TAE70110
Vocational Graduate Certifcate in Adult
Language, Literacy and Numeracy Practice
TAE80110
Vocational Graduate Diploma of Language,
Literacy and Numeracy Leadership
KNOWLEDGE BANK

Part of a suite of support materials for the
TAE10 Training and Education Training Package
Knowledge Bank
TAE70110 Vocational Graduate Certificate
in Adult Language, Literacy and Numeracy
Practice
TAE80110 Vocational Graduate Diploma of
Language, Literacy and Numeracy
Leadership
1st Edition 2011
These materials were developed by Innovation and Business Skills Australia in
association with the Commonwealth Government through the Department of Education,
Employment and Workplace Relations.

Acknowledgement
Innovation and Business Industry Skills Council (IBSA) would like to acknowledge Elizabeth Davidson, Lynne Fitzpatrick and Jana Scomazzon for their assistance with the development of this resource. Writer: Wignall Consulting Services
Copyright and Trade Mark Statement
© 2011 Commonwealth of Australia This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Australia License.( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/au/) This licence lets you distribute, remix and build upon the work, but only if it is for non commercial purposes, you credit the original creator/s (and any other nominated parties) and you license your derivative works under the same terms. The copyright of any adaptations and/or modifications to this material remains with the Commonwealth of Australia. Adapted and/or modified materials must have the Innovation and Business Skills Australia logo removed from the work, and the following attribution made: ‘This is a modified document based on materials prepared by Innovation and Business Skills Australia Ltd, the original of which can be found on the IBSA website http://www.ibsa.org.au.’
Disclaimer
While care has been taken in the preparation of this material, DEEWR and the original developer do not warrant that any licensing or registration requirements specified here are either complete or up-to-date for your State or Territory. DEEWR and the original developer do not accept any liability for any damage or loss (including indirect and consequential loss) incurred by any person as a result of relying on the information contained in this material. The Commonwealth, through the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, does not accept any liability to any person for the information or advice (or the use of such information or advice) which is provided in this material or incorporated into it by reference. The information is provided on the basis that all persons accessing this material undertake responsibility for assessing the relevance and accuracy of its content. No liability is accepted for any information or services which may appear in any other format. No responsibility is taken for any information or services which may appear on any linked websites.
Published by: Innovation and Business Industry Skills Council Ltd Level 11 176 Wellington Pde East Melbourne VIC 3002 Phone: +61 3 9815 7000 Fax: +61 3 9815 7001 Email: [email protected] www.ibsa.org.au	First published: November 2011 1st edition version: 1 Release date: November 2011 Printed by: Fineline Printing 130 Browns Road Noble Park VIC 3174
ISBN: 978-1-921927-97-3

Table of contents
Welcome
Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………………………….1
Sections in this Knowledge Bank……………………………………………………………………2
Using the Knowledge Bank…………………………………………………………………………….2
Research and Reflective Practice
Topic 1: The National Vocational Education and Training System …………………..7
A brief history of VET ……………………………………………………………………………………..8
VET policy bodies…………………………………………………………………………………………..8
The National Skills Framework……………………………………………………………………. 11
LLN provision in VET…………………………………………………………………………………… 16
Unpacking LLN from training packages……………………………………………………….. 22
Topic 2: Learner Characteristics ……………………………………………………………….. 27
Literacy and numeracy levels and the Australian population ………………………… 27
Factors in an adult learner’s background…………………………………………………….. 31
Learning styles…………………………………………………………………………………………… 32
Topic 3: Adult Language, Literacy and Numeracy Teaching Theories …………… 37
Adults as learners………………………………………………………………………………………. 38
An examination of cultural and social functions of literacy……………………………. 43
Topic 4: The English Language System and the ACSF…………………………………. 64
The Australian Core Skills Framework …………………………………………………………. 65
Self assessment of your core skill competence using the ACSF…………………….. 69
The structure of English language……………………………………………………………….. 74
Topic 5: Monitoring and Evaluation …………………………………………………………… 80
Formative assessment and summative assessment ……………………………………. 81
Qualitative and quantitative data………………………………………………………………… 87
Evaluation …………………………………………………………………………………………………. 91
Appendices
Appendix 1: Trigger Words ………………………………………………………………………… 99
Appendix 2: Unpacking the Core Skill Demands of a Streamlined Unit
of Competency……………………………………………………………………… 101
Appendix 3: Summary Analysis of Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey Data .104
Appendix 4: Research for Planning Adult Learning – An Overview……………….107
Appendix 5: Pronunciation ……………………………………………………………………….112
Appendix 6: A Range of Theories………………………………………………………………115
Appendix 7: Required Knowledge from Core Units of the VGC Mapped to
Topic Areas of the Knowledge Bank. ……………………………………..119

Welcome

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Introduction
Vocational education and trade qualifications on a par with university graduate
certificates and graduate diplomas are a relatively recent addition to the VET sector’s
stable of offerings. They have emerged as industry demands workers with more than
just technical skills and more than just theoretical knowledge.1
Vocational Graduate Certificate qualifications enable people whose work involves
applying a body of knowledge, in a range of contexts, to undertake professional or highly
skilled work. This level of qualification can also be a pathway for further learning.
This Knowledge Bank contains a number of topic areas that have been identified as
common across the core and elective units of TAE70110 Vocational Graduate Certificate
in Language Literacy and Numeracy Practice and TAE80110 Vocational Graduate
Diploma of Language, Literacy and Numeracy Leadership.
The five topic areas are:
 Vocational Education and Training (VET) system
 learner characteristics
 theories
 ACSF and English language systems
 monitoring and evaluation.
Each topic area has information, research activities and readings to support you in
building or validating your existing knowledge about aspects of delivery of language,
literacy and numeracy (LLN) in the VET sector.
The information in the Knowledge Bank is directly connected to the practical application
of the knowledge outlined in the Participant Workbook for each unit.
A fine line exists between information and knowledge. It is not intended that you
memorise the various pieces of information in each topic area for its own sake. Rather,
the intention of the Knowledge Bank is to:

	provide you with an opportunity to build a powerful set of perspectives and practical knowledge that you can apply in your particular practice environment

 enhance your capacity to deliver quality teaching and
assessment services.
1 Priest, A., 2009, Getting the knowledge-skills mix right in high-level vocational education and training
qualifications, NCVER, viewed May 2011, <http://www.ncver.edu.au/publications/2099.html>.
Introduction
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Sections in this Knowledge Bank
This Knowledge Bank consists of the following sections.
Research and reflective practice
Each topic has a set of background information and related research and reflective
practice activities that you can use to deepen your understanding of the underpinning
knowledge.
The research activities can be used as formative assessments and to provide evidence
for the portfolios in some of the Assessment Tasks for
particular units.
You will be referred to the Knowledge Bank from each Participant Workbook.
Readings
Each topic has a set of reading material linked directly to the research activities and an
additional reading list to support your own learning about a topic. Your facilitator may lead
discussions around some of these readings, or you may want to discuss them with
colleagues or other learners, or reflect on them in relation to the work you carry out in
your own training organisation.
If you do not feel the readings represent your practice environment or experience you are
encouraged to seek your own relevant readings to support your development of applied
knowledge.
Appendices
This section provides specific reading material linked to the learning topics. Your
facilitator may lead discussions around some of these or you may use them to work
through the activities.
Using the Knowledge Bank
References
Throughout the Knowledge Bank you will be directed to websites for additional
information. Given that web addresses can change you may need to check the link and
use search tools to find updated links.
IBSA online LLN readings folder
Many of the readings referred to in the research and reflective practice activities can be
located as PDF documents in the IBSA online LLN
readings folder.
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Context
The environment in which you are delivering education and training services is called the
practice environment.
If you are already employed in an organisation that delivers training or assessment, your
workplace will most likely be your practice environment. If not, your facilitator can help to
find you a suitable practice environment.
If you do not have direct access to a practice environment your facilitator may need to
help you by providing simulations or case studies that meet the assessment requirements
for this unit. Throughout this workbook these environments will be referred to as your
practice environment.
Compiling your own resources
As you use this Knowledge Bank, compile a resource kit (electronic or paper-based) to
use for your work and help with your learning. This could include, for example, information
that you print out or ‘bookmark’ from websites, resources you download, specific reports
about your industry, or specific policies or procedures.
What you decide to put in your resource kit is up to you. Over time, it can become your
resource companion containing information about current work practice and ideas.
The resource kit is for your own professional development and is different from any
portfolio or file that you might keep for assessment purposes, although some resources
may be included in both.
Recommended resources
In order to access the various readings and websites referred to in the Knowledge Bank
topics you will need access to:
 an internet connection (preferably with bandwidth to support audio
and video)
 the IBSA online LLN readings folder
 a recognised training organisation (RTO) library that preferably has subscriptions to
academic journals and specialist LLN books.

Research and Reflective
Practice

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Topic 1: The National
Vocational Education
and Training System
It’s not what the vision is, it’s what the vision does.
– Robert Fritz
Whether you are a practitioner delivering accredited training outcomes in a
stand-alone LLN program, a practitioner delivering integrated LLN support in
relation to a vocational Training Package, or a practitioner delivering
integrated LLN support in a community-based project, it is critical that you
understand the basic elements of the VET system. Like any system, VET has
rules and structures that can impact on the day-to-day work of delivery.
Understanding the VET system is covered in two units in the Certificate IV in
Training and Assessment:
1. TAAENV401A Work effectively in VET
2. TAADES401A Use training packages to meet client needs.
If you have completed either of these units then you may not need to
complete the activities suggested here. If you have been working in the VET
sector but are not familiar with LLN provision as a field of practice you may
benefit from completing the readings and activities in that section.
As an LLN practitioner in VET your key role is to identify the critical language,
literacy and numeracy content in a training specification and to help your
learners by showing the level of skill required. You may also be asked to help
a learner with the language, literacy and numeracy demands of their course
of study, or the language, literacy and numeracy demands of their job.
Specific Participant Workbooks will require you to examine accredited course
content and workplace documentation to extract the relevant LLN skills. But
the dominant form of training specification used in VET is the Training
Package so there is a specific section covering how to identify and analyse
the LLN content within a streamlined unit of competency.
This topic covers the following content:
 Introduction to VET structures
 The National Skills Framework
 LLN provision in VET
 Unpacking LLN from training packages.
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A brief history of VET
Prior to 1994 Australia had eight separate training systems operating
independently of each other, and there was no recognition of qualifications
between each state and territory.
Australia’s national vocational education and training system was initiated
with the establishment of the Australian National Training Authority (ANTA).
Over a ten-year period, in consultation with the state and territory training
authorities, ANTA established a number of national vocational education and
training policies to improve training in Australia. Many of the elements –
industry-led, competency-based, nationally recognised and quality assured –
remain as features of the VET system today.
On 1 July 2005 the responsibilities and functions of the ANTA were
transferred to the Australian Government Department of Education,
Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR), previously known as the
Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST).
Structures and mechanisms for the management of VET may change in the
future depending on the configuration of federal government departments
and agencies assigned responsibility for education and training.
A full history of VET in Australia can be found at
<http://www.ncver.edu.au/resources/timeline/overview.html>.
VET policy bodies
DEEWR
The Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations
(DEEWR) is responsible for overseeing Australia’s vocational education and
training system.
DEEWR is the lead government agency providing national leadership in
education and workplace training, transition to work and conditions and
values in the workplace.
DEEWR is comprised of the following offices:
 Early Childhood Education and Child Care
 Schools and Youth
 Tertiary, Skills, International and Indigenous Strategy
 Employment, Workplace Relations and Economic Strategy
 Corporate and Network.
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The Foundation Skills Branch in the office of Tertiary, Skills, International and
Indigenous Strategy has direct responsibility for adult LLN policy and
programs such as Workplace English Language and Literacy Program (WELL),
the Language, Literacy and Numeracy Program (LLNP) and adult language,
literacy and numeracy (LLN) policy. Additional branches such as Industry and
Workforce Development or Quality and Skills may manage policies that have
LLN implications, for example, training packages, the AQTF and skills
shortages.
Further information

	DEEWR, Organisational Chart, Commonwealth Government, viewed May 2011,

<http://www.deewr.gov.au/Department/Documents/OrgChart.pdf>.

	DEEWR, Subscription Service, Commonwealth Government, viewed May 2011, <http://www.dest.gov.au/dss>.

DEEWR’s Subscription Service, notifies subscribers of significant
updates added to DEEWR websites, including publications, program
updates and guidelines.

	DEEWR, Training Packages @ Work, Commonwealth Government, viewed May 2011, <http://www.tpatwork.com>.

 Commonwealth Government, Training.gov.au (TGA), viewed May 2011,
<http://www.trainign.gov.au>.
 Training.com.au, viewed May 2011, <http://www.training.com.au>.
MCTEE
The Ministerial Council for Tertiary Education and Employment (MCTEE) is the
key decision-making body and has overall responsibility for the national
tertiary education and employment system. It has responsibility for:
 Higher education
 Vocational Education and Training (VET)
 International education (non-school)
 Adult and community education
 The Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF)
 Employment
 Youth policy relating to participation in tertiary education, work and
workforce productivity.
Membership of MCTEE comprises Commonwealth, State and Territory
Ministers with responsibility for tertiary education and employment. The
Commonwealth Government Minister chairs MCTEE. As a result of the Hawke
Review of Ministerial Councils, MCTEE will be transitioning to a Council of
Australian Governments (COAG) Standing Council structure from 2011.
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Further information
 Ministerial Council for Tertiary Education and Employment (MCTEE),
DEEWR, viewed February 2011,
<http://www.training.com.au/pages/menuitem1cace8ec6d299888a3
92e51017a62dbc.aspx>.
National VET Regulator and National Standards Council
In 2009, the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) agreed to establish a
National Standards Council (NSC) and a National VET Regulator – the
Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA).
From mid-2011 the National Quality Council started handing over functions to
the new National Standards Council (NSC).
From 1 July 2011 much of the responsibility for regulating Australia’s VET
sector – previously managed by state and territory regulators – was
transferred to the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA).
Initially, the change affects registered training organisations (RTOs) in most
states and territories and the owners of accredited VET courses. Victoria and
Western Australia have not referred their powers to the Commonwealth to
regulate their VET sectors, however RTOs operating in these states which
deliver courses in other states or overseas will be subject to regulation by
ASQA. This includes most large TAFE institutes.
The establishment of AQSA, the new national VET regulator means:
 transfer of RTO registration and records from state and territory
regulators to the new national regulator
 transfer of course accreditation from state and territory regulators to
the new national regulator.
The functions of the ASQA and NSC will ensure the quality assurance and
national consistency in the application of the Australian Quality Training
Framework standards for the audit and registration of training providers.
Further information
 Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA), Commonwealth Government,
viewed May 2011, <http://www.asqa.gov.au>.
 DEEWR, National VET Regulator, Commonwealth Government, viewed
May 2011,
<http://www.deewr.gov.au/skills/overview/policy/nationalvetregulator
/pages/overview.aspx>.
State and Territory Training Authorities
Each Australian state and territory government has a training authority that
administers vocational education and training (VET), allocating funds,
registering training organisations and accrediting courses.
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The state and territory training authorities (STAs) are accountable to their
minister, who is a member of MCTEE.
It is the responsibility of each STA to:
 plan and report on VET strategies
 purchase training on behalf of their government
 administer Australian Apprenticeships and VET in Schools programs
 administer funding and financial incentives for VET in the state or
territory
 support training organisations, employers and the community on VET
issues

	register and audit training providers’ compliance with the Australian Quality Training Framework (AQTF).

Research task: Currency of key agencies

A number of ministerial companies and regulatory agencies act as support mechanisms for the VET system. Recent reforms have seen changes to existing entities. For example, the creation of new national regulatory arrangements (including the new National Standards Council) and the transition of TVET to NATESE (National Advisory for Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment). Use the resources listed above to locate information about the structure of the VET system, including the names and roles of key agencies, at national and state government levels.

The National Skills Framework
The national training system has three key elements that promote quality and
national consistency in terms of qualifications and the delivery of training.
These elements are:
 training packages
 the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF)
 the Australian Quality Training Framework (AQTF).
Collectively they are referred to as the National Skills Framework (NSF).
This framework sets out the national training system’s requirements for
quality and national consistency in terms of qualifications and the delivery of
training. The NSF applies nationally and has been endorsed by the MCTEE. It
replaces the National Training Framework.
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Training packages
A training package is a set of nationally-endorsed standards and
qualifications for recognising and assessing people’s skills in a specific
industry, industry sector or enterprise. Training packages ensure the quality,
consistency and industry relevance of training products.
Training packages describe the skills and knowledge that individuals need to
be able to perform effectively in the workplace. They do not describe how a
person should be trained. Teachers and trainers develop learning and
assessment strategies – the ‘how’ – depending on learners’ needs, abilities
and circumstances. When a training need is not addressed by an existing
training package, an accredited course may be developed in response to that
need.
The National Standards Council (NSC) oversees all policy relating to the
endorsement of training packages.
The Training.gov.au site records all training package qualifications and their
units of competency, and accredited courses.
Industry Skills Councils (ISCs) are responsible for developing the training
package qualifications in consultation with the employers, unions and
professional associations of an industry, who help define the outcomes that
are required from training.
Keep up to date with changes to the NSF at the TGA website,
<http://www.training.gov.au>.
The structure of streamlined training packages
The NQC project to streamline training packages has resulted in a design
model that has seen changes made to training packages since June 2011.
Streamlining is all about making training packages simpler and shorter so
that they are easier to understand and use.
The new model set out in the Design model for streamlined Training Package
material:
 streamlines training package information
 strips out unnecessary detail
 segments the content into several categories
 separates performance standards and requirements from supporting
information
 requires concise descriptions and plain language.
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The most important change is:
 the separation of performance standards from assessment
requirements and the focus on foundation skills in streamlined NQCendorsed components of training packages
 the use of quality-assured, but non-endorsed, companion volumes as
the source of a range of supporting information to guide
implementation.
It is critical that you are familiar with the structure of all the components of
the Training Package that you are delivering, and not just single units of
competency. In particular, the assessment requirements section of a training
package can provide essential information that will shape your practice.
Note: Later in this topic, there is a chapter named Unpacking LLN from
training packages, dedicated to locating LLN content from streamlined units
of competency.

