PreparingSkilledWorkersforIntegrationThroughLanguageInstruction:HowAreWeDoing?
TraceyDerwingEducationalPsychology,UniversityofAlberta
PrairieMetropolisCentrePMCBBL–May22,2009
Acknowledgements• MurrayMunro,SimonFraserUniversity• RonThomson,JacquiDumas,LoriDiepenbroek,JenFoote,MarleneMulder,MarilynAbbott
• NorQuestCollege,AnnaDeLuca,PaulHolmes
• Participants&theiremployers
• CarolynDieleman
• SSHRC,CIC,PrairieMetropolisCentre
WhyAsktheQuestion?JasonKenney’squestions
•ShouldweinsistthatpeoplelearnEnglishorFrenchoverseas?
•WhyisuptakeofLINClimitedto25%?
•Whydosomelong‐termimmigrantsstilllackbasiccompetenceinanofficiallanguage?
WhyAsktheQuestion?•Arethelearnersgettingthebestprogrampossible?
• Aretherechangeswecouldmakethatwouldbetterservethenewcomers’needs?
RelevantResearch
• CICstudyresults• Time8(7yearsstudy)
• Workplacestudy
CLB&CitizenshipLanguageSurvey
• Datacollectedin2004• Analyzed&reportsubmittedin2007
• Over3800immigrantssurveyedandtestedforspeaking&listeningatcitizenshiptest
• Vancouver,Edmonton,Ottawa,Toronto,Montreal&Halifax
CharacteristicsofParticipants• 54%female/46%male• averageage=36years(range=18‐61)• averageageatimmigration=30years• 20%refugee• 34%familyclass• 46%independent• 121countriesoforigin• ~108mothertongues• 50.7%receivedsomelanguagetraininginCanada
LINC/FeeBased/HS‐College‐Univ
Incongruity–ImmigrationClass&CLBScore
Language AverageCLBScore
Tagalog 7.2
Arabic 6.5
Mandarin(79%independent) 6.1
Punjabi 6.0
Cantonese(53.4%independent) 4.9
MeanCLBScoresfor5CitiesbyLanguageTrainingSource
MeanCLBScorebyCity
JobSkillLevelbyImmigrationClass
MandarinandSlavicSpeakers
Times1–6(year1inCanada)Time7(endofyear2)
Time8(endofyear7)
Fluency/Comprehensibility
RatingExperiments
•Fluency:1=extremelyfluent7=extremelydysfluent
•Comprehensibility:1=extremelyeasytounderstand7=extremelydifficulttounderstand
FluencyImprovementOverTime
ComprehensibilityImprovementOverTime
Year2andYear7Comparisons
Measure Mandarin Slavic
Fluency Nochange Sig.improvement
Comprehensibility Nochange Sig.improvement
MandarinSpeakers’Fluencyat2&7Years(dottedline=non‐improver)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
1 2
MandarinSpeakers(Fluency)
SlavicSpeakers’Fluencyat2&7Years(dottedline=non‐improver)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
T7 T8
SlavicLanguageSpeakers(Fluency)
MandarinSpeakers’Comprehensibilityat2&7Years(dottedline=non‐improver)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
T7 T8
MandarinSpeakers(Comprehensibility)
SlavicSpeakers’Comprehensibilityat2&7Years(dottedline=non‐improver)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
T7 T8
SlavicLanguageSpeakers(Comprehensibility)
Implications
• Exposuretospeakingandlisteningmatters
WorkplaceStudy
• 15interviewswithESLengineers• Questionnaireandlisteningexperimentswith24Canadian‐bornengineers(co‐workers)
NNSs
• 15respondents‐Columbia,China,Philippines,India,Venezuela,Pakistan,Bangladesh
• 10males,5females
• Meanage=42(range=34‐55)
• 7studiedEnglishinCanada
NNSs
WastheEWPcoursehelpful?
Oh,yeah,alot‐IwasintroducedtotheCanadianworkplaceculture.
Yeah,sure,ithelpedbutitwastooshort.Thecultureaspectwasthemosthelpful.Ah,yes,definitely…Ithinkthiscoursecouldhelpmeinthefuture.Thefocusonspeakingandcommunicationwasmosthelpful.
