Roger Reed
76-100M Argument
Dr. Geoffrey Sauer
December 6, 1996

In a study done by the U.S. Department of Labor it has been predicted that "'between 1990 and the year 2000, immigrants will represent the largest share of the increase in the population and the workforce since World War I'" (Grognet 3). This increase in foreign residents calls for added attention to specialized literacy programs designed to teach the English language to students who speak another language. These programs are needed so that immigrants can obtain jobs in the U.S. and ease their transition into American society. English as a Second Language (ESL) programs provide a solution to this education demand, but these programs require much development and improvement if they are to keep up with the growing immigrant population. Standards in teaching methods and curriculum of ESL programs, along with stable leadership, staffing, and funding, need to be planned and implemented to handle the increasing demand for second language education.

Background

Immigrants of the U.S. are arriving at an increasing rate, the majority of which are settling in large metropolitan areas, primarily New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston, Miami, Chicago and Washington D.C. (Grognet 2-3) "Seven statesCalifornia, New York, Texas, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, and New Jerseyeach have at least half a million foreign-born residents." (2) Over half of the immigrants and refugees in California have arrived since 1980, and it is expected that California will soon become the first continental U.S. state with the majority of its residents having a Third World ethnic heritage (2).

The circumstances in California represent the most dramatic case of rapid immigration in the U.S., but other states have also experienced significant population increase as a result of immigration. Population increases are a serious concern for these states since they often result in significant spending increases, part of which must be paid for by the state. Immigrant education, especially during citizenship processes, constitutes a large amount of these spending increases.

In 1986 the Immigration Reform and Control Act allowed undocumented immigrants fitting certain government requirements to become citizens. This act allotted money to states to cover some of the costs for providing services to these new citizens. In Illinois alone, 150,000 immigrants participated in the legalization process. From 1988 through 1993, Illinois spent over $35 million in education for these new citizens (Schoua-Glusberg 6). The economic impact of rapid immigration should concern all U.S. residents, especially with regard to immigrant education and employment.

Employment

Immigrants who come to the U.S. seek employment immediately to support themselves and their families (Grognet 2). Employment is difficult to obtain for many immigrants, considering that 37% of all immigrants under 20 have less than a high-school-equivalent education (2). These young immigrants have long working careers ahead of them and with the decline in the number of low-skilled jobs, requiring little or no English, education is a must (3). "To get a job (other than where your brother or cousin works) . . . at a minimum an immigrant needs to be able orally to: give personal information, express ability, express likes and dislikes, and answer and ask questions." (7) These skills are in addition to those needed to find a job, such as being able to read want ads and fill out job applications. Work-related skills along with the life-skills needed to function safely and effectively in American society should make up the minimal skills ESL programs should aim to provide their students.

Job-related literacy programs are sometimes provided by employers of immigrants. The programs focus on work-related skills by teaching with examples specific to the workplace. ESL programs such as these are extremely beneficial to businesses and immigrant employees. "Studies have shown that communication at work is directly tied to the quality of services being offered, attention to health and safety regulations, less waste in time and materials, and more effective grasp of training in new procedures and equipment." (Grognet 5) Many immigrants receive work-oriented ESL training thanks to labor unions and intelligent employers, but there are still millions who are not receiving this type of training, particularly those not in a labor unions (Rosenblum 3). These immigrant workers attend ESL programs outside of their employer, which do not provide the specific work-related skills they need, or they attend no ESL program at all (3). ESL programs in the workplace must be implemented wherever possible so that immigrant workers can develop the skills they need to perform their jobs safely and effectively.

Funding

ESL funding is a "patchwork pursuit, with monies coming from a variety of sources, including a hodgepodge of federal and state agencies involved in education, human services, and labor" (Grognet 10). Federal and state government frequently cover a large portion of the cost of immigrant education. However, since the early 1900s, labor unions have been helping to fund ESL in the workplace (Rosenblum 4). Also, employers often pay directly for ESL programs, asking students to contribute unpaid time for the classes (Grognet 10). In most cases, allocated funding is short-term and inconsistent (Rosenblum 4).