Research task: The structure of a streamlined training package

1. Access the diagram outlining the structure of a streamlined training package, including the NQC-endorsed components and the quality assured companion volumes. <http://www.21c.tvetaustralia.com.au/streamlining_of_ training_packages> 2. Click on each of the headings in the diagram to expand the content.

Research task: Examining views on training packages

1. For two contrasting views on training packages, read: a. Industry Skills Councils (ISC), training packages [a story less told], Industry Skills Council Forum, viewed May 2011, <http://www.isc.org.au/pdf/training%20packages_a%20 story%20less%20told%20FINAL.pdf>. b. Wheelahan, L., What are the Alternatives to training packages?, School of Social Sciences, Southern Cross University, viewed May 2011, <http://www.unimelb.academia.edu/LeesaWheelahan/ Papers/265914/What_Are_the_Alternatives_to_ Training_Packages>. 2. Which training packages relate to your delivery context and practice environment? 3. Which view of training packages best matches your own personal perspectives?

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4. What mechanisms exist for you to provide feedback on the continuous improvement of training packages? 5. Discuss with colleagues.

Accredited courses
Accredited courses are developed to meet training needs that are not
addressed by existing training packages. A course will not be accredited if it
duplicates existing endorsed Training Package qualifications, or if the
outcome can be achieved through the contextualisation of a training package
qualification.
Accreditation is the responsibility of the Australian Skills Quality Authority or,
in Victoria and WA, the state or territory course accrediting body.
There are two types of accredited courses.
1. Courses that result in an AQF qualification – referred to as Certificate II
in… or Diploma of…
2. Courses that result in an AQF Statement of Attainment and are not
complete qualifications – referred to as a Course in…
Accredited courses can cover specific industry content or they can cover
general adult education – including stand-alone adult language, literacy and
numeracy and preparatory vocational courses.
Accredited courses are listed on Training.gov.au, but course details are not
always available on this site. State Training Authorities (STAs) or RTOs
responsible for developing the course will often manage access to
course content.

Research task: Stand-alone LLN courses

1. Locate the source of your state or territory’s accredited course information. 2. Locate a copy of a stand-alone LLN course relevant to your delivery context.

Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF)
The Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) is a system of nationallyrecognised qualifications in schools, vocational education and training and
higher education. It ensures the quality, consistency and portability of training
outcomes across Australia. There are 15 national qualifications in the
framework, including eight vocational education and training qualifications.
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Research task: Working with the AQF

Recent reforms to the AQF are described in the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) 2011, implemented in July 2011. <http://www.aqf.edu.au/Portals/0/Documents/Handbook/ AustQuals%20FrmwrkFirstEditionJuly2011_FINAL.pdf> 1. Locate the description of each of the AQF qualifications, including the one for the Vocational Graduate Certificate, p. 42–44. 2. Compare the description of the Vocational Graduate Certificate (VGC) and the qualification level that you deliver. What are the key differences?

The Australian Quality Training Framework (AQTF)
The Australian Quality Training Framework (AQTF) 2010 is the set of
nationally-agreed quality assurance arrangements for training and
assessment services delivered by training organisations. It assures the
quality and consistency of training outcomes.
Training organisations must be registered under the AQTF in order to deliver,
assess and issue Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) qualifications or
Statements of Attainment in relation to endorsed training packages and
accredited courses.
State and Territory registering authorities are responsible for registering and
monitoring training organisations and ensuring they comply with AQTF
standards.

Research task: Implications of the AQTF on LLN practice

1. A full explanation of the AQTF and key publications is available at <http://www.training.com.au>. 2. Access a copy of The crux of the matter, <http://www.training.qld.gov.au/information/equity diversity/resources-tools/index.html>. 3. Read through both sets of documents. 4. What are the key implications for your teaching and assessment practice?

Types of registered training
Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) are providers and assessors of
nationally-recognised training. Only RTOs can issue AQF qualifications and
Statements of Attainment.
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Training organisations must register with their relevant state or territory
registration authority to provide nationally-recognised training within an
approved scope of delivery.
In order to become registered, training organisations must meet the
Australian Quality Training Framework (AQTF) Essential conditions and
standards for initial registration, and then comply with the Essential
conditions and standards for continuing registration. This ensures the quality
of vocational education and training throughout Australia.
Registered Training Organisations may include TAFE colleges and institutes,
private providers, adult and community education providers, community
organisations, schools, higher education institutions, commercial and
enterprise training providers, industry bodies, and other organisations that
meet Australian Quality Training Framework registration requirements.
The details and scope of registration of all RTOs are listed on the
training.gov.au website
<http://www.training.gov.au/Search/SearchOrganisation>.

Research task: Supporting a working knowledge of VET

1. How is the training system administered in Australia and in your state or territory? 2. Identify and research your own state or territory government accreditation authority to see what information they provide and what support and resources they offer you as a practitioner interested in language, literacy and numeracy provision. 3. In a constantly changing policy and implementation environment, what steps might you take to keep in touch with VET news? Create a professional development plan. 4. Create a resources portfolio with relevant copies of AQTF, AQF and associated Training Package and/or accredited course information.

LLN provision in VET
Adult language, literacy and numeracy provision has a long history in the
Australian education and training environment.
Knowing the history of LLN provision is not directly connected to the units
requirements of the Vocational Graduate Certificate in Language, Literacy
and Numeracy Practice, however, if you are new to the field of LLN you may
be interested to read a number of papers which provide some context for
current models of provision and some of the broad socio-economic political
agendas that drive them.
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Recommended reading
 Perkins, K., 2010, Adult literacy and numeracy: Research and future
strategy, NCVER, viewed May 2011,
<http://www.ncver.edu.au/publications/2162.html>.
 McKenna, R. and Fitzpatrick, L., 2005, Integrated approaches to
teaching adult literacy in Australia: A snapshot of practice in
community services, NCVER, viewed May 2011,
<http://www.ncver.edu.au/publications/1601.html>.
Foundation Skills
Definitions of language, literacy and numeracy skills and ways to describe
them are in constant flux, but since 2010 the term Foundation Skills has
been used increasingly in a number of policy environments. Currently DEEWR
use the term Foundation Skills in their internal planning documents to
describe the combination of ‘core’ and ‘employability’ skills.
Although there is general agreement that there is synergy and overlap
between the two lists of skills, no formal piece of work has examined this
overlap. A discussion paper to support the National VET Equity Advisory
Council (NVEAC) Blueprint raised the issue around the need for a more formal
policy-driven definition. 2
A number of current projects are underway that may bring further clarity to
the use of the term Foundation Skills. These are the National Foundation
Skills Strategy, the development of the Foundation Skills Training Package,
the Streamlining training packages project and the work on reconceptualising
Employability Skills.
Although Foundation Skills can be viewed as those that ‘underpin’ other
vocational learning and skills, they cannot be interpreted as only low-level or
single-level skills. In a summary of research on adult literacy and numeracy,
NCVER stated that:
…there is a growing recognition that the challenge is… not confined to
those with poor basic skills, but extends to all people trying to understand
new forms of communication and information as they take on different
roles in life and work.
– NCVER, 2005
2 Roberts, A., and Wignall, L., Briefing on Foundation Skills for the National VET Equity Advisory
Council, viewed May 2011,
<http://www.nveac.tvetaustralia.com.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/56348/Briefing_on_F
oundation_Skills_-_Roberts_and_Wignall.pdf>.
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You will need to develop an understanding of LLN in the Australian adult
learning context that takes into account the diversity of adult learners.
Unpacking language, literacy and numeracy will involve developing an
understanding of each of these separate terms, and of how they interact.
This understanding will be an ongoing activity throughout your professional
teaching life. It is important to be aware of the debates, both locally and
internationally, and how these impact on approaches to teaching and
learning LLN.
National Foundation Skills Strategy
In 2010 The Foundation Skills Working Group (FSWG) was formed by DEEWR
to seek stakeholder input into the development of the National Foundation
Skills Strategy for Adults (the ‘National Strategy’). The FSWG consists of
representatives from Australian and state and territory governments, and is
developing the strategy in consultation with training providers, industry and
employers, the community and other key stakeholders. The FSWG operates
under the auspices of the Ministerial Council for Tertiary Education and
Employment (MCTEE).
The National Strategy will:
 identify national priorities for improving adult foundation skills

	provide a consistent and coordinated framework of approaches to improving foundation skills across all levels of government for the

period 2012–2022
 consist of both systemic and program level responses to identified
issues in the area of foundation skills
 complement national initiatives that aim to build foundation skills in
the early childhood, schools, VET and higher education sectors.

Research task: Maintaining currency with the national strategy

1. Locate read and respond to the latest developments regarding the national strategy, <www.deewr.gov.au/Skills/Overview/Policy/Pages/ NFSSforAdults.aspx>. 2. What impact will the strategic have on your work? Discuss with colleagues.

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Research task: Impact of the Foundation Skills Training Package

In April 2011 the NQC agreed that a Foundation Skills Training Package should be developed to support a national, systemic approach to developing foundation skills units of competency, qualifications and skill sets. The Foundation Skills Training Package has the potential to significantly change the way LLN (and employability skills) are delivered in VET. 1. Access information about the development process and structure of the Foundation Skills Training Package and investigate the potential implications of the package for your delivery.

The expanding role of the LLN practitioner
The IBSA User guide for TAE70110 Vocational Graduate Certificate in
Language, Literacy and Numeracy Practice (published in 2010) states:
An examination of the current and emerging language, literacy and
numeracy workforce (NCVER, 2008) identified a growing pool of people
responsible for assisting individuals with adult literacy and numeracy skill
development formally in education environments and informally within the
community. The contemporary adult literacy and numeracy workforce is
no longer only sourced from those with education specialisation
backgrounds. People may be working in jobs that are explicitly about
‘teaching LLN skills’ in stand-alone courses or they may be in roles, such
as trainers within industry or adult educators in the community, where
there is a high degree of integration of LLN skill development within their
everyday work.
The existing LLN workforce (like the general VET workforce) is ageing and the
number of university-based undergraduate and post-graduate qualifications
specifically designed to produce or upskill adult literacy and numeracy
practitioners has dwindled dramatically since the mid-1990s. Practitioners
operating in the field today hold a range of credentials, but there is no
standard national qualification for LLN practitioners available in Australia.
NCVER research also found the opportunity for formal professional
development for credentialed and non-credentialed practitioners was rare
and that there had not been a formal replacement for the Adult Literacy
Teaching and Adult Numeracy Teaching courses that were developed by the
National Staff Development Committee in 1995.
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In Current and future professional development needs of the language,
literacy and numeracy workforce3, Mackay et al. interviewed key professional
development providers who predicted the following professional development
needs and issues for their target audience:

	upskilling of language, literacy and numeracy teaching practitioners in meeting the needs of disparate groups of learners, with emphasis on

learners from equity target groups

	keeping teachers abreast of national and state language, literacy and numeracy policy and curriculum in a constantly changing education

and training context
 developing skills in flexible delivery to enable offering a variety of
delivery modes and to assist in the development of multiliteracies in
language, literacy and numeracy learners
 covering aspects of teaching practice
 updating knowledge of theories of language and learning
 training for leadership and management roles
 taking a cyclic approach to professional development to cater for
changes in personnel that will continue to occur due to the retirement
of an ageing workforce and the high numbers of part-time and
casual employees.
New qualifications were designed to provide credentials and professional
development opportunities for practitioners from the vocational training field
who may require upskilling in adult language, literacy and numeracy as a
requirement of their job, and to provide pathways for existing LLN
practitioners who may want to move into leadership positions that require
additional expertise in assessment systems, research methodology or
resource development.
The Vocational Graduate Certificate in Language, Literacy and Numeracy
Practice has been developed to provide:
 credentials for existing language, literacy and numeracy teachers and
trainers who may not have specific language, literacy and numeracy
qualifications
 skills refreshers for existing language, literacy and numeracy teachers
and trainers who may need specific skills for changing job
requirements (such as an upgrade of numeracy skills or delivery to
CALD learners)

	professional development for existing language, literacy and numeracy teachers and trainers who may want to shift their delivery practice from

classroom to the workplace or vice versa
3
Mackay, S., Burgoyne, U., Warwick, D., and Cipollone, J., Current and future professional
development needs of the language, literacy and numeracy workforce, viewed May 2011,
<http://www.ncver.edu.au/publications/1679.html>.
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	upskilling for teachers wanting to move into literacy and numeracy teaching in VET from the schools sector

 an opportunity for teachers and trainers wanting to move from a
vocational skill area into language, literacy and numeracy teaching to
gain underpinning knowledge and skills
 effective strategies to support VET teachers and trainers who want to
better integrate language, literacy and numeracy skill development into
vocational training with their practice
 an opportunity to develop a specialisation in adult language, literacy
and numeracy to practitioners working in a range of formal and
informal adult education contexts (for example volunteer tutors who
want to upgrade their credential or community legal aid or youth
welfare workers who want to specialise in language, literacy
and numeracy).
The qualification has a focus on teaching and delivery however the context
for delivery is flexible and embraces a broad definition of ‘VET context’.

Research task: your role as a LLN practitioner

1. Read the NVEAC Strategy support document, Briefing on foundation skills4. 2. What parts of foundation skill provision do you, or are you intending to work in? 3. What training specifications do you/will you use in this provision? 4. Who employs/will employ you? 5. How is the provision funded? 6. Read through the list (above) of the reasons for which the Vocational Graduate Certificate was developed. 7. What is your reason for doing this qualification? Discuss your reason with a range of colleagues. 8. What are the similarities and differences in rationale for completing this qualification among your colleagues?

4 Roberts, A., and Wignall, L., Briefing on Foundation Skills for the National VET Equity Advisory
Council, viewed May 2011,
<http://www.nveac.tvetaustralia.com.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/56348/Briefing_on_F
oundation_Skills_-_Roberts_and_Wignall.pdf>, pp.3-6.
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Unpacking LLN from training packages
There are two distinct ways that foundation skills are now represented in
training packages.
1. Explicit reference to them in vocational units.
2. The description of national foundation skills standards in the
Foundation Skills Training Package.
Before beginning this section, please review the information on streamlined
training packages in the National Skills Framework section above.
An informative paper on the design of training packages for the effective
delivery of foundation skills can be found at
<http://www.21c.tvetaustralia.com.au/foundation_skills>. This paper
presented options for addressing barriers to the delivery of effective
foundation skills in the VET products for the 21st century project.

Research task

1. Read the foundation skills report at <http://www.21c.tvetaustralia.com.au/foundation_skills>. 2. What do you believe will be the impact of making reference to foundation skills more explicit in training packages, and of introducing nationally- agreed standards for foundation skills? 3. Discuss your thoughts with colleagues.

Streamlined units of competency
The streamlined model aims to simplify the language of all current Training
Packages; shorten them by eliminating repetitive and unnecessary
information; and reducing the level of detail. It also aims to segment them so
that they are better aligned to the intended purpose.
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Streamlined unit of competency
Key component	Content
Elements and performance criteria	Contain the essential outcomes and level of performance that must be demonstrated.
Foundation skills	Detail the essential combined core and employability skills that are essential to performance.
Range of conditions	Allows for different work environments and operating conditions that may affect performance.
Assessment evidence:  performance evidence  knowledge evidence  Assessment conditions	Represent the skills and knowledge that underpin competence in the essential technical skills of the unit. The assessment conditions contain the terms under which is to take place.

For more information on the streamlined design model, see
<http://www.nqc.tvetaustralia.com.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/54979
/Design_Model_for_Streamlined_Training_Package_Material.pdf>.
Explicit foundation skills in vocational units of competency
The term ‘foundation skills’ is used in training packages to refer to the
combination of language, literacy and numeracy (or core) skills and
employability skills. The term describes reading, writing, numeracy, and oral
communication along with employability and learning skills.
Language, literacy and numeracy skills have long been included in training
packages, however they have not always been ‘unpacked’ into the separate
core skills.
As a VET practitioner interested in supporting learners’ develop their core
skills, your role is to use your knowledge of the particular industry and its
requirements and then make a professional judement about the specific core
skill required as well as the level required of that skill. You will be
representing both the core skill demands of the tasks described in the unit as
well as the core skill demands of performance in the workplace.
One of the first steps you’ll need to take is to become familiar with the types
of words in units that indicate a core skill. There are a range of tools to help
trainers and assessors to identify core skill content in Training Pacakage
units.
Appendix 1 contains an example of one of these – the ‘Trigger words’ tool.
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Sometimes, a bit of digging is needed to identify which core skill a word is
indicating, or whether you’re talking about more than one core skill.
For example, the word ‘reporting’ may be used in a unit in a general way but
the unit may not specify whether it is reporting verbally or in writing; nor
whether the written reporting is completing a simple checklist or writing a
detailed report.
Unpacking a streamlined training package unit: Three steps
There are differences in the structure and section names between
streamlined and ‘pre-streamlining’ units of competency, but the basic
process for unpacking the critical core skills is the same.
Step 1: Identify the core skills
1. Review the elements and performance criteria in the unit to identify the
critical technical skills to be demonstrated (unless the unit is about
demonstrating a core skill in itself, for example, BSBWRT301A Write
simple documents, in which case note that a core skill or combination
of skills underpins the demonstration of a larger technical task) and
then, using a tool like the ‘Trigger words’ tool, list the core skill
demands that underpin those critical technical skills.
2. Check the assessment requirements for that unit, including both the
performance evidence and the knowledge evidence, to see if there are
any core skill demands additional to those detailed in the unit’s
elements and performance criteria.
3. Review these findings against the content in the foundation skills
section of the unit and note any discrepancies, for example, is there a
critical core skill in an element or performance criteria that has not
been listed in the foundation skills section?
Step 2: Analyse the complexity of the skill required or the ACSF level
1. Decide on the exact nature of the core skill required, for example, using
your industry knowledge you might know that the term ‘appropriate
documentation’ means the use of a particular checklist.
2. If you are familiar with the ACSF tool you may wish to assign an
indicative level.
You may wish to complete the activities on the ACSF in Topic 4 of this guide
before continuing to Step 3.
Step 3: Evaluate the core skills and/or ACSF information
1. Review the previous two steps and consider whether you agree with the
representation of the nature and scope of core skills in the various
sections of the unit.
2. Note any ways that the ACSF or references to foundation skills could be
strengthened in the unit.
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A template for this analysis may be found in Appendix 2. Using
MSAPMSUP303A Identify equipment faults as an example, one core skill (oral
communication) has been unpacked for you.

