Workplace english: Approach and analysis

Vocational English has emerged as a new and important aspect of ESL. VESL course planners have addressed learners' needs in pre-employment, vocational, and workplace programs. In all of these situations, attempts have been made at describing work. Generally, two approaches have been taken: (1) describing work activities in terms of processes and procedures (work-oriented analysis), and (2) describing work activities in terms of specific human behaviors (worker-oriented analysis). The former approach tends to generate goal-oriented courses. The latter tends to generate process-oriented courses. In planning courses. I often find myself asking the same questions. What approach should I take? How do I identify language needs within a given approach? How can I evaluate results? What is my role in a program? This paper explores these issues for workplace English. The paper discusses goal analysis; job analysis and language analysis (as they relate to work-oriented and worker-oriented approaches); and measurement of results. The paper concludes with thoughts on the role(s) of the VESL specialist and implications for language teaching in general.