The "patchwork" method of ESL funding needs to be replaced with a more stable system which will provide quality ESL programs to more of the immigrant population and reduce the time faculty must spend securing future funding. Since the funding of most ESL programs is short-term, the teaching quality of the programs often suffers. "[A]dministrators spend most of their time either filling out required forms or writing new proposals . . . as teachers struggle to adapt the curriculum to the requirements of the various funding sources." (Wrigley 4) With a teaching environment such as this, it is hard to keep quality administrators and teachers. Programs under these conditions often have to settle for low quality faculty and poor student-to-instructor ratios.

Demonstrating that ESL programs are getting the most "bang for the buck" is essential for getting increased funding. As in most cases where federal funding is involved, "a 'trust us' approach to accountability will not suffice" (Clymer-Spradling 64). ESL programs must show that they are run efficiently. They must show that the benefits they provide their students are passed on to the general public through a competent and able workforce. Demonstrating accountability can be done by improving efficiency through better organization. Once ESL programs demonstrate their effectiveness in benefiting immigrants and the general public, it is more likely for them to get the increased funding they need.

Training, Leadership, and Organization

The problem of low-quality faculty can be solved by developing a set of prerequisites and training courses for ESL educators, such as a master's program for ESL instructors and administrators, and allocating the funding needed to support these training programs. A master's program would aid ESL teachers in becoming more proficient in the students' native languages and provide them with specialized methods of teaching students of another language. Administrators would be provided with a standard framework for ESL courses and the organizational skills needed to run the programs efficiently. This solution is extremely dependent on funding since both the training of the educators and their post degree employment would be very costly. Conversely, some people feel that a "masters degree in ESL" is not a good solution because it shuts out quality volunteers, such as ones who are proficient in several languages (Wrigley 4). Even if a master's program in ESL is not the solution to eliminating incompetent faculty, some form of "staff development" and "organizational development" (Schoua-Glusberg 32) is needed to maintain high quality education in any type of ESL program.

ESL programs as a whole presently have little organization or leadership to guide and maintain their efficiency:

Currently, "the efforts of the federal government, the states and the NIL [National Institute for Literacy] do not separately or collectively provide the necessary leadership to . . . study the issue of accountability; to assess what needs to be done about it so that programs can demonstrate that they are making a difference and getting the most 'bang for the buck'" (Clymer-Spradling 8).

Most organization work in individual programs is now done by "the guiding light of a charismatic program director," (Wrigley 4) but this does not help the organization or systemization of ESL programs throughout the nation. Organizational efforts of the NIL and other government agencies need to be restructured to standardize teaching methods and the curriculum of ESL programs with similar goals.

Inadequate funding has hampered formal organizational efforts of ESL programs and, as a result, the efficiency and quality of the programs have suffered. Poor nationwide organization of ESL programs results in minimal collaboration between various ESL programs. Therefore, adult ESL programs do not have a "generally agreed-upon courses or curricula . . . there is no real push towards national standards or reform as there are in other areas of education" (Grognet 4). Collaboration between ESL programs "not only reduces duplication of service but also can lead to more cost effective and responsive service delivery" (Schoua-Glusberg 33). This lack of organization is the primary source of inefficiency in the current ESL programs.

Student autobiographies are one example of a teaching device which may not be known by all ESL instructors because of poor organization and collaboration. One teacher observed that adult ESL students who wrote about their lives benefited greatly from the activity. "Since these students wrote what they cared for, they got more involved in the process of making themselves understood, which is central to literacy." (Wu 11) This activity also encouraged class discussions and a support group environment for students coping with life in America (11). Sharing of ideas, such as student autobiographies, would help ESL programs pick out and incorporate the most desirable teaching methods and curriculum in ESL courses nationwide.