Research task

1. Locate a Training Package in a work area that suits your practice environment, and look at the unit titles, noting any that seem to indicate a likely language, literacy and numeracy component. 2. Choose two units: a. one that seems to have LLN content, for example, BSBWRT301A Write simple documents b. one general vocational unit, for example, MSAPMSUP303A Identify equipment faults. 3. Print out the two units and following the Unpacking a streamlined training package unit: three steps, above, fill out the table in Appendix 2. Training packages have a continuous improvement cycle and each Industry Skills Council has a feedback register where practitioners can register anomalies, omissions and suggestions for improvement in future editions of a training package. Locate the feedback register for the training package you are analysing and submit your feedback (with an emphasis on what could be done to improve the product in relation to the ways LLN concepts are communicated).

Assigning ACSF levels to unit content
Once you have identified the critical core skills required in a unit you need to
analyse them against the five levels of performance of the ACSF. Topic 4 in
this guide contains detailed information about the ACSF.
A decision on the ACSF level of a required skill should include consideration
of the performance variables with particular emphasis on the complexity of
the text and the task.
Remember that variables that interact to determine the level of difficulty of
literacy tasks, are or example:
 application of language in variety of settings, including personal
communication, social communication or workplace communication
 familiarity of context

	length and complexity of text language and structure
 degree of inference the reader is required to make, or how explicit a
text is kind of information in a text, for example concrete compared to	

abstract
 extent of support required to respond to a text.
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You should review the identified core skill content in the unit, against the core
skill grids and with reference to the Sample Activities, to make a professional
judgement about the ACSF level.
The ability to assign ACSF levels requires practice and moderation of views
among a number of practitioners. As you practise and gain confidence you
are more likely to feel capable of mapping ACSF levels to units on your own.

Research task

From 2011, Industry Skills Councils will map a selection of units from training packages to the ACSF. This work may appear in companion volumes of training packages or be available directly from individual Industry Skills Councils. 1. If possible, access a copy of the mapping work and discuss with colleagues. 2. Is it possible to make a clear judgement on the ACSF level of a core skills described? 3. Does the information supplied support you in developing appropriate teaching sequences that would help an individual to develop a particular skill in a specific vocational context?

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Topic 2:	Learner
Characteristics

…the most universal quality is diversity.
– Michel de Montaigne
In any teaching environment, the teacher or trainer must consider the
individual characteristics that learners bring to the delivery. This is even more
significant in an adult environment, where the learners come equipped with a
wealth of experience. This Knowledge Bank topic looks at some of the
aspects of a learner’s background and how these may affect attendance,
participation, learning and progress. Learners bring a variety of experiences
from their personal circumstances and previous study or work that may be an
asset or a barrier to their current learning.
This topic covers the following content:
 Literacy and numeracy levels and the Australian population
 Factors in an adult learner’s background
 Learning styles.
Literacy and numeracy levels and the
Australian population
This section will help you to become aware of the data related to the literacy
levels of adults, to highlight the broad range of skill levels across the adult
population and the implications for delivery in VET.
Depending on the cohort of learners you teach, and the delivery context, the
Adult Literacy and Life Skills (ALLS) data will be useful to you in a variety of
ways. The individual Participant Workbooks will refer to ALLS and may ask
you to analyse a specific aspect of the data for a particular reason.
International surveys
The International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) and the Adult Literacy and Life
Skills survey (ALLS) were large-scale, internationally comparative
assessments designed to measure the skills and characteristics of
individuals within and between a range of participating countries.
The most contemporary data sets on Australian literacy and numeracy levels
are derived from the ALLS that was conducted in Australia in 2006 and early
2007. The first wave of ALLS was conducted in Bermuda, Canada, Italy,
Mexico (state of Nuevo Leon), Norway, Switzerland and the USA. Australia,
Hungary, Netherlands, New Zealand and South Korea made up the second
wave of ALLS.
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From 2011, the ALLS will be replaced by the Programme for the International
Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC).
PIAAC is a new international adult literacy study, commissioned by the OECD,
which will be administered on a three-year cycle. The first administration will
be in 2011, in about 24 countries. The assessment is a household survey of
adults between the ages of 16 and 64, linked with previous international
adult literacy surveys (IALS and ALL). PIAAC will assess proficiency in literacy
(reading), numeracy and problem solving in a technology-rich environment.
The assessments will be computer-delivered in all three domains, though
there will also be paper-based components in literacy and numeracy.
Further information on PIAAC can be found through the OECD website at
<http://www.oecd.org/document/7/0,3746,en_2649_33927_44378247_
1_1_1_1,00.html>.
ALLS in Australia
The ALLS is the second survey of its type to be conducted in Australia. Its
predecessor, the IALS, was conducted in Australia in 1996 as the Survey of
Aspects of Literacy (SAL). The IALS, the world’s first survey of adult skills, was
undertaken during three rounds of data collection between 1994 and 1998.
Similarly, the ALLS allows comparison of Australians’ literacy skills with those
of other countries, as well as time series comparisons for the key domains of
prose and document literacy.
ALLS in Australia was administered by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on
behalf of the Australian Government. It involved a random sample of private
dwellings in which one person per dwelling participated in the survey. The
sample included people aged 15 to 74 years in all states and territories,
excluding very remote areas. Major sub-populations, such as working and
non-working populations, people born overseas, those from low socioeconomic backgrounds, and those with low self-perceived health status, can
be identified in the survey. While an important aim of the ALLS is to identify
populations whose performance in terms of skills places them at risk, release
of Indigenous estimates is subject to restrictions because the ALLS sample
size and coverage was not designed to be representative of the Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander population. Furthermore, the content of the survey
would need substantial redesign to accommodate cultural differentiation.
The domains measured
Literacy results were reported for five domains: two literacy scales (prose and
document), a numeracy scale, a problem-solving scale and a health literacy
scale. The first four of these domains were captured in the survey by
assessing skill levels through a series of tasks, or tests, that respondents
were asked to complete. The fifth domain measuring health literacy was
produced as a by-product of the above testing process.
Definitions for the five domains are provided below.
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Prose literacy
The knowledge and skills needed to understand and use various kinds of
information from text including editorials, news stories, brochures and
instruction manuals.
Document
The knowledge and skills required to locate and use information contained in
various formats including job applications, payroll forms, transportation
schedules, maps, tables and charts.
Numeracy
The knowledge and skills required to effectively manage and respond to the
mathematical demands of diverse situations.
Problem solving
Goal-directed thinking and action in situations for which no routine solution is
available.
Health literacy
The knowledge and skills required to understand and use information relating
to health issues such as drugs and alcohol, disease prevention and
treatment, safety and accident prevention, first aid, emergencies and staying
healthy.
Other information collected
Information collected in the survey includes details of participation in
education and learning, educational attainment, parental education,
languages spoken, labour force status, industry and occupation,
respondents’ literacy and numeracy practices at work and elsewhere, social
capital and well-being, use of information and communication technology,
income, and other socio-demographic information.
Respondents were not tested directly on all domains included in ALLS. A
multiple imputation technique known as Item Response Theory was used
where, based on their test scores, plausible scores were allocated for all
domains including those not directly assessed. Plausible scores are
constructed explicitly to provide consistent estimates of population effect.
Literacy estimates in the ALLS summary publication are obtained by taking
the average of the estimates from each of the plausible scores. It should be
noted that the technique used in 2006 is different to the method used in
1996, and therefore 1996 estimates presented in the 2006 publication
differ slightly from those presented in 1996.
It should also be noted that statistically significant differences in the number
of people with certain literacy levels or other characteristics (as opposed to
the proportion) might be due to factors such as population increase.
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Research task: Finding a focus for the numbers

1. Read through the additional information in Appendix 3. 2. Using this as a base, research an aspect of the survey findings that interests you and has implications for your work. 3. Document your research for use in your evidence portfolio. 4. Discuss your research with a colleague.

Readings and resources
Overview
 Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), 2006, Adult literacy and lifeskills
survey, Summary results, Australia, viewed May 2011,
<http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/[email protected]/mf/4228.0>.
This is available in the IBSA online LLN readings folder.
 Duncan, C.., and Adhikari, P., 2006, Adult literacy and lifeskills survey
2006: Selected findings, National Centre for Education and Training
Statistics, ABS.
This is a PDF of a PowerPoint presentation by ABS statisticians on
elements of the data related to particular cohorts, available in the IBSA
online LLN readings folder.
International comparisons
 Satherley, P., Lawes, E. and Sok, S., 2008, The Adult Literacy and Life
Skills (ALL) Survey: Overview and international comparisons, Ministry of
Education, New Zealand.
This document from New Zealand provides some comparisons of data
from countries in the first and second rounds of ALLS. It is available in
the IBSA online LLN readings folder
Numeracy
 Tout, D., 2008, Population measures and the ALL Survey: It’s not just
about numbers – numeracy and Australian training, Australian VET
Research Association (AVETRA), Crows Nest, NSW.
This is a paper concentrating on specific implications for numeracy,
available in the IBSA online LLN readings folder
Policy implications
 Shore, S., and Searle, J., 2008, Literacy and lifeskills in Australia:
Implications for policy activism, AVETRA, Crows Nest, NSW.
This paper outlines the implications for funding and practice, available
in the IBSA online LLN readings folder.
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Workforce

	Ryan, C. and Sinning M., Literacy and numeracy skills and their use by the Australian workforce, Australian National University, NCVER, 2009.

This paper uses the ABS data to make some specific findings on skills
used in the workforce, available in the IBSA online LLN readings folder.
Factors in an adult learner’s background
Learner’s background
Because Australia is a culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) society, as a
VET practitioner your learners will come from a variety of English speaking
and non-English speaking backgrounds.
This section considers the broad range of factors that may impact on a
learner and their approach to learning. These include personal
circumstances, background and learning preferences as well as learners’
reasons for studying, attitude to study and what and how they expect to learn.
Education background, age, gender, culture, ethnicity, religion, education in
first language, ability, disability, personal and family circumstance (which may
include trauma, financial circumstance, balancing work, family, study or
caring for dependants), learning styles and personality, can all affect a
learner and their approach to learning.
According to their background each learner will have a range of factors that
may affect learning, and progress and participation in education. While some
factors may impede learning, others may contribute to or support learning.
As you consider how these factors may impact on your learner group you are
encouraged to consider how they may impact on you and your own learning
experiences. Refer to your own assessment of your core skills in the ACSF
section.
Barton et al. researched a number of adult learners and their motivations for
seeking out learning as adults. Barton states, ‘each person has a particular
combination of practices and identities, with a history behind them and an
imagined future towards which they are travelling, situated within a set of
current life circumstances and events’.5
Barton’s work provides an overview of the factors impacting on learning that
people bring to the learning setting, and includes some learner profiles.
Although this article does not refer to ESL learners it covers many aspects
that are common to all adult learners.
5 Barton, D., et al., 2006, Relating adults lives and learning: Participation and engagement in
different settings, NDRC, UK, viewed May 2011,
<http://www.nrdc.org.uk/publications_details.asp?ID=48>, p.11.
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Your delivery context
You will be asked to reflect on characteristics of your learner group in the
Participant Workbooks linked to specific units.
According to the type of provision you are working in, or intending to work in,
your learners’ backgrounds will differ. It is crucial to consider learner’s
backgrounds as a factor that will contribute to a person’s sense of
themselves as a learner, but not to stereotype them based on your own
assumptions. You will need to consider this information in light of any equal
opportunity and ethical considerations and responsibilities related to your
employment contract.

Research task: Examining participation and engagement

1. Access the following readings: a. Barton, D., Appleby, Y., Hodge, R., Tusting, K., and Ivanic, R., 2006, Relating adults lives and learning: Participation and engagement in different settings, NDRC, UK, viewed May 2011, <http://www.nrdc.org.uk/publications_details.asp?ID=48>, Chapter 3, pp.11–22. b. Centre for Adult Education (CAE), 2005, ‘Factors in an adult learner’s background that may affect learning’ in NYRD Apply adult TESOL methodologies to develop English language skills. This is a handout from the advanced Diploma of LLN Practice handout, available in the IBSA online LLN readings folder. 2. Consider their findings in light of your own learner group. 3. What insights can you derive about the implications for program design and delivery from your analysis of the readings?

Learning styles
In this section learning styles are introduced with consideration given to both
the learner’s and the teacher or trainer’s learning style. Participants should
be aware of these factors and, where appropriate, modify their teaching or
training and classroom activities to help the learner and accommodate
difference.
Identifying your own learning style
There are many theories related to learning styles. As a practitioner it is
important for you to understand your own learning style and how this impacts
on your choice of delivery and assessment activities as well as considering
how you can cater for the wide range of learner styles.
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Research task: Exploring learning styles

1. Complete your own Visual auditory kinaesthetic (VAC) learning styles survey, found at <http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/styles/vak.html> 2. Do you have one dominant learning style? 3. What effect might your learning style have on how you teach and how you might accommodate the different learning styles of your learners? 4. Read through Julie Coates’ short article on generational learning styles at <http://www.generationallearningstyles.com/book_intro.cfm>. 5. Do you think learning styles change with age? Compare young children with teenagers and mature adults. 6. What affect might the age group of your learners have on how you teach and how you might accommodate their different learning styles?

Implications of learning styles for delivery and design
There has been a deal of research in Australian VET on learning styles,
strategies and preferences. In their report Getting to grips with learning
styles, Smith and Dalton found that:
…typically, VET learners are inclined to be:
 more visual than verbal, in that they like to watch and see rather than
read and listen
 hands-on learners who prefer to learn by doing and by practising
 characterised by socially contextualised learning where they like to
learn in groups with other learners
 not self-directed learners, but like to have instructor guidance and a
clear understanding of what is required of them.6
6
Smith, P., and Dalton, J., 2005, Getting to grips with learning styles, NCVER, viewed May
2011, <http://www.ncver.edu.au/publications/1600.html>, p.12.
Topic 2: Learner Characteristics
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Research task: Digging deeper on learning styles

1. Read through the NCVER report, Getting to grips with learning styles, available at <http://www.ncver.edu.au/publications/1600.html>. 2. Identify an aspect of the report that interests you and has implications for your work that you would like to research further. 3. Find and access a relevant piece of research on learning styles using: a. the three CAE resources on learning styles from the IBSA online LLN readings folder b. from a website c. a YouTube video d. a text of your choice. 4. Document the findings of your research for use in your evidence portfolio. 5. Share and discuss your research with a colleague.

Accommodating learner style differences
Many factors in a learner’s background can be accommodated by providing a
variety of learning activities, providing facilities for learners with disabilities
and an understanding of how all the factors discussed might affect a learner.
However, there are some factors that may not be able to be accommodated,
for example, learner preferences for the gender of the teacher or trainer, or
the other participants in the class.
There are also factors that may require the learner to modify the ways they
learn. Some learners will expect that learning as an adult will be similar to
learning at school and therefore may expect you to direct and correct them in
all activities. Others may resent old ways of learning and demand full
independence. As a practitioner you will need to balance out the constraints
of the learning environment, your own preference for delivery and the varied
needs of your learners.
Cultural considerations
It is important for teachers and trainers, and also other personnel dealing
with a second language learner, to understand some of the cultural
differences that a learner may be facing and acknowledge them. It is
important for staff to respect other cultures while at the same time helping
the learner to adapt to the culture in which they are now living. It is important
for participants to understand that teachers and trainers need to
acknowledge differences and to explain to learners why certain teaching
techniques and activities are used.
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Research task: Handling learning style preferences

Read The learning style preferences of ESL students by Joy Reid and then consider the following questions: 1. Can all the background factors and learning styles be accommodated in the learning environment? 2. Should all the background factors and learning styles be accommodated in the learning environment? 3. Which factors can be accommodated in a classroom or workplace and how? 4. Which factors may not be able to be accommodated and how is this handled? 5. Which factors is it in the learner’s interest to modify and how can this be handled?

Essential reading
 Reid, J. M., (ed), Learning styles in the ESL/EFL classroom, Heinle and
Heinle Publishers, Florence, Kentucky.