NNSs
WastheEWPcoursehelpful?
ItookPhase1butbecausetheclassroomchangedseveraltimesIwenttherebutwecouldn’tfindtheclassroom.
Icouldn’ttakeit‐becausethisistheculturalissue,becauseFridays‐youknowwehaveaspecialprayeronthatday,soitiscomingbetweentheprayer.Thatissortofacompulsorythingforus,sounfortunatelyIcouldnotattendit.ButI’dlovetoattendthesekindsofthings.
NNSs
Areyouhappyinyourjob?
Ahyes…justsometimesmaybeIhavealittlebitofdifficulty,Imeanforthislanguage…butit’sgettingbetter
I’mgettingcooperation.Peoplearefriendly…acceptancevalueismore.Andthemainthingismanagementisawareofimmigrantlimitations,soit’seasytomoveahead.
NSEmployeeReactions
Question Yes No N/A
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
NSEmployeeReactions
Question Yes No N/A
1. More effort with ESL than NS? 22 1 1 2. 3. 4. 5.
NSEmployeeReactions
Question Yes No N/A
1. More effort with ESL than NS? 22 1 1 2. Difficulty comm. with NNS? 22 2 3. 4. 5.
NSEmployeeReactions
Question Yes No N/A
1. More effort with ESL than NS? 22 1 1 2. Difficulty comm. with NNS? 22 2 3. NNSs have problems comm.? 24 4. 5.
Yes,takesmuchlongertoexplain.Youhavetohavepatienceandspeakveryslowlyandpatiencetolistenaswell.WordschosenmustbeproperEnglish,notslang.Somepronunciationisdifficulttounderstand.
Yes–hardtounderstandwhattheyaresayingandhardtousevocabularythattheywillunderstand.Frustratingtoadapttolanguagelevel.
Yes,longertime,rework,mistakes,wastedbudgets,poorqualityproducts,hurtfeelingsandbrokenrelationshipsespeciallyasdeadlinesapproach(orpass).
NSsonESLColleagues
NSEmployeeReactions
Question Yes No N/A
1. More effort with ESL than NS? 22 1 1 2. Difficulty comm. with NNS? 22 2 3. NNSs have problems comm.? 24 4. Socialize within L1 groups? 23 1
5.
NSEmployeeReactions
Question Yes No N/A
1. More effort with ESL than NS? 22 1 1 2. Difficulty comm. with NNS? 22 2 3. NNSs have problems comm.? 24 4. Socialize within L1 groups? 23 1 6. NS reluctant to talk with NNS? 16 3 5
NSExpectationsofNNSCoworkers
“Practice”
Practicewithspeakersofnativelanguage;athome
Enunciate,speakslower
Learnmoreaboutthecultureandnormsofourconversation
GiveupL1altogether
Trynottobeshy;interactmorewithallcoworkers
Summary–HowAreWeDoing?• TheaverageCLBscoresofnewcomerstoEdmontonarehigherthanothercities
• Somegroupshavelowerlanguageskillsatthetimeofcitizenshipthanwouldexpected–Mandarin&Cantoneseespecially
• SomeethnoculturalgroupscontinuetoimprovetheirorallanguageskillsaftertheirESLprogramsarefinished–othersdonot
• EmployeesintheworkplacearenotentirelyhappywiththeirL2co‐workers’fluencyandcomprehensibility
Summary–HowAreWeDoing?
• TowhatdegreedoesaCLBscoreoroccupationreflectintegration?
Summary–HowAreWeDoing?
• WhatisthehardestthingaboutadjustingtolifeinCanada?
Recommendations
• LINC/ESLprograms
Recommendations
• LINC/ESLprograms
• LINCfunders
Recommendations
• LINC/ESLprograms
• LINCfunders• EWPprograms
Recommendations
• LINC/ESLprograms
• LINCfunders• EWPprograms• Teachertrainers
Recommendations
• LINC/ESLprograms
• LINCfunders• EWPprograms• Teachertrainers• Researchers