepositional phrases, and its own set of articles and demonstrative pronouns. The historical development of legal language is unique, paralleling but independent of the development of the rest of English. Legal language is both the medium of communication and the primary tool of the legal profession, and is powerful because it carries the force of law. Some of the vagueness and ambiguity of legal language is intentional, reflecting compromise and capitulation to the complexity of issues. Some of these problems persist in the rewriting of regulations. In addition, precedent, often linked to language usage, is central to common law. Attempts to simplify legal language have been through readability formulas and editing, but resistance and inherent language complexity make change difficult. (MSE)

Legal language is discussed in the context of concern about the comprehensibility of consumer documents and the trend toward simplification of the language used in these documents. Specific features of legal language and its functions within the legal community and society are identified. As a primary tool of the legal profession, legal language is viewed as carrying a substantial social and linguistic burden. In addition, it is seen as serving separating, unifying, and prestige functions. It is proposed that these two factors explain why attempts at simplification are likely to be resisted. Legal language appears to have some features of a changing, living dialect, and while traditional scholars have focused only on legal vocabulary, research has demonstrated an evolution of legal terms through litigation and appeal that is analogous to the historical development of ordinary English. Recent research suggests that there is more to legal language than lexicon. Some of the attempts to simplify legal language and some research studies on the comprehension of non-legal language are examined for the insights they provide into linguistic barriers to comprehension of legal language. Areas of research are identified. (Author/MSE)

Characteristics of successful adult vocational English as a second language (ESL) programs are described, and psycholinguistic, sociolinguistic, and pedagogical insights are presented. Characteristics of a successful program are as follows: (1) they are learner-centered; (2) there is recognition that English can and should be learned for specific functions and domains; (3) behavioral objectives are specified that are job related and appropriate materials are used; (4) the vocational ESL program is embedded in a good vocational program; (5) the program is functional in nature; (6) there is recognition of the value of vocabulary in the job context; (7) the program builds on skills the adult already has; and (8) there is recognition of cross-cultural differences, especially those relating to education and language learning. Future research needs include: data-gathering of the actual language used in occupational situations, determination of what really matters among the various language skills, evaluation of existing materials and programs in vocational ESL and adult ESL in general, and more assessment of learner needs. (SW)

Two-way, or bilingual, immersion education, a major innovation in the integration of language and content instruction, is intended to improve the quality of language education for language minority and language majority students in the United States. The emerging educational practice responds to the increasing proportions of language minority students in many parts of the country and also holds promise for improving the quality of foreign language instruction for language majority children. An introductory section describes the early Canadian experience with language and content integration, which began over 20 years ago, and discusses the benefits of bringing language majority and language minority students together in a single program of instruction (two-way, or bilingual, immersion). The basic bilingual immersion program model is discussed, and related research is reviewed. Two exemplary programs, Arlington, Virginia's Key Elementary School and California's Edison Elementary School in the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District, are discussed. The report concludes that bilingual immersion education can be a powerful vehicle for promoting the development of bilingual language proficiency and social competence in elementary school children, and that the success of this approach depends largely on teachers' sensitivity to the children's language abilities and needs. 28 references. (MSE)

This document, the final report of a project assessing the general status of English language training (ELT) in Central America, includes an overview of the process, general recommendations, and country-specific information and recommendations for training and policy development. The purpose was to assess the potential effects of the ELT situation on the Central American Peace Scholarship (CAPS) Program, a technical training exchange program with the United States. The major recommendations are for the improvement of in-country and U.S. preparatory training for CAPS program participants through the use of consultants in program development, immersion instruction, and independent study; and for the improvement of national ELT programs through improved materials, teacher training seminars and national ELT policy. Specific recommendations are also made for Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica, and Panama, and special reports containing recommendations for establishing a regional center for ELT are included for Belize and the Regional Office for Central American Programs. (MSE)

This paper examines content-based instruction, which is an integrated approach to language instruction drawing topics, texts, and tasks from content or subject matter classes but focusing on the cognitive, academic language skills needed to participate effectively in content instruction. The intent and design of content-based instructional programs are discussed, some of the strategies and techniques characterizing these programs are described, the means by which programs are implemented are outlined, and areas of needed research and development are identified. A need for additional work is seen in teacher education, student assessment, program evaluation, and the preparation of textbooks and other instructional materials. Additional research into the academic language and specific registers of mathematics, science, and other content areas is also recommended. (MSE)

Three major models of adult English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) literacy professional development are discussed: craft or mentoring models, applied science or theory to practice models, and inquiry or reflective practice models. Each is outlined, examples are provided, and innovative K-12 teacher development practices are suggested. (Contains 50 references.) (LB)