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Topic 3: Adult Language,
Literacy and Numeracy
Teaching Theories
In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. But, in
practice, there is.
– Jan L. A. van de Snepscheut
This topic outlines the main theories and methodologies underpinning adult
LLN teaching and the readings and activities encourage you to explore how
these might translate into practice.
This topic covers the following content:
 Adults as learners
 An examination of cultural and social functions of LLN
 Choosing and applying theory to practice – a ‘bower bird’ approach.
The purpose of this section is not to have you learn the theory for its own
sake but to examine the theories and decide which ones you will use – in
light of the learners you are interacting with and challenges you face in your
practical day-to-day work. You will be directed to the Knowledge Bank from
the relevant Participant Workbooks for:
 TAELLN701A Analyse and apply adult literacy teaching practices
 TAELLN702A Analyse and apply adult numeracy teaching practices
 TAELLN703A Develop English language skills of adult learners
 TAELLN704A Implement and evaluate delivery of adult language,
literacy and numeracy skills.
Your delivery context
Depending on the cohort of learners you teach and the delivery context, the
information and readings presented in each part will be useful to you in a
variety of ways. The individual Participant Workbooks will refer to aspects of
theory and may ask you to analyse one or more theories for a particular
practical reason.
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Adults as learners
Like children, adults bring a range of knowledge, experience and skills to
learning. They also have a concept of themselves as learners. However, the
life experiences of adults mean they bring considerably more to the learning
experience – more knowledge, more experience, more skills, more opinions
and a clearer view of themselves as learners. This may facilitate or hamper
learning depending on the types of experiences, skills, knowledge and so on;
they bring to the learning experience. Adults also have a number of
competing demands on their time – such as family, work or community
commitments, which may interfere with learning.
Adult learners in the Australian context
Adult learners in the Australian context bring to the classroom a diverse
range of language backgrounds, educational experiences and purposes for
learning. This diversity can include learners from backgrounds including
those listed below.
 Adults from English-speaking backgrounds who have grown up
speaking only Standard Australian English (SAE) or a regional variety of
SAE with little formal education, including those who may have a
negative view of ‘education’ or limited literacy skills and learning skills.
 Adults who are speakers of Aboriginal Englishes and Indigenous
speakers of creoles for whom English is an additional language.
 A range of adults with language backgrounds other than English. The
dimensions of diversity in this group include: recently arrived migrants
and refugees; people from settled communities which have been in
Australia for some years; varying levels of literacy from people who are
highly literate in their first language to those who are from mainly oral
cultures, and those who initially develop English literacy skills that are
stronger than their English oracy skills; varying levels of education in
Australia and overseas; age; gender; intergenerational language issues;
aspirational and motivational differences.
These learners will have different starting points, different needs in relation
to learning, different language and literacy needs and focus. Each will bring
cultural understandings about language and learning and the social practices
of reading, writing, using numeracy and working with text.
The adult learning principles outlined here underpin adult education, whether
the context is adult literacy, numeracy, information and communication
technology (ICT) skills or horticulture.
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Adult learning principles and practice
Malcolm Knowles pioneered the field of adult learning and interprets the
term ‘andragogy’. He identified the following characteristics of adult learners:
 Adults are autonomous and self-directed. They need to be free to direct
themselves. Their teachers must actively involve adult participants in
the learning process and serve as facilitators for them.
 Adults have accumulated a foundation of life experiences and
knowledge that may include work-related activities, family
responsibilities, and previous education. They need to connect learning
to this knowledge and experience base.
 Adults are goal-oriented. On enrolling in a course, they usually know
what goal they want to attain.
 Adults are relevancy-oriented. They must see a reason for learning
something. Learning has to be applicable to their work or other
responsibilities to be of value to them.
 Adults are practical, focusing on the aspects of a lesson most useful to
them in their work. They may not be interested in knowledge for its own
sake.
 As do all learners, adults need to be shown respect. Instructors must
acknowledge the wealth of experiences that adult participants bring to
the classroom.
An assumption in Knowles’ work is that self-directedness is an innate
characteristic of adults. But practitioners working in adult language, literacy
and numeracy contexts recognise that they need to actively assist many
adults to move from being dependent to independent learners. See the
information on Metacognition in Appendix 6.
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Research task: From pedagogy to andragogy

Knowles’ work has been critiqued and extended by other theorists, such as Brookfield and Mezirow, in order to clarify his ideas and bring practical application to them. Read the article Research for planning adult learning: An overview, in Appendix 4. 1. What practical tips can you derive from this analysis of adult learning theory that you might apply in your practice? How might you assist learners to develop self-directed learning skills? 2. How do each of his points relate specifically to learners seeking to improve their LLN skills? How to they relate to your learner cohort? 3. If you are working with recently-arrived adult English language learners or with Indigenous learners of English as an additional language, how do these adult learning theories apply to these groups of learners? 4. What other considerations if any need to be made – are there other dimensions to learning influenced by cultural understandings or settlement experiences? How may these learners’ languages help in development of English language skills?

Essential reading
 Keenan, D., 2010, Research for Planning Adult Learning: An Overview
{Adult Learning}, Developing Education, viewed April 2011,
<http://www.mrkeenan.com/?p=402>.

	Brookfield, S.D., 1986, Understanding and facilitating adult learning, Open University Press, Buckingham.

	Lieb, S., 1991, ‘Principles of adult learning’, VISION, Fall, 1991, viewed February 2011,

<http://www2.honolulu.hawaii.edu/facdev/guidebk/teachtip/
adults-2.htm>.
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Developing a perspective on teaching adults
In her article, Four adult development theories and their implications for
practice, Baumgartner explores the relevance of adult development theories
and models on the practice of adult basic education. She contends that each
practitioner’s theory or philosophy of adult development informs their
teaching practice. For example, she says:
…if we believe that people mature by passively absorbing knowledge and
reacting to their environments, our instruction differs from that of
teachers who assume knowledge is constructed and that development
depends on active participation with the environment.7
Baumgartner discuss several approaches to adult development and their
related implications for instruction. The four adult development theories she
examines are:
 behavioural/mechanistic
 cognitive/psychological
 contextual/sociocultural
 integrative.

Research task: Where do you stand?

Read Baumgartner, 2001, <http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=268>. 1. Examine each of the four adult development theories outlined in Baumgartner. 2. Which one best matches your own philosophy of teaching? 3. What are the implications of your alignment with this approach to your teaching and assessment practice? 4. Does the context in which you practice affect the philosophy you adopt and practice? 5. Discuss with colleagues.

Developing a perspective on teaching adult learners of
English as an additional language
In light of the four development theories outlined in the article Baumgartner,
discussed above, consider the following.
7 Baumgartner, L. M., 2001, Four adult development theories and their implications for
practice, viewed May 2011, <http://www.literacyminnesota.org/sites/6bc90f8a-e528-403a-
8c6b-ffdd2e3dd3a7/uploads/four.pdf>, p.1.
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According to Paton and Wilkins:
It is important to value multiculturalism as an asset to learning and
cognitive development, and to recognise the complexity of the process
involved in acquiring an additional language with its implications for
motivation, self-esteem and identity as well as for personal development
and growth in confidence.8
Mitchell and Myles point out that there is:
A mismatch in power relations between any teacher and his/her learners
and the way in which this may be accentuated by the ability of those who
control the classroom discourse through language, simultaneously acting
as ‘gatekeepers’ to the social goods and services of the dominant society.9
Consider some of the ways in which you may ‘value multiculturalism’ in the
adult classroom.
Consider the power relations in the adult language classroom. How do you
see your role in meeting the cultural and linguistic needs of English language
learners?
Essential reading
 Baumgartner, L.M., 2001, ‘Four adult development theories and their
implications for practice’, Focus on basics, vol. 5, Issue B, October,
viewed February 2011, <http://www.ncsall.net/?id=268>.
Further reading for this section
 Barton, D., 2006, ‘A social perspective on language, literacy and
numeracy’, Reflect, Issue 5, viewed June 2011,
<http://www.nrdc.org.uk/content.asp?CategoryID=1027>.

	Foley, G. (ed.), 1995, Understanding adult education and training, Allen and Unwin, St. Leonards, NSW.

	Knowles, M. S., 1980, The modern practice of adult education: From pedagogy to andragogy, 2nd edn, Cambridge Books, New York.

	Mackeracher, D., 1996, Making sense of adult learning, Culture Concepts, Toronto, Ontario.

	Merriam, S. B,. and Caffarella, R. S., 1991, Learning in adulthood. A comprehensive guide, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco.

	Brookfield, S., 1989, ‘Myths and realities in adult education’, RaPal Bulletin, no. 10, Autumn.

8 Paton, A., and Wilkins, M., 2009, Teaching Adult ESOL: Principles and Practice, McGraw-Hill,
Berkshire, UK.
9 Mitchell, R., and Myles, F., 1998, Second language learning theories, Arnold, London.
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 Brookfield, S.D., 1995, ‘Adult learning: An overview’ in Tuinjman, A.
(ed), International encyclopedia of education, Pergamon Press, Oxford,
viewed February 2011,
<http://www.digitalschool.net/edu/adult_learn_Brookfield.html>.
 Conner, M.L., ‘How adults learn’, Ageless Learner, viewed February
2011, <http://www.agelesslearner.com/intros/adultlearning.html>.
 Fenwick, T., and Tennant, M., 2004, ‘Understanding adult learners’ in
Foley, G. (ed.), Dimensions of adult learning: Adult education and
training in a global era, Allen and Unwin, Crows Nest, NSW, pp.55–73.
 Smith, M.K., 2002, ‘Malcolm Knowles, informal adult education, selfdirection and andragogy’, The Encyclopedia of Informal Education,
viewed February 2011, <http://www.infed.org/thinkers/et-knowl.htm>.

	Niks, M., Allen, D., Davies, P., McRae, D., Nonesuch, K., and Rogers, A., 1986, Teaching adults, Open University Press, Milton Keynes.

An examination of cultural and social functions
of literacy
Literacy, or literacies as social practices, as developed over time, have
taken different focuses and emphases in response to societal demands.
The growing significance of cultural and linguistic diversity and new
communications technologies requires a responsibility to consider
carefully and precisely what the job of literacy now can be, in a
multicultural, multilingual and multiliterate society, increasingly
characterised by movement – of people, capital, labour and
communications in a variety of languages.10
As a practitioner providing stand-alone or integrated language literacy and
numeracy services in the VET sector you will be faced with a variety of
interpretations of what language, literacy and numeracy might mean.
Depending on your employer, your funding source, the needs of the learner
group and your delivery context there may be multiple interpretations and
demands in place at the one time.
In each domain of life – work, study or everyday life – there are a range of
LLN demands. These take shape in different ways in each domain. Certain
types of texts are more prominent in some domains than others.
Each individual will come with their own set of life experience and reasons for
engaging in LLN practices. They also come with an existing set of reading,
writing, speaking and listening and numeracy skills, and capacities to learn
as an adult.
10 Ludwig, C., Queensland Studies Authority, 2003, ‘Making sense of literacy’, Newsletter of the
Australian Literacy Educators’ Association, February, viewed May 2011,
<http://www.alea.edu.au/documents/item/53f>.
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Your role is to work with them to tease out the LLN practices they need to
develop so they can fulfil their aspirations, be they personal, social,
vocational or community-related.
Multiliteracies
The New London Group coined the phrase ‘multiliteracies’ in the 1990’s to
describe what constitutes literacy in today’s world. The group questioned
notions of literacy that were wholly ‘centred on language’ and paper-based
texts. The New London Group called for an expanded notion of literacy that
took into account the use of new technologies and visual texts into work,
study and everyday life. Their claim was that we now encounter, use and
interpret multiple kinds of literacies which are embedded in multimodal texts
and therefore literacy education needs to take account of this.
For a brief overview of multiliteracies you can access a multiliteracies map
from the Government of South Australia at
<http://www.earlyyearsliteracy.sa.edu.au/pages/resource/21402>

Research task: Working lives, public lives, private lives

In the article, Pedagogy of multiliteracies, The New London Group states that: The languages needed to make meaning are radically changing in three realms of our existence: our working lives, our public lives (citizenship), and our private lives (lifeworld).11 They examine the three realms in the chapter of the article titled, The changing present and near futures: Visions for work, citizenship, and lifeworlds. 1. What are some of the practical implications for literacy practitioners delivering in community and workplace or VET training environments? 2. Discuss with colleagues.

Essential reading
 Cazden, C., Cope, B, Fairclough, N., Gee, J. et al., The New London
Group, 1996, ‘Pedagogy of multiliteracies: Designing social futures’,
Harvard Educational Review, Spring, viewed April 2011,
<http://www.static.kern.org/filer/blogWrite44ManilaWebsite/paul/arti
cles/A_Pedagogy_of_Multiliteracies_Designing_Social_Futures.htm>.
11 Cazden, C., et al., The New London Group, 1996, ‘Pedagogy of multiliteracies: Designing
social futures’, Harvard Educational Review, Spring, viewed April 2011,
<http://www.static.kern.org/filer/blogWrite44ManilaWebsite/paul/articles/A_Pedagogy_of_M
ultiliteracies_Designing_Social_Futures.htm>.
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Additional reading

	Pullen, D., and Cole, D. (eds.), 2009, Multiliteracies in motion: Current theory and practice, Routledge, London.

Digital literacies
Emerging from the notion of multiliteracies is the study of digital literacy and
the shift away from paper-based to multimodal texts. In our personal lives,
our learning and work environments, we are faced with a multitude of
information presented to us on paper, on film, on billboards, on hand-held
devices, on phones, on screens, on radio, on the telephone (the list goes on).
Social networking is becoming a new form of literacy with new modes and
language forms to learn, for example, the 150 character constraints of
Twitter or the privacy protocols of Facebook.
Workers are often required to adapt quickly to new forms of communications
technology and many learners are expected to access and navigate online
learning spaces with limited training opportunity.
In Using information and communication technologies in adult literacy
education, Snyder, Jones and Lo Bianco state:
In exploring the relationship between adult literacy practices and the use
of information and communication technologies, the research suggested
that they are inextricably linked. By this we mean that it makes little sense
to speak of the ‘impact’ of technology ‘on’ literacy. The association
between literacy and technology is far more complex than a one-way,
causal explanation might suggest.12
Literacy today depends on understanding the multiple types of media that
make up our high-tech reality and developing the skills to use them
effectively.
As an introduction to the issue, read through:
 Jones-Kavalier, B., and Flannigan, S., 2006, ‘Connecting the digital
dots: Literacy of the 21st Century’, Viewpoint, Educause Quarterly,
No. 2, 2006, viewed May 2011,
<http://www.educause.edu/EDUCAUSE+Quarterly/EDUCAUSEQuarte
rlyMagazineVolum/ConnectingtheDigitalDotsLitera/157395>.
There are a multitude of articles about the use of digital literacies in adult
education. The following three outline different aspects of the issue but you
may find that you are interested in a particular aspect of the topic and seek
out your own articles.
12 Snyder, I., Jones, A. and Lo Bianco, J., 2005, Using information and communication
technologies in adult literacy education: New practices, new challenges, NCVER, viewed May
2011, <http://www.ncver.edu.au/research/proj/nr3L08e.htm>.
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In the article, New literacies for new times: the convergence of the internet
and literacy instruction, Donald J. Leu explores what the convergence of
literacy, literacy instruction, networked information and communication
technologies like the internet mean for adult educators.
Elizabeth Schmar-Dobler explores the particular reading skills required for
reading digital texts in Reading on the internet: The link between literacy and
technology.
The practitioners at Upper Yarra Community House in Victoria illustrate the
way in which theoretical concepts can inform innovative practice in their
action research project.13

Research task: Digital literacies in practice

1. Read the three articles listed below (Essential reading) and discuss with colleagues some of the practical implications for literacy practitioners delivering in community and workplace or VET training environments. 2. What strengths and weaknesses do you have in relation to the use of new technologies in your teaching practice? What opportunities are there for professional development in e-learning?

Essential reading
 Leu, D. J., ‘New literacies for new times: the convergence of the
internet and literacy instruction’, FinePrint, 2001,
<http://www.valbec.org.au/05/fineprint/archive/2001/01WN%
20TOC.pdf>.
 Schmar-Dobler, E., 2003, ‘Reading on the internet: The link between
literacy and technology’, International Reading Association’s Journal of
Adolescent and Adult Literacy, September 2003, viewed May 2011,
<http://www.readingonline.org/newliteracies/jaal/9-03_column/>.
 Upper Yarra Community House, Integrating new lits into classroom
practice: Final report, viewed May 2011,
<http://www.pdfcari.com/Integrating-New-Lits-Into-ClassroomPractice-Final-Report.html>.
13 Upper Yarra Community House, Integrating new lits into classroom practice: Final report,
viewed May 2011, <http://www.pdfcari.com/Integrating-New-Lits-Into-Classroom-PracticeFinal-Report.html>.
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Additional reading
 Snyder, I., Jones, A. and Lo Bianco, J., 2005, Using information and
communication technologies in adult literacy education: New practices,
new challenges, NCVER, viewed May 2011,
<http://www.ncver.edu.au/research/proj/nr3L08e.htm>.Of interest
 Technology Explained, Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC),
viewed May 2011, <http://www.abc.net.au/techexplained>.
Frameworks for exploring texts
In order for an individual to make meaning from and generate their own
meaning using texts they need to be able to ‘develop questions around
values, identity and power as a part of the construction and
deconstruction of multiliteracies in texts.14
Texts can be written, visual and spoken, and can come in many forms. The
‘four literacy resources’ model and the ‘three literacy dimensions’ model are
two frameworks that are used to conceptualise contemporary notions of
literacy, both in school and adult literacy contexts. These are explained in
greater detail below.
The four literacy resources model
Freebody, P., and Luke, A., 1990, ‘Literacies programs: Debates and
demands in cultural context’, Prospect: Australian Journal of TESOL, no. 5,
vol. 7, pp.7-16.
The four resources model works on the premise that effective literacy draws
on a repertoire of practices that allow learners, as they engage in reading and
writing activities, to achieve the following.
 Break the code of texts
By recognising and using the fundamental features and architecture of
written texts including alphabet, sounds in words, spelling, conventions
and patterns of sentence structure and text.
 Participate in the meanings of text
By understanding and composing meaningful written, visual and
spoken texts from within the meaning systems of particular cultures,
institutions, families, communities, nation-states and so on.
14 Cazden, C., et al., The New London Group, 1996, ‘Pedagogy of multiliteracies: Designing
social futures’, Harvard Educational Review, Spring, viewed April 2011,
<http://www.static.kern.org/filer/blogWrite44ManilaWebsite/paul/articles/A_Pedagogy_of_M
ultiliteracies_Designing_Social_Futures.htm>.
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 Use texts functionally
By traversing the social relations around texts; knowing about and
acting on the different cultural and social functions that various texts
perform both inside and outside school and knowing that these
functions shape the way texts are structured, their tone, their degree of
formality and their sequence of components.
 Critically analyse and transform texts
By understanding and acting on the knowledge that texts are not
neutral, that they represent particular views and silence other points of
view and influence people’s ideas and that their designs and
discourses can be critiqued and redesigned, in novel and hybrid ways.
The four resources model recognises that the four roles of a reader are
‘necessary, but not sufficient’. It is expressed in various ways: repertoire of
practices, family of practices, map of possible practices, and the idea that
there are no ‘magic bullets’.
…we do not view how to teach literacy as a ‘scientific decision, but rather
as a moral, political and cultural decision about the kind of literate
practices that are needed to enhance people’s agency over their life
trajectories…
Any program of instruction in literacy, whether it be in kindergarten, in
adult ESL classes, in university courses, or any points in between, needs
to confront these roles systematically, explicitly, and at all developmental
points.
– Comber, B., 2002, Critical Literacy: Maximising children’s
investments in school learning, viewed 30 May 2005,
<http://www.unisa.edu.au>
The three literacy dimensions model
Green, B., ‘A literacy project of our own?’, English in Australia, AATE Journal,
vol. 44, no. 3, viewed May 2011,
<http://www.aate.org.au/view_journal.php?id=42&page_id=45>.
Green’s model suggests that the most worthwhile, robust understanding of
literacy is one that brings together the operational, cultural and critical
dimensions of literate practice and learning.
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Challenges of learning to read and write in
another language
De Jong and Harper describe some of the ways in which the needs of English
language learners (ELLs) differ in their article on the gap between language
minority and language majority students. Some of their findings in relation to
reading and writing are summarised below:

	ELLs do not have the depth and breadth of vocabulary knowledge and knowledge of structure of the English language.

