Supporting English as a second language students: case studies in health care and social assistance

This research aims to present insights into how [English as a second language] ESL students may be supported to achieve their goals by identifying what support strategies are in place at large tertiary institutes. Recent literature suggests that language, literacy and numeracy (LLN) support for students is a major focus in the tertiary sector. However, this project explores the variety of learner support available to ESL students, beyond the development of language, literacy and numeracy skills, to include types of support such as those provided to students studying in the Adult Migrant Education Program (AMEP). Do the types of support provided in these programs also exist for local ESL students studying to obtain a discipline-specific qualification? The primary objective of completing this research was to guide improvements at Central Institute of Technology with regard to the support provided to ESL students while they study a vocational course.

Three public tertiary institutes were used as case studies in this research. The project was small in scale and to narrow the focus of the research one industry area was selected. The research topic was explored at each institute and investigated ESL students studying courses related to the health care and social assistance sector. This industry area is of particular interest as there is a large representation of ESL students studying these courses, since the chances of securing a job upon completion are high. Five types of support: cultural awareness; language, literacy and numeracy; generic learner support; targeted ESL learner support; and professional development for staff. The extent to which these types of support were employed varied in each case study institute.

Excerpts from publication

As part of the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) Building Researcher Capacity Scheme, a community of practice scholarship program has been created to encourage a culture of research in vocational education and training (VET) organisations. With the guidance of an experienced mentor, VET practitioners without any formal research experience undertake their own work-based research project. The scholarship also provides participants with an opportunity to have their research peer-reviewed and released by NCVER in VOCEDplus. Show less