The Problem

Businesses face the need to train and educate new

employees, as well as the existing workforce, to upgrade workforce literacy. It

is as if students have graduated from high school or college but did not learn

the skills needed for the workplace. Even those who did well in school can

benefit from improving the skills that they have.

Costly mistakes can be avoided, and employee efficiency,

productivity and safety can be improved by raising their reading comprehension.

The Solution

The Language Enrichment Program is a

self-instructional program that effectively raises adult reading comprehension,

reading speed, and academic motivation. It has been used to prepare adults to

pass licensing and certification tests in the same manner that it has been used

to qualify high school athletes for college scholarships by raising their SAT

and ACT test scores.

Implementation

Workforce literacy can be enhanced through the use of

The Language Enrichment Program. Since the program is self instructional, no

trained proctors, teachers, or tutors are required. The program is completely

self-contained, teaches its content in easily understandable small steps, and

can be used by adults of any ability or background, whether entry-level

employees or middle to upper level management. Whether time is set aside before,

during, or after the work day or whether the program is used off site, The

Language Enrichment Program is flexible enough to meet the needs of any

setting. The Language Enrichment Program focuses upon the structure of

English sentences. It is the sophisticated, compressed style of expository text

in the workplace—whether technical manuals, contracts, legal briefs, medical and

scientific literature—which makes it difficult for many employees to read

efficiently. The Language Enrichment Program painlessly gives repeated

practice in perceiving language structure and practicing the inference skills

required to read material of any complexity with greater comprehension.

The program can be used by groups of employees or a single

employee in any scheduling combination. Because learners work through the

program at their own pace, learners simply continue where they left off at the

next session. Sessions can be as long or as short as is convenient. Sessions

probably should not be shorter than fifteen minutes, or longer than two hours,

though motivated learners may use the program for as long as they desire at each

sitting. Within reason, lapse of time between sessions has no negative effect

upon achievement gains. The program takes between 24 to 72 clock hours to

complete for an average achievement gain of two years improvement in reading

comprehension. The range varies from one to five years, with a very few

individuals demonstrating even greater gains.

Significant observed side-benefits of using the program

include improved writing skill, vastly increased understanding of English

grammar and linguistics, increased reading speed, a new ability to read and

comprehend expository text, improved academic achievement in all other learning

contexts, and the improved motivation that comes with successful learning.

Who Can Benefit

The Language Enrichment Program can be used in any

setting where reading with greater comprehension would be a workplace asset.

Since The Language Enrichment Program is content centered rather than

grade level or skill based, the program works effectively for learners of any

ability. The Language Enrichment Program has been used on a limited basis

to upgrade academic skills of college students entering a nursing program. Such

students frequently fail to be retained in college nursing programs, or fail to

qualify to enter them, because of reading deficiencies. Such students, and many

employees, comfortable with narrative reading, find expository prose an

insurmountable hurdle. The Language Enrichment Program solves that

problem. It has been used to prepare trainees for work in the building trades.

The Language Enrichment Program has been used effectively with adults who

are learning to speak, read or write English as their second language. Using

The Language Enrichment Program prepares employees in any profession to

benefit far more from whatever other training they may receive. Whether a person

must read informational trade books or instruction manuals, is preparing to pass

a certification examination, or preparing to advance in the legal profession,

the improvement in reading comprehension produced by using The Language

Enrichment Program makes for a wise investment in improving workplace

literacy in any business, professional, or industrial setting.

Program History

The Language Enrichment Program has been written out

of the developer’s experience as a writer and editor of technical training

materials for the electrical, automotive, petroleum, and insurance industries.

The developer served as writer and editor with the Resources Development

Corporation in East Lansing, Michigan, headed by Dr. John Ball and Dr.

Donald J. Lloyd. Dr. Lloyd, an internationally recognized linguist, was the

developer’s college professor for several linguistics courses in graduate school

at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. Materials written or edited by

the developer while working for Resources Development Corporation were

utilized by the American Petroleum Institute, Ford Motor Company, and other

industries pertaining to numeric machine control and other engineering fields.

Titles published by Resources Development Corporation directly under the

developer’s own name include AC Motors and Motor Controllers, Positive

Displacement Pumps, and Automotive Hand Tools. The developer decided

to apply his technical training writing expertise to solve the reading problems

of students in his own public school classroom, and succeeded. The Language

Enrichment Program is the result.