 They need many more scaffolding opportunities.
 Cross-linguistic differences such as word order and text organisation
can limit the use of important cuing systems in reading in English.
 ELLs do not have same control of the sound system.
 Orthographic differences influence the way learners transfer reading
skills from their first language (L1) to English.
 Student knowledge of L1 writing conventions affect all areas of
students’ second language (L2) writing, for example, rhetorical patterns
and punctuation.
 Opportunities for brainstorming and discussing topics in L1 help
development of L2 skills.
 Teachers need to provide different and more specific types of feedback
and instruction to English language learners.

	English language learners need extensive scaffolding in grammar and discourse.

 Cultural scaffolding – teachers need to build their own awareness of
the implicit and explicit rules of the classroom and how to build on the
students’ background knowledge and experience.15

Research task: Making the models work

1. Which of the roles described in this model do you see as most critical for your learners in interacting with the dominant text types in your delivery contexts? Do the role requirements differ in work, learning or personal domains? 2. How might the two models be applied to teaching both English speakers and non-English speakers? 3. What new insights does Green’s model contribute to your own evolving theory of literacy learning?

15 De Jong, E., and Harper, C., 2005, ‘Preparing Mainstream Teachers for English Language
Learners: Is Being a Good Teacher Good Enough?’, Teacher Education Quarterly, vol. 32, no. 2,
pp.101-124.
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Critical literacy and numeracy
Both the four resources and the three dimensions models contribute to the
notion of critical literacy and numeracy.
Critical literacy sees language as being socially and culturally constructed as
well as political. It attempts to provide a set of tools to enable us to critically
look at written, visual, spoken, multimedia and performance texts – including
those we create. Critical literacy involves going beyond surface meaning of
texts by analysing and critiquing the interaction between texts, language,
power, social groups and social practices.
Critical literacy includes:
 examining meaning within texts
 considering the purpose for the text and the composer’s motives

	understanding that texts are not neutral, that they represent particular views, silence other points of view and influence people’s ideas

 questioning and challenging the ways in which texts have been
constructed
 analysing the power of language in contemporary society
 emphasising multiple readings of texts (because people interpret texts
in the light of their own beliefs and values, texts will have different
meanings to different people)
 having students take a stance on issues

	providing students with opportunities to consider and clarify their own attitudes and values

 providing students with opportunities to take social action.
Critical numeracy uses a similar model to the four resources model of critical
literacy (Luke and Freebody) to build the learners’ capacity to ask questions
about the meaning, validity and usefulness of texts containing mathematical
concepts or information.
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Research task: Towards critical literacy and numeracy

1. Watch the two online videos of Dr. Allan Luke talking about critical literacy and the new literacies at <http://www.curriculum.org/secretariat/may31.shtml>. a. Luke, A., 2008, Critical literacy webcast, The Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat Webcast Professional Learning Series, Curriculum Services Canada, Toronto. b. Luke, A., 2007, The new literacies, The Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat Webcast Professional Learning Series, Curriculum Services Canada, Toronto. 2. Read the article on critical numeracy and its application, from SiMERR Tasmania available from <http://www.simerr.educ.utas.edu.au/numeracy/critical_ numeracy/critical_numeracy.htm>. 3. Locate a number of key texts that your learners need to ‘read’. Examine the texts in light of your research on critical literacy and numeracy. 4. Consider your practice environment and delivery context (in a community program, in a WELL program, in an integrated VET program). How might you utilise the principles of critical literacy and/or numeracy in your practice? 5. Discuss with colleagues (preferably from different delivery contexts).

Critical literacy readings
 Brown, K., 1999, Developing critical literacy, National Centre for
English Language Teaching and Research, Macquarie University,
Sydney.
 Cervetti, G., Pardales, M.J., and Damico, J.S., 2001, ‘A tale of
differences: Comparing the traditions, perspectives, and educational
goals of critical reading and critical literacy’, Reading Online, vol. 4, no.
9, viewed February 2011,
<www.readingonline.org/articles/art_index.asp?HREF=/articles/
cervetti/index.html>.
 Freebody, P. and Luke, A., 2003, ‘Literacy as engaging with new forms
of life: the ‘four roles’ model’ in G. Bull and M. Anstey (eds.) The literacy
lexicon, 2nd edn, Prentice Hall, Frenchs Forest, NSW.
 Misson, R., and Morgan, W., 2005, ‘Beyond the pleasure principle?
Confessions of a critical literacy teacher’, English in Australia, no. 144,
Summer 2005, pp. 51–56.
 Van Duzer, C., and Florez, M.C., 2001, ‘Critical literacy for adult literacy
in language learners’, ERIC Digest, viewed February 2011,
<www.ericdigests.org/2001-1/critical.html>.
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Sociolinguistics in action
Sociolinguistics is the study of the relationship between language and society
and examines the social dimensions of language, how the social context
affects language, the particular linguistic forms individuals use, and how a
specific social situation or role relationship influences communication.
Understanding the social context of language is important for adults learning
a new language. In VET contexts it is important to note that ‘language
learning’ is not exclusively about those learners who come from non-English
speaking backgrounds. All learners will be faced with the demands of using
language in new and different ways. The specific set of vocational
terminology related to a field of study or ways in which people speak to each
other in the workplace, as opposed to personal environments, will confront all
learners.
It is likely that your learners will come from a variety of English speaking and
non-English speaking backgrounds.
Depending on the context in which you are teaching you may have
homogeneous or mixed groups of learners. Either way, you will need to be
aware of the ways in which culture – that is, region, race, age, level of
education and other factors such as settlement experiences – underpin
language development and use.
Working with culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD)
learners
Awareness of social factors and varieties of English is particularly important
for teachers in planning specific language learning activities for learners from
non-English speaking backgrounds.
There is a strong and complex link between cultural identity, language use
and proficiency in two languages.16
Understanding the socio-psychological foundations of second language
learning is important for teachers so that they can respond to a range of
student attitudes motivations and behaviours.17
An important aspect of helping learners to develop spoken English skills is
developing their awareness of language in context and scaffolding grammar
and discourse of spoken language. Developing awareness of varieties of
English used in the Australian context as well as the different registers used
in different social situations is also important.
16 Brisk, M.E., 1998. Bilingual education: From compensatory to quality schooling, Mahwah,
New Jersey.
17 De Jong, E., and Harper, C., 2005, ‘Preparing Mainstream Teachers for English Language
Learners: Is Being a Good Teacher Good Enough?’, Teacher Education Quarterly, vol. 32, no.
2, pp.101-124.
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An example of this in practice is to help learners to observe the correct way to
formulate and ask a question in a job interview, and to help them to construct
and practise asking questions and answering questions for this purpose. This
may be contrasted with the types of questions you might ask in an informal
social situation. It is important for learners to become aware of the need to
shape their spoken and written language so that it is ‘fit for purpose’.

Research task: Adult learners and pronunciation

Refer back to the list of points under the section Challenges of learning to read and write in another language, above. One of the challenges in learning to speak in a second language for adult learners includes the sound system. Pronunciation is a component of communicative competence and includes:  suprasegmental features of speech (stress, rhythm and intonation, voice quality)  segmental features of speech (individual sounds: Australian English vowels, consonants and consonant clusters, syllables). Refer to Appendix 5 for a view on adult learners and pronunciation, as well as Chapter 5 of the The spoken language.18 Consider the importance of modelling the ‘right way to say things’ to your learners. Is this exclusively an issue for second language learners?

18 Paton, A., and Wilkins, M., 2009, Teaching Adult ESOL: Principles and Practice, McGraw-Hill,
Berkshire, UK.
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Research task: Standard and non-standard English

In her 2006 article in Fine Print, See youse later: Teaching English literacy to Australians, Rosemary McKenry explores how to teach the difference between standard and non-standard English in a way that respects learners’ language and culture, and at the same time raises their awareness about the uses and contexts for standard English.19 In Literacy as translation, Margaret Somerville quotes from Kalantzis that: …the most important skill students need to learn is to negotiate regional, ethnic, or class based dialects; variations in register that occur according to social context; hybrid cross-cultural discourses; the code switching often to be found within a text among different languages, dialects or registers; different visual and iconic meanings; and variations in the gestural relationships among people, language and material objects. Indeed, (they say) this is the only hope for averting the catastrophic conflicts about identities and spaces that now seem ever ready to flare up.20 Somerville explores a range of literacies by examining the practices of Aboriginal artists, coal miners, and a Scottish migrant. 1. Read the McHenry and Sommerville and use the additional readings supplied below and your own research methodology to clarify an understanding of: a. sociolinguistics b. code switching and use of non-standard Australian English. 2. How might you apply these understandings to your own practice?

19 McKenry, R., 2006, ‘See youse later: Teaching English literacy to Australians’, Fine Print, vol.
29, no. 2, Winter 2006, pp.3-5.
20 Cope, B., and Kalantzis, M. (eds.), 2000, Multiliteracies: Literacy learning and the design of
social futures, Routledge, New York.
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Research task: Working with Aboriginal English

The voices of Aboriginal people have, until recently, been largely unheard by non-Aboriginal people. The stigma associated with Aboriginal English has often meant that what Aboriginal people have to say has only been listened to when it has been expressed in Standard Australian English. Most service provision is heavily dependent on spoken and written communication. Clients and service providers on both sides of the cultural divide often find each other’s ways of communicating strange and alienating. This frequently leads to judgments of the other group as uncommunicative, uncooperative, impolite, evasive, ignorant or even devious.21 The Ways of being, ways of talk materials developed by a collaborative team of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal researchers from the WA Department of Education and Training and from Edith Cowan University provide a research-based explanation of why the communicative patterns of each group (Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal) may not correspond to the expectations they have of the other. The support resources that were developed to accompany a set of videos have a rich set of background papers that are designed to assist:  teachers wishing to engage students in the critical analysis of language difference and literacy  presenters wishing to facilitate professional development in Aboriginal English  non-Aboriginal service providers who work with Aboriginal clients and Aboriginal service providers who work with non-Aboriginal clients. As a VET practitioner working with diverse learner groups you need to examine the ways in which language, culture, worldview and identity are inextricably linked. The Ways of being, ways of talk videos on CD are available from the Western Australian Department of Education.

21 Department of Education and Training (DET), 2007, Ways of Being, Ways of Talk,
Government of WA, viewed May 2011,
<http://www.vetinfonet.det.wa.edu.au/accessequity/docs/ways_of_being_2007.pdf>, p.9.
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The support resource PDF is available in the IBSA online LLN readings folder. 1. Access and watch the videos and using the support materials – particularly the background papers for each video – expand and clarify your understanding of: a. sociolinguistics b. code switching and use of non-standard Australian English. 2. How might you apply these new understandings to your own practice?

Essential reading

	McKenry, R., 2006, ‘See youse later: Teaching English literacy to Australians’, Fine Print, vol. 29, no. 2, Winter 2006, p.3-5.

 Somerville, M., 2007, ‘Literacy as translation’, Fine Print, vol. 30, no. 1,
VALBEC, viewed May 2011,
<http://www.valbec.org.au/05/fineprint/archive/2007/fp_07-
au_body.pdf>.
 Department of Education and Training (DET), 2007, Ways of Being,
Ways of Talk, Government of WA, viewed May 2011,
<http://www.vetinfonet.det.wa.edu.au/accessequity/docs/ways_of_be
ing_2007.pdf>, p.9.
Additional resources on sociolinguistics
 Schwab, J. and Kral, I., 2008, Literacy and remote Indigenous youth:
Why social practice matters (Audio), Australian National University
(ANU), Seminar Topics – Series 1, viewed May 2011,
<http://www.caepr.anu.edu.au/Seminars/audio/08/0604_JerrySchwab-Fellow-CAEPR-and-Inge-Kral-Post-Doctoral-Fellow-CAEPR.php>.
 Eble, C., 2005, ‘What is sociolinguistics? Basics of sociolinguistics’, Do
you speak American?, Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), viewed
February 2011,
<http://www.pbs.org/speak/speech/sociolinguistics/sociolinguistics>.
 ERIC Clearinghouse on Languages and Linguistics, 1992, ‘What is
Linguistics?’, ERIC Digest, viewed April 2007,
<http://www.ericdigests.org/1992-1/what.htm>.
 Wolfram, W., Sociolinguistics: Language as Social Behaviour,
Linguistics Society of America, viewed February 2011,
<http://www.lsadc.org/info/ling-fields-socio.cfm>.

	University of Texas, Sociolinguistics resources, viewed May 2011, <http://www.utexas.edu/courses/linguistics/resources/socioling>.

	University of Aberdeen, Sociolinguistics archive, viewed May 2011, <http://www.abdn.ac.uk/langling/resources/sociolinguistics.html>.

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Additional resources on code switching and the use of non-standard
Australian English
 Australian Council for Adult Literacy (ACAL), 2009, Conference papers
on delivery to Indigenous learners, 32nd Annual Conference, viewed
May 2011, <http://www.waalc.org.au/09conf/presentations.htm>.
 Indigenous learners and language, 2003, What is Aboriginal English?,
Australian Council of TESOL Associations, viewed May 2011,
<http://www.tesol.org.au/esl/whatis.htm>.
 What Works, The deadly ways to learn project: Aboriginal English and
bidialectal classroom practices, viewed May 2011,
<http://www.whatworks.edu.au/dbAction.do?cmd=displaySitePage1&
subcmd=select&id=154>.
Key underpinning theories in curriculum and training
specifications
In your work with adult LLN learners you will usually be required to use LLN
accredited curriculum or training specifications that will reflect a number of
theoretical understandings of LLN or adult learning.
A training specification is a detailed statement of the items to be addressed
when designing a block of training, which may be a program, course, module
or unit.
In VET, training specifications can be a formal document that is part of a
national credential in a training package or accredited course, or an informal
document – such as an operating procedure in an enterprise – that is used
as a basis for training.
The training specification helps you consider your training aim, objectives and
approach; the equipment or materials to be used; the type of records to be
kept; and, where required, the assessment and certification system to be
applied.

Research task: Key underpinning theories

Access two accredited curriculum documents for LLN, one that focuses on skills for learners of English and one that focuses on literacy and numeracy. For example, you can download copies of the following Victorian curriculum documents: Certificates in General Education for Adults, Certificates in ESL, <http://www.trainingsupport.otte.vic.gov.au/curriculum.cfm> (search using the key word). What are the key underpinning theories of LLN outlined in each curriculum?

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Refer to the theories outlined above and examine how the curriculum documents incorporate them, for example,  what is the view of ‘pronunciation’ in the ESL certificates?  is there a stated view of Standard Australian English? Are other Englishes acknowledged? You may wish to access the specific state-based course material that you are likely to use in your practice environment.