Curriculum

One of the biggest problems in ESL programs so far is that "minimal attention is paid to ESL instruction" (Clymer-Spradling 8). The curriculum of ESL programs, probably the best indicator of a successful program, has been inconsistent among various ESL programs. As mentioned earlier, many ESL programs teach job-related English so "workers can perform their jobs competently and increase productivity," (Rosenblum 4) but these skills are not enough to function in situations outside of the work environment. In many programs, "once students gained minimal conversational skills, they were no longer seen as needing additional instruction" (Montavon 5). Baselines for ESL curricula should include lessons designed to teach life skills of modern society and work-related skills, as mentioned earlier.

Devices most Americans take for granted, such as telephones and ATMs, seem extremely complex and difficult to operate for some immigrants who have not had much experience with them (Kissam 37). As America becomes more technologically-advanced and dependent on these devices, the ability to operate them becomes more essential to daily life. "Remedial instruction in information technology applications probably deserves high priority, particularly in working with adult learners from rural Mexico." (37) ESL programs should pick out students who particularly need assistance with these devices and provide them with the instruction they need.

ESL programs need to be structured to fit the needs of specific students. Most often students are being taught not based on their background knowledge, but on what is most convenient for the instructor or program sponsor. In Mexico, adult education programs separate their students into four categories: 1) Urban adult learners, 2) Rural adult learners, 3) Indigenous adult learners (population with a native language other than Spanish and isolated from modern technology), and 4) Elementary school dropouts 10-14 years of age (Kissam 15). Adults of differing backgrounds seeking education, often have distinct dialects and unique sets of vocabulary and vocabulary usage. To handle these differences, ESL programs should adopt a method similar to that of Mexico when designing course curriculum. They should focus on "the key issue of skills transferability" (38). Students should be required to take assessment tests so that students of similar backgrounds and skill levels will be assigned to classes designed to meet their needs. For example, students who already have a good foundation in their native language should be grouped together, since studies have shown that these students usually learn English faster than students who have a poor background in their native language (Montavon 11-12). Organizing students by their background greatly improves the quality of ESL programs because it helps instructors better tailor classes to the needs of their students.

Community Involvement

ESL programs need to concentrate on reaching entire ethnic and minority communities. Leaders of ESL programs should work with communities to "address the needs and expectations of those communities" (Schoua-Glusberg 31). Program leaders need to make attempts to reach all members of the community by using bilingual recruiting staffs and offering classes within the community (31-32). These programs should provide classes on citizenship test preparation along with information about citizens' rights and responsibilities. Successful long-term programs need to "target immigrant parents of school-aged children." (29) Family literacy programs can greatly enhance the well being of the families and provide them with skills which they can hand down to future generations. These programs can bring entire communities into the English speaking society and therefore reduce future needs of second language education programs in the community. Community-based programs have the potential to be extremely successful, especially long-term programs, and should be implemented whenever possible.

Conclusion

The need to make improvements in current ESL programs is becoming more crucial every year as the U.S. immigrant population continues to grow. Quality ESL programs, especially those in the workplace, are necessary to ensure that immigrants can obtain the jobs they need to support themselves and their families soon after they come to the U.S. The funding of ESL programs must be stabilized to ensure that the focus of program faculty is on educating second language students and not on how to get more funding. ESL programs should show that the current use of funding is efficient and effective so that sponsors of the programs will be more inclined to increase funding. To improve efficiency, training programs should be implemented to improve the quality of the faculty with respect to both teaching and organization. Organization should promote collaboration between ESL programs. Furthermore, the curriculum of ESL programs should include both work related skills and life-skills. As more immigrant communities begin to define themselves in American society, ESL programs should reach out to them by offering their services within the community. ESL programs have the potential to shape U.S. social and economic conditions for the better in the 21^st century, but if changes are not made, the general public may soon find that they are supporting a large immigrant population with one of the lowest standards of living in the U.S.