Choosing and applying theory to practice
Leading British linguist, Michael Halliday, said:
The value of a theory lies in the use that can be made of it, and I have
always considered a theory of language to be essentially consumer
oriented.22
As a practitioner delivering language, literacy and numeracy in VET contexts
you need to become familiar with a number of theories and decide which
ones help you in developing effective teaching approaches that are suitable
for your learners.
The following research activities, in which you are asked to examine theories,
are not based on the assumption that theories can be applied in mutually
exclusive ways. Instead they illustrate how particular theories have
application to language, literacy and numeracy provision. Articles from
Australian practitioners are presented as a platform for your own research
about the ways in which theory can support and enrich your practice.
Does one size fit all?
In his article, Good teaching: One size fits all?, Pratt asks practitioners to
resist the trend to accept one dominant theory over a number of possible
alternatives. He presents transmission, developmental, apprenticeship,
nurturing, and social reform perspectives and invites the reader to revisit
assumptions and beliefs they hold regarding learning, knowledge, and
teaching in light of their examination of these additional perspectives.
A perspective on teaching is an inter-related set of beliefs and intentions
that gives direction and justification to our actions. It is a lens through
which we view teaching and learning. We may not be aware of our
perspective because it is something we look through, rather than look at,
when teaching.23
22 Halliday, M.A.K., 2004, An introduction to functional grammar, 3rd edn, Oxford University
Press, New York, p. 7.
23 Pratt, D.D., 2002, ‘Good teaching: One size fits all?’, in Ross-Gordon, J. (ed.), An Up-date on
Teaching Theory, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, viewed May 2011,
<http://www.teachingperspectives.com/PDF/goodteaching.pdf>.
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Research task: Refining your perspective

1. Read Pratt’s article at <teachingperspectives.com/PDF/goodteaching.pdf> and an article on constructionist theory at <http://www.learningandteaching.info/learning/ constructivism.htm> 2. Taking your findings from the research activity on developing a perspective on teaching adults, in the previous section, into account, how might Pratt’s additional five perspectives further inform your teaching and assessment practice? 3. What further information might you need to seek out about constructivism, positivism and teacher versus student centred instruction methods for you to be clear about how these theories may inform your delivery practice? 4. Access additional information on planning for instruction and instructional methods at <http://www.itc.utk.edu/~bobannon/in_strategies.html>.

Essential reading
 Pratt, D.D., 2002, ‘Good teaching: One size fits all?’, in Ross-Gordon, J.
(ed.), An Up-date on Teaching Theory, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco,
viewed May 2011,
<http://www.teachingperspectives.com/PDF/goodteaching.pdf>.
Applying a ‘bowerbird’ approach
In her article for Fine Print, ‘Teaching literacy – the bower bird approach’,
Judith Newcombe, an experienced literacy teacher, explores the range of
theories and concepts that have influenced her teaching practice over a
number of years such as phonics, psycholinguistics, systemic functional
linguistics, genre theory and metacognition. She explains how various
theories have shifted and shaped her thinking about her practice.
In the article she discusses the interplay between ‘bottom-up’ features such
as a graphophonics and syntax as well as ‘top-down’ features such as the
reader’s knowledge about the subject.
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Research task: Theory and literacy provision

1. Read Teaching literacy: The bower bird approach24. 2. Access the ‘top-down, bottom-up features’ handout in the IBSA online LLN readings folder. 3. Access the information on a selected number of adult literacy and language theories and associated readings in Appendix 6. 4. In light of Newcombe’s observations and your understanding of the ‘top-down, bottom-up’ features, follow up with at least one of the listed readings for each of the listed theory topics and document how you might apply your understanding of each of these to your own teaching practice. 5. How does the developmental level of your learners influence which literacy learning theories you will employ most frequently in your classroom instruction? 6. Discuss with colleagues.

Research task: ‘Principled pragmatism’ and English language teaching

Given the range and complexity of contexts of ESOL teaching and learning, there is no one best or right way to teach the language … the hallmark of principled pragmatism is that theorising should be done by teachers from the classroom itself.25 Baynham et al. report on effective ESOL practice and describe the ‘bricoleur’ teacher who can pull together whatever is at hand to make the class work. These ‘bricoleur teachers are eclectic in designing materials and activities to be highly learner responsive, and this eclecticism is underpinned by a clear professional vision’.26 Consider these observations specific to teaching adult English language learners. Do you agree with Cook and Simpson’s view?

24 Newcombe, J., 1999 ‘Teaching literacy: The bower bird approach’, Fine Print, vol. 22, no. 1,
pp. 3–6, viewed February 2011, <www.valbec.org.au/05/fineprint/archive/1999/99AU.PDF>.
25 Cooke, M. and Simpson, J., 2008, ESOL: A critical guide, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
26 Baynham, M., et al., 2007, Effective teaching and learning: ESOL, NRDC, viewed February
2011, <http://www.nrdc.org.uk/publications_details.asp?ID=89#>.
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Essential reading
 Cooke, M. and Simpson, J., 2008, ESOL: A critical guide, Oxford
University Press, Oxford.
 Baynham, M., Simpson, J., Ananiadou, K., Callaghan J., McGoldrick, J.,
and Wallace C., 2007, Effective teaching and learning: ESOL, NRDC,
viewed February 2011,
<http://www.nrdc.org.uk/publications_details.asp?ID=89#>.
Social theories and language
In his article for Fine Print titled Cultural theories of language, Nick Gadd,
presents a historical overview of the relationship between culture and
language. He examines a number of theorists’ work and outlines some of the
implications of social theories for teachers of language.
Gadd espouses a need for teachers to adopt a sociolinguistic approach to
teaching language and challenges the functional grammar notion that
learning language is merely a matter of absorbing the appropriate rules and
conventions. He states that ‘people do not learn languages because of the
way their brains are wired… but because of the society they find
themselves in’.27
He also claims that ‘language is most effectively taught in a context, and that
context needs to be something of significance to the learners’ and that one of
the most important roles of a language teacher is to help learners to
recognise that different types of text are structured in particular significant
ways.
The teacher must help learners to not only deconstruct the literal meaning of
a text within its immediate context but also its placement and broader
meaning in society.
Students, especially those who are not familiar with literate conventions
or who come from another culture, need to be taught these structures
explicitly if they are to gain mastery of them, for we cannot expect people
to simply ‘pick them up’ by common sense.28
A number of research papers have been written for NCVER focusing on
learners from a non-English speaking background. These are listed on the
NCVER website at
<http://www.ncver.edu.au/publications/bytheme.html?sub=
11001,21002,31009>.

Research task: A language perspective

1. Read Gadd’s article with an emphasis on the final section

27 Gadd, N., 1999, ‘Cultural theories of language’, Fine Print, vol. 22, no. 3, p.3–7, Spring
1999, viewed May 2011,
<http://www.valbec.org.au/05/fineprint/archive/1999/99SP%20TOC.pdf>, p.6.
28 Ibid.
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‘Implications for teachers of language’. 2. Access and read one additional NCVER report focusing on CALD learners in VET. 3. What implications for your own practice can you draw from Gadd’s observations and the findings from your chosen NCVER report? 4. To what extent do you explore the literacy practices of learners who use another language as part of your classroom activity? 5. What role do the learner’s first and second languages play in classroom learning?

Essential reading
 Gadd, N., 1999, ‘Cultural theories of language’, Fine Print, vol. 22,
no. 3, p.3–7, Spring 1999, viewed May 2011,
<http://www.valbec.org.au/05/fineprint/archive/1999/
99SP%20TOC.pdf>, p.6.
Numeracy and constructivism
One of the major influences in mathematics education over the last few
decades has been around alternatives to the traditional perspectives on what
it means to learn and know mathematics, centred largely on the philosophy
of constructivism as opposed to positivism (and variations and
interpretations such as critical and social constructivism).
Some interpretations of the key implications of constructivism for classroom
practice are described below.
 Mathematical knowledge is acquired by construction; therefore,
learners should be given the opportunity to actively participate in the
learning process rather than be forced to swallow large amounts of
information.
 Cognitive restructuring is necessary to advance mathematical
knowledge; to that end, instruction should induce successive
restructurings of mathematical knowledge.
 Mathematical knowledge is constrained by internal factors (cognitive,
such as innate and early understandings and previous knowledge) and
external factors (sociocultural, situated in contexts, such as peers,
teachers, tools, and artefacts); it follows that each collection of factors
may either facilitate or limit mathematical learning.29
29 Hatano, G., 1996, ‘A conception of knowledge acquisition and its implication for
mathematics education’, in Steffe, L. et al. (eds.), Theories of mathematical learning, Lawrence
Erlbaum Associates, New Jersey, pp.211–213.
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Research task: Theory in action: my approach to solving maths problems

Taking your findings from the Does one size fit all? research activity into account: 1. Read the article My approach to solving maths problems, in the online readings folder. 2. Analyse the approach the trainer uses. 3. Evaluate the effectiveness of this method in relation to addressing numeracy issues in a vocational context. 4. Is the approach transferrable to other contexts?

Additional reading
 Hatano, G., 1996, ‘A conception of knowledge acquisition and its
implication for mathematics education’, in L. Steffe et al. (eds.),
Theories of mathematical learning, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc.,
New Jersey.
 Tout, D. and Motteram, G., 2006, Foundation numeracy in context,
ACER Press, Melbourne.
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Topic 4:

The English Language System and the ACSF

English usage is sometimes more than mere taste, judgment and
education – sometimes it’s sheer luck, like getting across the street.
– E. B. White
Halliday (1979) suggests that learners need to be engaged in:
 the learning of language and literacy – the learning of language and
literacy strategies and skills
 learning through language and literacy
 learning about language and literacy – learning to talk about language.
As an LLN practitioner working in VET you need to have a working
understanding of the English language system and its structures, be able to
talk about language in a way that is useful and relevant to your learners and
to help them in using English language and literacy to achieve their set goals
(in community, learning or workplace contexts). You will need to recognise the
varieties of English language spoken in Australia and consider how they can
be used in the adult English language classroom.
Your role is to recognise particular ways that language is used in a range of
contexts, the expectations of the learning environment and the expectations
of the environment in which your learners will be using language.
You will also need to be able to be able to use the specialised vocational
texts of the LLN field to identify LLN content within training specifications and
then to speak about the complexity of both written and spoken text and to
assess the skills of your learners. The Australian Core Skills Framework is the
tool most widely used to provide a common language about LLN in VET
contexts.
While the focus in this topic is on the science or structure of language, this
does not mean that an approach based solely on a knowledge of structures is
adequate for developing the language, literacy and numeracy skills of others.
This topic needs to be considered alongside Topic 3: Adult language, literacy
and numeracy teaching theories, with specific attention to the broader
sociocultural applications of language in different contexts.
This topic covers the following content:
 the Australian Core Skills Framework (ACSF)
 self-assessment of your core skill competence using the ACSF
 the structure of English language.
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The Australian Core Skills Framework
The Australian Core Skills Framework (ACSF) provides a consistent national
approach to the identification and development of the core skills in diverse
personal, community, work and education and training contexts. It offers:
 shared concepts and language for identifying, describing and
discussing core skills
 a systematic approach to benchmarking, monitoring and reporting on
core skills performance.
The ACSF provides a rich, detailed picture of real-life performance in:
 Learning
 Reading
 Writing
 Oral communication
 Numeracy.
The ACSF describes each of the five core skills across three interactive
dimensions.

	Five levels of performance ranging from 1 (low-level performance) to 5 (high-level performance).

	Four sets of performance variables that may influence a person’s performance at any time.

 Three broad contexts within which the core skill may be used:
o personal and community
o workplace and employment
o education and training.
The five levels of the ACSF are not comparative with the levels of
qualifications in the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF). If the ACSF is
to be compared with any other scale, then the five-level scale used in the
International Adult Literacy Survey is the closest. See information on IALS in
the Learner characteristics topic of this Knowledge Bank.
History
The ACSF is based on the National Reporting System (NRS), a validated tool
for reporting outcomes of adult English language, literacy and numeracy
provision that had been used by Australian English language, literacy and
numeracy (LLN) specialists since 1995. Until 1998, the NRS was used
exclusively by LLN practitioners to report against outcomes from
Commonwealth funded LLN programs.
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While the NRS was primarily designed as a reporting tool, the ACSF has been
designed as a generic framework with applications in a range of contexts.
The Australian Core Skills Framework was created in 2008, and since its
development there has been a growing acceptance that use of the framework
has value beyond literacy specialist programs. With the advent of training
packages and the expanding awareness of the importance of language,
literacy and numeracy skills as key underpinning skills in technical units and
Employability Skills, the ACSF has also been used informally in the VET sector
as a way of talking about LLN ‘competence’.
There have been a number of DEEWR-funded professional development
programs to inform vocational trainers and assessors about the use of the
ACSF in mainstream VET delivery and assessment. DEEWR has also funded
Industry Skills Councils to use the tool to map the levels of LLN integrated
into their technical units.
The ACSF provides a common language for talking about core skill content
and levels and is becoming widely used in the VET sector. There has also
been some uptake in the senior secondary and higher education arenas.
Purpose
The ACSF has been designed with a broad set of uses in mind. Depending on
your practice environment you may need to use the ACSF formally for
reporting purposes, for example, LLNP or WELL programs. The tool can also
be used in a variety of informal ways.
Some of the possible uses within the VET sector are to:
 benchmark core skills performance
 map core skills requirements in education and training
 tailor approaches to teaching and learning
 describe core skills relevant to the workplace and employment
 inform decisions regarding funding and referrals.
Structure
In keeping with contemporary theory and practice, and in order to provide the
richest possible picture of competence, the Australian Core Skills Framework
is structured to reflect as closely as possible real life performance of
language literacy and numeracy skills across three domains: work, personal,
and training and education. 

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While the framework describes competence in reading, writing, oral
communication, numeracy and learning, referring to features of linguistic and
mathematical systems (for example, grammar, vocabulary and understanding
of basic mathematical functions) and metacognitive theory, it also focuses on
the ability to shape language and numeracy use according to a range of
purposes and contexts and develop agency as a learner. As you examine the
ACSF you will recognise many of the ‘top-down, bottom-up’ features described
in Topic 3: Adult language, literacy and numeracy teaching theories.
Five skills – five levels
The levels of performance in each of the core skills are described using:
 Indicators
Statements that provide an overview of performance at each level.
 Focus areas
Strands, within each indicator against which performance features are
organised.
 Performance features
Detailed descriptors of what an individual is able to do at each level
 Sample activities
Specific examples of what a person may be able to do at a particular
level of performance in each of the Contexts of communication. Note
that the Contexts of communication have replaced the Aspects of
communication from the previous version of the ACSF, and are a
critical feature of a learner’s flexibility of skill to produce a repertoire of
texts for differing purposes.
Performance variables
The ACSF also describes performance variables that affect individual
performance. These include:
The nature and degree of support available
All learners require a high degree of support when they learn something new,
but as confidence and competence improves, individuals become more
independent and autonomous. At the lower levels of the ACSF a high level of
support is appropriate throughout the learning process; however this support
decreases at higher levels of the ACSF.
Consistent with the assessment of any competency, the ACSF assumes that
an individual at any level will be able to demonstrate competence without
support if the context, text complexity and task complexity are appropriate for
the level. If support is still required, this should be taken into account when
benchmarking performance.
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Familiarity with context
Drawing on the work of Halliday and Hasan30 the ACSF acknowledges that the
prior knowledge or experience a person brings to a situation, including
familiarity with text, task and topic, can make a significant difference to
performance. This is reflected across the five ACSF levels of performance, as
an individual applies knowledge and skills with increasing confidence and
competence in familiar contexts, and learns how to transfer and adapt
existing skills to new contexts.
The complexity of text and task
The use of the term ‘text’ in the ACSF acknowledges the use of new
technologies and visual texts into work, study and everyday life. Drawing on
the work of The New London Group the ACSF recognises that we now
encounter, use and interpret multiple kinds of literacies that are embedded
in multimodal texts but do not include the performance features for decoding
purely visual languages such as film.
The components of task and text complexity in the ACSF are derived from the
work of Kirsch and Mosenthal31 who argue that a number of variables interact
to determine the level of difficulty of information-processing tasks. In their
construct, task difficulty increases as:
 the length and complexity of the text increases
 the type of process required to respond to a question about a text
increases in complexity, for example, straight location of information
compared with integration of several pieces of information
 the kind of information required to respond to a question about a text
increases in complexity, for example, concrete compared to abstract
 the lack of correspondence between the information in the text and in
a question about that text increases
 the degree of inference the reader is required to make increases.
Contexts for communication
Drawing on the concept of ‘lifeworlds’ – the three realms of existence
described by the New London Group as ‘our working lives, our public lives
and our private lives’ – the ACSF looks at three contexts for communication
to provide a way of describing performance across the breadth of contexts
with each core skill.
Personal and community
Related to expressing personal identity and achieving personal goals, and
understanding and interacting within the wider community.
30 Halliday, M. A. K., and Ruqaiya Hasan, 1976, Cohesion in English, Longman, London.
31 Kirsch, I.S., Mosenthal, P.B., 1990, ‘Exploring document literacy: Variables underlying the
performance of young adults’, Reading Research Quarterly, vol. 25, no. 5–30.
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Workplace and employment
Refers to activities that occur as part of a job. It also includes activities
related to seeking employment, entering a new industry, or taking on a new
role.
Education and training
Refers to any form of structured learning, including:

	learning towards a formal qualification at any level of the Australian Qualification Framework (AQF) in any sector (senior secondary,

vocational, higher education)
 learning in an LLN program such as the LLNP, WELL
 learning in a community-based program with no formal qualifications
 formal or informal on-the-job learning.

Research task: Getting your head around the ACSF

1. Locate a copy of the ACSF. 2. Note that the document has been revised and updated in 2011. Printed documents in the hard red plastic cover are the pre-revised (superseded) version. 3. Read through the document and familiarise yourself with each of the structural features of the document. 4. Review the ‘purpose’ section above. How might you use the ACSF in your practice environment? Discuss the use of the ACSF with colleagues. What are the benefits and limitations of such a tool?

Self assessment of your core skill competence
using the ACSF
You now need to consider your own core skills in relation to your role in the
vocational education and training sector.
As an LLN practitioner you will be working with learners to identify their
strengths and weaknesses, and assessing their level of skill on a regular
basis. As a preparation for this, you are going to review your own reading,
writing, speaking and listening skills and numeracy knowledge.
There’s a possibility that this may feel a little uncomfortable, but it is critical
for three reasons. The first is that as a learner in the Vocational Graduate
Certificate you need to understand and use technical vocabulary related to
the study of language, literacy and numeracy.
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Secondly, you also need to use your core skills to identify, comprehend and
generate information and ideas using a range of texts, discuss concepts with
colleagues and ask critical questions. This will often require core skills at
ACSF levels 4 and 5, so it may be helpful to clarify your areas of strength and
identify any areas where you may want to enhance your skills.
The final reason is that you need to be able to apply your own skills to help
others to improve their own language, literacy and numeracy skills.
In this section, you will consider:
 What reading, writing, speaking and listening skills and knowledge
do I have?
 What numeracy skills and knowledge do I have?
 What are my current strengths and skills gaps?
 What learning strategies do I need to address the skill gaps I have
identified?
 How can the gaps be addressed?
Review your reading, writing, speaking and listening skills
and knowledge
Some of the skills and knowledge an adult language and literacy practitioner
requires are those to:
 analyse texts for teaching and learning purposes

	read and interpret complex texts, analyse theories and form judgements

 write complex texts that meet audience needs
 facilitate discussions to encourage the sharing of strategies and
exploration of solutions to problems
 give clear explanations, present concepts clearly and respond to
questions effectively
 use teacher talk to adjust to the English language skill level of others.
For a full list of skills required access the lists of skills in each core unit in the
TAE70110 qualification.
Check your skills
In the ACSF document at each level of each core skill, the performance
features describe what a person should be able to do are grouped against
Focus areas. The best way to appreciate the progression from one level to
another is to look at the performance grids.
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To review your skills follow this process.
1. Access a copy of the ACSF. Look at each of the core skill performance
grids for reading, writing and oral communication.
2. For each of these core skills examine each of the Focus areas and
related Performance features to identify:
a. language or concepts that you are unsure about. Circle words or
concepts that you are unsure about and that will require
clarification or further research.
b. your personal ability to demonstrate that particular aspect and
level of skill.
3. For levels 3, 4 and 5, make short notes about your ability to
demonstrate the relevant performance features and give examples.
At these three levels remember that you need to be able to
demonstrate skills across a number of contexts of communication and
text types.
4. Where are your greatest strengths? Make a note of the skill gaps you
have – this will include the technical vocabulary and concepts requiring
additional research and any areas where you are unsure about whether
you can demonstrate the level of skill required.
5. Assign yourself an ACSF level for each of the core skills of reading,
writing and oral communication. Remember that these may be at
differing levels. Any difference in skill level across core skill can be
demonstrated visually as a ‘spiky profile’.
Review your numeracy knowledge
You now need to consider your own skills in relation to the core skill of
numeracy:
 What numeracy skills and knowledge do I need?
 What are my current strengths and skills gaps?
 How can the gaps be addressed?
Applications of numeracy in vocational contexts and within the community
can often require ACSF level 4 or level 5 skills. You need mathematical
knowledge to analyse and articulate a problem at ACSF levels 4 and 5, to be
able to:
 identify which operations are necessary
 give possible approaches without necessarily being able to successfully
solve the problem.
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An adult numeracy practitioner requires skills and knowledge to deliver
numeracy at a minimum of exit ACSF level 3.
There is also an expectation that practitioners can recognise and talk about
mathematics at higher levels than those at which they can actually solve
problems, and can ‘seek out expert help’ from mathematics experts where
appropriate.
This is dealt with extensively in the unit TAELLN702A Analyse and apply adult
numeracy teaching practices. This includes how to refer any issues arising
from a numeracy teaching role to other numeracy practitioners.
Check your skills
To review your skills, follow the process you used to identify your reading,
writing and oral communication skills.
1. Access a copy of the ACSF.
2. Look at the core skill grids for numeracy.
3. At each level examine each of the focus areas and related performance
features to identify:
a. language or concepts that you are unsure about. Circle words or
concepts that you are unsure about and that will require
clarification or further research.
b. your personal ability to demonstrate that particular aspect and
level of skill.
4. For levels 3, 4 and 5, make short notes about your ability to
demonstrate the relevant performance features and give examples.
At these three levels remember that you need to be able to
demonstrate skills across a number of Contexts of communication and
text types.
5. Where are your greatest strengths? Make a note of the skill gaps you
have – this will include the technical vocabulary and concepts requiring
additional research and any areas where you are unsure about whether
you can demonstrate the level of skill required.
6. Assign yourself an ACSF level for numeracy. Remember that this may
be at a different level from your other core skills. This difference in skill
level is called a ‘spiky profile’.
Reviewing your learning skills and knowledge
You will have identified some gaps in knowledge in the core skills of reading,
writing, speaking and listening and numeracy that you will need to address.
To do something about addressing the gaps you will first need to assess your
own learning to learn skills and then identify the strategies you will use in
your own professional development.
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To do this:
1. Look at the core skills grid for Learning and identify:
a. language or concepts that you are unsure about
b. your personal ability to demonstrate that particular aspect and
level of skill.
2. Underline any strategies that you will need to use to address any of the
skill gaps identified in your core skills.
Your spiky profile
This process of identifying your own core skill strengths and weaknesses can
now be applied not only to the reading, writing, oral communication,
numeracy and learning demands of the learning associated with the
Vocational Graduate Certificate in LLN Practice, but also to the demands of
your professional practice. You will be asked to use this information in a
number of ways in the Participant Workbooks.
You may have identified that you need to become more familiar with the text
features in more than one domain, or to revise your own ability to generate
documents across a number of text types.
You may have identified that you are more comfortable and proficient at oral
communication for personal purposes rather than for the purpose of giving
presentations or discussing ideas in a formal way.
If you have identified a number of key terms from the ACSF that relate to the
various structures of the English language that you are unsure about, then
the next section of the Knowledge Bank and related research activities may
be of use.

Research task: Identifying your skills gaps

1. Using the process described above, collate a list of skills gaps that you need to address through research, targeted professional development activity or peer discussion. 2. Identify the ways in which you plan to address your skills gaps.

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The structure of English language
In order to be able to talk about language to your learners, discuss language
with colleagues and undertake the readings and research required for this
qualification you need to understand the basic structures of the English
language. If your first language is not English you may have a better
understanding of this already through learning English as a second language.
Many native speakers of English will have tacit knowledge of the structure of
English but may not have learned much of the terminology related to the
structure of the English language.
Just as in any vocational area there is specialist terminology that relates to a
particular field, the study of the English language requires that you know
some specific technical terminology about language (metalanguage).
The structure of language has specific terminology ascribed to it.
For example:

Terminology	Structure of language
Parts of speech	Classes of words
Semantics	Meanings of words
Syntax	How words are organised in relation to each other – ‘the study of sentence structure’32
Morphology	How words are formed
Phonemes	The sounds of letters
Phonology	The sounds of words
Lexicography	How written forms represent the sounds of words

Parts of speech: A summary
Traditional grammar classifies words based on the eight ‘parts of speech’
(classes of words). When it comes to learning language a student needs to
know what to call various types of words. But knowing what they are called
and how they work does not necessarily mean that an individual has a full
grasp of how language works in application.
32 Crystal, D., 1997, The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language, Cambridge University Press,
UK.
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Part	Definition33
Noun	A noun is a name for someone or something. It can be someone or something in particular, or someone or something in general.
Pronoun	A pronoun is a substitute for a noun or a noun phrase.
Verb	A verb is the action word in a statement. Some verbs link the subject to a noun, pronoun, or adjective.
Adjective	An adjective is a modifier. Usually it modifies, or makes more exact, the meaning of a noun or pronoun.
Adverb	An adverb is a modifier. Usually it modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb.
Conjunction	A conjunction is a connector. A coordinate conjunction connects words or groups of words that are grammatically the same. A subordinate conjunction connects a subordinate, or dependent, clause to a main clause.
Preposition	A preposition is a connector that introduces a prepositional phrase. It usually connects a noun or noun phrase to the part of the sentence modified by the whole prepositional phrase, and it shows the relation between the two.

Research task: Parts of speech

Using the link above or through your own research find examples of English words that provide examples against each of the ‘parts of speech’. Reflect on what new distinctions about parts of speech you learned from this activity.

Semantics and syntax
Semantics is a wide-reaching subject within the general study of language
and is about the construction of meaning and how meanings alter over time.
The shift from traditional paper-based literacies to digital forms means that
the study of semantics is constantly changing. New forms of language (such
as SMS) produce new forms of meaning making, for example LOL means
laugh out loud.
33 Learning English Online, Parts of Speech and Sentence Structure, viewed February 2011,
<http://www.learning-english-online.net/areas/grammar/parts-of-speech-and-sentencestructure>.
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Semantics focuses on the relation between signifiers, such as words,
phrases, signs and symbols, and what they stand for. Therefore semantics
has a role in both the language of texts (both spoken and written) and in the
language of mathematics (the words and symbols that carry
mathematical meaning).
As part of the study of linguistics, semantics is devoted to the study of
meaning at the levels of words, phrases, sentences, and larger units of
discourse (referred to as texts).
This three-part model of English shows how smaller elements of meaning are
combined to form longer stretches of language.34

Morphology	Syntax	Discourse
Morphemes ↓ Words	Phrases ↓ Clauses ↓ Sentences	Relationships between sentences in longer stretches of language.

Register refers to the kind of language selected for particular functions in
particular situational contexts. A language user may select features of
language, such as tone and degree of formality in syntax and pronunciation,
in relation to audience and purpose. Different styles of speech and writing
are related to register variables that may include power relations, social
distance and shared knowledge between participants, and the purpose,
setting and mode of discourse.
The register is the set of meanings, the configuration of semantic
patterns, that are typically drawn upon under the specified conditions,
along with the words and structures that are used in the realization of
these meanings.35
34 Teachit.co.uk, Semantics – Meanings, etymology and the lexicon, viewed May 2011,
<http://www.teachit.co.uk/armoore/lang/semantics.htm>.
35 Halliday, M.A.K., and Hasan, R., 1976, Cohesion in English, Longman, London.
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Research task: Terms

1. Using the link above, or through your own research, examine the terms used in the Three part model of English (table above) and document examples of each term. 2. Reflect on what new distinctions about the structures of English language you have learned from this activity. 3. Consider what it is to have knowledge of English morphology and syntax and to have knowledge of register. How important is the interplay between the two teaching English language learners?

The language of mathematics
It is possible to analyse mathematics as a language with reference to the
symbols and signifiers, grammar and ‘sentence structure’. Just as with the
English language, a focus purely on the technical construction will not always
provide a learner with a holistic understanding of how to use mathematics for
a particular purpose. As a practitioner who will need to ‘talk about’ the
language of mathematics it is important that you have at least an overview
of structure.

Research task: Language of maths

Access the following site on the language of mathematics for an overview: <http://www.mathsisfun.com/mathematics-language.html>

Phonemes and phonology
An alphabet is a standardised set of letters – basic written symbols or
graphemes – each of which roughly represents a phoneme in a spoken
language. Phonemes are the sounds that are made use of consonants
and vowels.
The phonological system of a language includes:
 an inventory of sounds and their features
 rules that specify how sounds interact with each other.
Phonology is concerned with the pronunciation of English. Teaching of
pronunciation can focus on phonemes, the individual vowel and consonant
sounds of English. It is important to make sure that learners can perceive the
sound you want them to work on before you ask them to produce it. Some
phonemes are more important than others for particular first-language
speakers.
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The placing of stress is also important. This includes word stress and
sentence stress. Intonation links closely with stress. It has a role in conveying
function (for example, whether something is a question or a statement) and
attitude.
A full understanding of phonology and its role in English language teaching
will require specific study of language theory and it is only expected that you
develop an outline knowledge of what it includes.

Research task: Phonetics

Access general information on phonetics at <http://www.clas.mq.edu.au/phonetics/index.html>. You may wish to discuss your research with an ESL teacher.

Lexis development and discourse
Lexis can be considered in two ways – both of which are important when
considering the needs of VET learners. Lexis is both the collection of words –
the internalised dictionary – that every speaker of a language has, that they
draw on to communicate. But it can also be considered to be a stock of terms
used in a particular profession, subject, or style.
Each vocational area will have its own lexis – that is a set of terms that carry
specific meaning that is unique to a particular context. For learners who are
new to a particular vocational area it may take time to develop knowledge of
the lexis of their chosen profession. You can help learners to become
proficient in using the terms of their chosen field by introducing them to new
terms and showing how to use them in context. For example a ‘cookie’ in the
IT profession is not the same thing as a ‘cookie’ in hospitality.
To be able to understand and recall new lexical items learners need a lot of
information about them. This information includes:
 meaning
 use
 pronunciation
 grammar
 common collocations (strings of words that are remembered as wholes
and often used together).36
36 Paton, A., and Wilkins, M., 2009, Teaching Adult ESOL: Principles and Practice, McGraw-Hill,
Berkshire, UK.
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Research task: Teaching from a technical point of view

The question of how effective it is to teach the English language from a purely technical point of view has been raised by a number of theorists. Surprisingly, approaches to teaching that involve the need for attention to context and culture have been around longer than Halliday or The New London Group. Gertrude Buck was an associate professor of English at Vassar College from 1897 to 1922. Buck was a pioneer and model among women educators attempting to bend a rigid system. Buck encouraged a clearer understanding of how language and society are interdependent and challenged educators to recognise that social factors are inextricably bound to individual expression, that writing is a social action and communication is a community experience. 1. Read her essay, Make believe grammar at <http://www.grammar.about.com/od/readingsonlanguage/ a/Make-Believe-Grammar-By-Gertrude-Buck.htm>. 2. In light of your own investigation of the structure of the English language, how do Buck’s century-old views help you to put your technical learning into context? 3. Read Chapter 7, Developing accuracy, of Teaching Adult ESOL: Principles and Practice and complete the suggested tasks.

Essential reading
1. Paton, A., and Wilkins, M., 2009, Teaching Adult ESOL: Principles and
Practice, McGraw-Hill, Berkshire, UK.
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Topic 5:

Monitoring and Evaluation

We may be very busy, we may be very ‘efficient’, but we will also be truly
‘effective’ only when we begin with the end in mind.
– Steven Covey
Monitoring is the process of checking the progress or quality of (something)
over a period of time and can involve informal observation and judgements
about progress.
Evaluation is generally a more formal process of making judgments of merit,
worth, and significance of something, or someone, based on criteria against a
set of standards and evidence.
An understanding of the function and value of monitoring and evaluation is
an important component of completing the Vocational Graduate Certificate in
LLN Practice because as a VET practitioner you need to be able to make, and
stand by, your formal and informal judgements and take part in strategic
conversations with others about the value of particular ideas and approaches
relating to LLN delivery and assessment practices and program design. You
need to know how to collect valid evidence and present compelling
arguments based on qualitative and quantitative data.
In units:
 TAELLN701A Analyse and apply adult literacy teaching practices
 TAELLN702A Analyse and apply adult numeracy teaching practices
 TAELLN703A Develop English language skills of adult learners
You are asked to ‘apply and evaluate strategies for teaching literacy skills
and knowledge’ and ‘use formal and informal monitoring to evaluate
effectiveness of teaching strategies’.
In TAELLN704A Implement and evaluate delivery of adult language, literacy
and numeracy skills you are asked to ‘plan evaluation strategy with others
if relevant’.
In TAELLN705A Design and conduct pre-training assessment of adult
language, literacy and numeracy skills you are asked to ‘evaluate the
assessment process’ and ‘provide records of evaluations of the process and
the assessment kit’.
In TAELLN706A Lea7d the delivery of adult language, literacy and numeracy
support services you are asked to ‘Confirm stages and processes for
gathering evidence for assessment, and monitoring and evaluating training
with relevant parties’.
In order to demonstrate this knowledge within the context of the units you will
need to examine the ways in which ‘monitoring and evaluation’ are used in
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multiple ways in VET contexts and ways in which you can use the concepts to
track your own learning and progress through this qualification.
This topic covers the following content:
 Formative and summative assessment
 Qualitative and quantitative data
 Developing an evaluation plan.
Formative assessment and summative
assessment
Assessment can be applied to the evaluation or estimation of the nature,
quality, or ability of someone or something and so the act of assessment can
be applied very broadly. For the purposes of clarity, the focus for assessment
in this section will be on assessment of learner progress towards agreed
outcomes in a VET learning environment (with an emphasis on LLN
skill development).
Generally assessment of a learner’s LLN skill development takes place:

	before taking part in an education program (initial or diagnostic assessment)

 during the program (formative)
 at the completion of a sequence of learning or program completion
(summative).
Formative assessment
Formative assessment most closely aligns with the concept of monitoring in
that is it allows for judgments to be made over a period of time about
progress in skill development or the efficacy of an approach.
Formative assessment can help inform the instructional process because it is
a way of answering the questions.
 Where are my learners now? How can I assess the learners’ current
LLN skill levels?
 What do they need to know? How can I develop a clear picture of the
LLN skills required by the accredited course or Training Package
content or benchmarks?
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 What do they need to learn to get there? What is the gap between the
assessment of current skill and what is required in the training
specification? What increments of learning do learners need to be able
to demonstrate these outcomes?

	How will I know when they have got there? What evidence do I need to meet the formal requirements of assessment?

The value of formative assessment is the use that the practitioner makes of
the ‘results’, that is, the form of instruction that follows. It’s not about
teachers just collecting information or data on student learning; it’s what they
do with the information they collect.
You can use the information from formative assessment to make a
‘deliberate act of instruction’ about a particular LLN concept. For example,
you might realise that, in order for a learner to demonstrate that they can
write an incident report, they need to revise the concepts of order, sequence
and cause and effect. So you might design a specific sequence where you
introduce those concepts to a learner group and have them practise writing
an incident report.
Basically, formative assessment can be seen as a form of practice. Once a
formative assessment is complete both the learner and the teacher can
reflect on:
 Are we doing well?
 What can we do better?
The answers to the questions can help to determine the next steps of the
learning process. From this point, both parties can make adjustments without
the need for a sense of failure.
Formative assessment methods
For formative assessment to be effective you need to build the following
features into your practice.
 Outline the criteria for assessment and goal setting with the learners in
a way that creates clear expectations but is not overwhelming.
 Develop a keen eye for observation to see if all learners are on-task or
need assistance. If a high percentage of learners are ‘off-task’ this can
indicate the need for additional instruction.

	Embed questioning strategies into each lesson or unit to check for learner understanding. Asking better questions allows an opportunity

for deeper thinking and provides teachers with significant insight into
the degree and depth of understanding.
 Introduce self- and peer- assessment to create a learning environment
and lessen the fear associated with assessment. Learners begin to
take responsibility for their own learning and develop increasingly
sophisticated learning strategies.
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Formative assessment is about the negotiation between a tutor or teacher
and the learner and tracking progress in a number of ways.
You can help learners to reflect on their learning by asking them:
 What was the biggest bit of learning for you?
 How did you learn it and what worked best for you?
 What did you enjoy?
 What has been most useful?
 What has been difficult?
Together you can assess progress with learners by:
 asking whether the goal, or part of the goal has been reached and how
the learner knows this

	looking through recorded work which shows evidence of this, or asking the learner to demonstrate a skill on which they have been working, for

example, reading and carrying out instructions
 asking what difference the learning has made in the learner’s life
(education and training, community life and working life, as
appropriate)
 discussing what is left to be done to achieve the goal.37

Research task: Assessment for learning

1. Read Working inside the black box: Assessment for learning in the classroom.38 2. Are the concepts described here transferrable to an adult learning environment? Discuss with colleagues.

Recognising competence
One of the most important outcomes from engaging learners in formative
assessment is that it strengthens a learner’s metacognitive (or learning)
strategies. Refer back to the topic Adults as Learners, in Topic 3.
37 An adult literacy and numeracy curriculum framework for Scotland, The Scottish
Government, viewed May 2011, <http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Education/Life-LongLearning/17551/curriculumframework>, p. 86.
38 Black, P., Harrison, C., Lee, C., Marshall, B., and Wiliam, D., 2002, Working inside the black
box: Assessment for learning in the classroom, The King’s College ‘Black Box’ Series, Nelson,
London.
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If the learner can receive some descriptive feedback of what they are doing
well and what they need to improve they can become more effective agents
in the learning process. Using formative assessment so that learners become
involved both as assessors of their own learning and as resources to other
learners can be a powerful way to introduce learners to the concept of
‘competence’ and the gathering of their own assessment evidence.

Research task: Developing a core skills inventory

1. Read Part 4: Are we there yet?, in From the ground up – Addressing core skills in the agrifood industry.39 2. Examine the methodology for the creation of the Core Skills Inventory. 3. How does the Core Skills Inventory support the assessment process? 4. How might this concept be adapted for use in your own practice?

Summative assessment
The national VET system is competency-based, built around nationally –
endorsed industry standards. Competency-based training provides learners
with the skills, knowledge and understanding to demonstrate competence
against standards and performance criteria in an applied context.
Summative assessment is about using evidence at a particular point in time
to assess an individual’s learning relative to content standards.
As a practitioner operating in a VET context you will need to make judgements
about whether competency has been achieved.
The Assessment Guidelines of the training specification you are using will
guide your approach to summative assessment. Secondly, you will need to
follow the advice in the Evidence Guide for the unit you are assessing to
identify the critical aspects for assessment and evidence required to
demonstrate competency in the unit.
Summative assessment evidence
Summative assessment in VET is intended to show that learners have
reached a certain standard of performance. Where the learner and teacher or
tutor have been regularly reviewing progress against the required standards
through formative assessment processes, summative assessment will
normally be a natural culmination of the learning process, rather than a
separate ‘event’.
39 Agrifood Skills Australia, From the ground up – Addressing core skills in the agrifood
industry, viewed May 2011, <http://www.agrifoodskills.net.au/publications/industry/from-theground-up>.
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Where the learner has been working with a tutor on a specific aspect of
underpinning knowledge for which they need to demonstrate competence in
a broader context, for example, working on transposing formulae in order to
pass a maths test in an Electrotechnology unit, then the learner and tutor will
agree – based on work produced by the learner – that the learning goals of
understanding transposing formulae have now been met and that the learner
is ready to demonstrate that skill in a formal assessment.
Some training packages allow for summative assessment to be a process in
which the assessor reviews a portfolio of work produced by the learner to
confirm that it meets the required standards. In other cases, particularly
where there are licensing or regulatory requirements a ‘test’ or ‘exam’ may be
mandated.
Evidence is information on which an assessor makes a judgement of
competency.
If you are working with an accredited course or a Training Package unit that
has a clear language, literacy or numeracy title and set of performance
criteria it will be easier to design the appropriate assessment task.
For example, in BSBCMN318A Write simple documents the entire unit is
about the outcomes required to plan, draft and review a basic document
before writing the final version. The entire content of the unit is about the
process of writing and so the entire assessment and evidence can be about
the various processes and stages in producing relevant workplace
documents.
Where you are providing integrated LLN support in a VET program, working
with the LLN content integrated into a vocational unit then the assessment of
the LLN skills required would only be part of the assessment of a unit.
For example, in MSAPMSUP303A Identify equipment faults the unit requires
the application of planning, technical knowledge and skills to check and
isolate routine and non-routine equipment faults used in production and
report on the status of equipment. The reporting part is dealt with in two
specific performance criteria in the unit:
4.2 Record proposals for equipment repair based on faults found,
cost/time implications and workplace approval systems
4.3 Explain report to relevant workplace personnel including any options
and recommendations.
In this case the reporting process is both written (‘record proposals’ in 4.2)
and verbal (‘explain report’ in 4.3). The use of numeracy is required to collect
data and analyse it in relation to cost and time implications. The assessment
of these skills would be part of the overall assessment of this unit.
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Depending on your role as an LLN practitioner you may be wholly responsible
for designing and managing an assessment process or you may be working in
collaboration with another VET practitioner and contributing to an
assessment process. Either way you should be able to make confident
judgements about the appropriate amount of evidence required in a
summative assessment by following these steps.40
1. Unpack the unit/s of competency to develop a picture of competence.
2. Check the evidence guide for recommendations and or requirements.
3. Identify where the evidence will come from (that is, the workplace or
off-the-job).
4. Identify the evidence required to demonstrate competence.
5. Map the proposed evidence against the performance criteria for the
relevant unit of competency or cluster of units.
6. Check that the evidence complies with the rules of evidence.
7. Validate assessment strategy.
8. Validate assessment tools.

Research task

AQTF Standards state that assessment must be based on what is termed the ‘rules of evidence’ – validity, reliability, fairness and flexibility. This is also good teaching and assessment practice, and ensures the best learning outcomes for learners. Validity means that the evidence relates to the unit competency, addresses essential skills and knowledge, dimensions of competency and employability skills. Reliability means that the assessment tool and process will produce consistent outcomes when applied by a range of assessors in a range of contexts. Fairness means that the assessment will not disadvantage any person and will take into account the characteristics of the person being assessed. Flexibility means that the assessment tool and process allows for assessment in a range of assessment contexts.  Download BSBWRT301A Write simple documents and MSAPMSUP303A Identify equipment faults from Training.gov.au (TGA) and examine the units for explicit and implicit LLN content.  What types of evidence would be sufficient in both units to cover the LLN content and to comply with the ‘rules of evidence’?

40 ANTA, 2001, Training Package assessment materials kit, viewed May 2011,
<http://www.dest.gov.au/NR/rdonlyres/37E6BA82-8700-427E-A4D7-
244BD9DC6280/11488/Guide1.pdf>.
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Qualitative and quantitative data
Qualitative and quantitative data collections are ways of gathering evidence
in order to make a case for, or demonstrate the value or quality of a
particular process or approach.
They are a part of the research methodology used in a range of social science
related fields such as health, education and business.
Action research is the name given to research that uses data collection and
analysis while a particular ‘course of action’ is taking place. Using this model,
practitioners in any field can take an active role in formulating solutions to
problems that they encounter in their everyday work.
In the process result of doing the research and identifying and implementing
change practitioners can gain a deeper insight into their own practice and
broader workplace environment.
As a practitioner working in VET you will need to provide evidence of
compliance with the AQTF standards in order for your RTO to maintain its
registration. You may need to provide data to funding bodies as part of your
reporting requirements. You may need to present a case to management for
a proposed change to ways of working in and across teams, or pitch ideas for
professional development or resource development.
In order to be able to make a strong case or judgement about the efficacy of
an idea or program you need to gather some evidence. Evidence is generated
through the collection of data and its subsequent analysis.
Data can be generated using a number of evaluation instruments, such as:
 surveys
 structured interviews
 questionnaires
 observations.
Evidence based wholly on qualitative or quantitative methods can result in a
weakened argument for a number of reasons. Some audiences prefer the
power of numbers and some prefer the power of a good narrative. To guard
against bias in judgement from your intended audience it is best to use a
‘mixed methods‘ approach – a combination of qualitative and
quantitative data.
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Features of qualitative and quantitative data

Qualitative	Quantitative
Deals with descriptions Data can be observed but not measured Analysis of data such as words, images or objects The aim is a complete, detailed description	Deals with numbers Data that can be measured time, cost, attendance, ages, etc. The aim is to classify features, count them, and construct statistical models in an attempt to explain the trends observed
Researcher may only know roughly in advance what he/she is looking for	Researcher knows clearly in advance what he/she is looking for
Recommended during earlier phases of research projects	Recommended during latter phases of research projects
The design emerges as the study unfolds	All aspects of the study are carefully designed before data is collected
Researcher is the data-gathering instrument	Researcher uses tools, such as questionnaires or equipment to collect numerical data
Data is in the form of words, pictures or objects	Data is in the form of numbers and statistics
The viewpoint can be overly subjective because it relies on individuals’ interpretation of events, e.g., uses participant observation, in-depth interviews, etc., but an over emphasis on certain viewpoints can skew the result	The use of objective number and precise measurement and analysis of target concepts, e.g., uses surveys; questionnaires, etc., without any qualitative balance can result in a list of numbers that have little independent meaning
Qualitative data is more ‘rich’, time consuming and less able to be generalised	Quantitative data is more efficient, able to test hypotheses, but may miss contextual detail
Researcher tends to become subjectively immersed in the subject matter	Researcher tends to remain objectively separated from the subject matter

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Reading

	Neill, J., Analysis of Professional Literature, Outdoor Education Research

& Evaluation Center, viewed October 2011,
<http://www.wilderdom.com/OEcourses/PROFLIT/index.htm>.

	For an overview of the main types of quantitative research and the tools to gather data, read the following notes and books.

 Wadsworth, Y., 2011, Everyday evaluation on the run, Allen and Unwin,
Crows Nest, NSW.
 Wadsworth, Y., 2010, Do it yourself social research, Allen and Unwin,
Crows Nest, NSW.

Research task: Generating learner feedback

1. Read What do learners really want from their EFL course? by Alun Davies in the Knowledge Bank readings. 2. Analyse the methods for generating learner feedback and the way in which the writer used it to adapt his teaching. 3. Discuss.

Research task: Achieving program objectives

Access the WELL Evaluation Report 2006 from the DEEWR website: <http://www.dest.gov.au/sectors/training_skills/publications_ resources/profiles/well_evaluation_report.htm>. This is a large-scale study that illustrates the way in which a variety of evaluation strategies, including qualitative and quantitative data are used. This study comprises part of a larger evaluation of the appropriateness, effectiveness and efficiency of the Workplace English Language and Literacy (WELL) Program. This component of the evaluation aimed to undertake surveys, interview and focus groups with program participants (employers, employees and Registered Training Organisations) and other key stakeholders to develop quantitative and qualitative data on the WELL Program.

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The study was undertaken in six stages, each of which adopted a particular approach: Phases 1 and 6 comprised in-depth interviews with a group of 15 key stakeholders representing employer groups, employee bodies (for example, unions), Industry Skills Councils (ISCs), Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) and Australian Government departments. Phase 2 involved a Computer Aided Telephone Interview (CATI) survey of 222 participating employers and RTOs to identify their experiences with the WELL Program and their views on the outcomes the Program had delivered. Phase 3 involved 48 participating employers and RTOs in five focus groups held in five capital cities and in-depth interviews with a further 16 individuals from this group to gather more detailed information about the experiences and views of this group. Phase 4 involved interviews or focus groups with 101 employees who had participated in the WELL Program and sought their experiences and views on the WELL Program and the outcomes they themselves had observed. Phase 5 comprised interviews with 20 non-participating employers and RTOs to determine why they had not become involved with the WELL Program. – ELL Evaluation Report, DEEWR, 2006, Workplace English Language and Literacy (WELL) Evaluation Report, viewed October 2011, <http://www.dest.gov.au/sectors/training_skills/publications_ resources/profiles/well_evaluation_report.htm>, p.5. 1. Analyse how the quantitative data was used to evaluate the effectiveness of the program. For example, how are figures used to show participation rates of NESB, Indigenous or employees with disabilities in WELL? 2. How is quantitative data used to show whether the program improved literacy, numeracy or language? 3. How could this evaluation be improved?

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Evaluation
Evaluation is the systematic acquisition and assessment of
information to provide useful feedback about some object.41
In this definition the term ‘object’ is used to refer to a program, policy,
technology, person, need or activity. This is the case so that the evaluation of
‘said object’ is kept as open as possible and evaluation activities used for a
variety of purposes.
Some of the purposes covered in units in this qualification are to:
 evaluate strategies for teaching literacy skills and knowledge
 evaluate the effectiveness of teaching strategies
 evaluate the effectiveness of an assessment process.
You may also use evaluation to:
 identify need for a program or project
 identify need or development of a resource
 identify need for a professional development program
 identify need for research into new practices

	identify need for a change to business models within the RTO relating to LLN support delivery

 assess the likelihood of a planned program or project meeting the
particular objectives

	investigate what’s really happening in a program or project to see how well it is working and to identify what could be improved

	measure the outcomes and impact of a program or project, in order to make a judgment about its effectiveness or value.

Formative and summative evaluation
Summative evaluation is a method of judging the worth of a program at the
end of the program activities. The focus is on the outcome.
Leaving an evaluation to the end of a process is a little like ignoring the need
for formative assessment and only relying on summative assessment. Unless
you build in some form or iterative evaluation during the planning and
execution of a process, you may be surprised or disappointed to find out that
it didn’t work, although issues could have been rectified much earlier if you
had known about them.
41 Trochim, W., 2006, Introduction to Evaluation, Research Methods Knowledge Base, viewed
May 2011, <http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/intreval.htm>.
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That is why formative evaluation should be part of the process of program or
resource development to allow for the identification of issues before the
completion of a process. Just as formative assessment allows for the
identification of issues within the teaching-learning cycle, formative
evaluation can help to ensure continuous improvement within a project or
process.

Research task: Evaluation to assess the efficacy of a training program

For a full examination of how formative and summative evaluation can be used to assess the efficacy of a training program visit:  <http://www.sil.org/lingualinks/literacy/referencematerials/ glossaryofliteracyterms/WhatIsFormativeEvaluation.htm>  <http://www.sil.org/lingualinks/literacy/referencematerials/ glossaryofliteracyterms/whatissummativeevaluation.htm>. Examine the various hotlinks in the two sites and collect relevant tools and information that you might use in your own practice.

Developing an evaluation plan
Whether you are carrying out a formative or summative evaluation, effective
evaluation requires effective planning. No matter what you are evaluating it is
recommended that you use a planning tool such as the example below to
guide you.

Focus

The focus is driven by what you want to achieve or change. It could be as a result of work you are doing on a unit in the Vocational Graduate Certificate of LLN practice, but should be linked to a real workplace need. For example:  a particular learning technique  a group of learners or staff  a course or program  a response to policy. Provide a brief description of the focus and which aspects of the focus the evaluation will be examining.

Purpose

What is the purpose of the evaluation? This will probably be something like:  To determine whether the course of action you have taken (or technique, program, different way of working) has achieved its objectives.  To identify what impact the project has had on learners, staff, completion rates and pathways.

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Audience	Who is going to use the findings of your evaluation and for what purpose? The audience may be people such as:  other teachers/trainers  management  industry/employers  funding bodies  you. They may use your evaluation findings for things like:  learning how to implement a particular activity or technique  deciding whether to further implement or fund an activity or program or improving an activity, course or program.
Key questions	What questions need to be answered by the evaluation? For example:  What have been the impacts of the ‘course of action’? (that is, what has changed as a result of what I/we have done?)  Were any of these impacts unexpected?  Have I achieved the intended objectives?  What worked well and what didn’t work?  What would I do differently if you were to do this again?
Information sources	What information do I need to collect to answer these questions and who do I need to collect it from? The type of information you collect will be very much dependent on the outcomes you are expecting. The important thing to remember is that you are not collecting data for its own sake but using your findings to improve the processes, practices, systems or outcomes. You should consider a ‘mixed methods’ approach of quantitative and qualitative data to inform you evaluation. You might:  administer a questionnaire or survey before and after the particular ‘course of action’ to measure change, for example, to learners to see what they thought was useful about your approach  conduct interviews with relevant people at the end of the project

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 interrogate data sets collected elsewhere (research agencies, for example, ABS, NCVER, administration sections of the RTO, for example, enrolment and completion figures)  test any products developed through the project with a control group (that is, a group of people who haven’t been involved in the project)  observe a new practice being used by a team member and make notes  make personal reflection and observation about process and outcomes  discuss observations about change with team members and colleagues.

Reporting

In what form are you going to present your evaluation findings, and when? Reporting on your evaluation findings will most likely take place at the end of a course of action, but it could also be done during a project to report on progress to date, or to identify opportunities for improvement. The form in which you present your findings will vary according to the purpose of your evaluation and the audience for which it is designed. For example, it could be:  a report to management  a report to a funding body  a case study or ‘how-to’ guide for other teachers/trainers  a self-reflection for your own practice  an article for a journal to share your practice with others.

Reading
 Owen, P.M., and Rogers, P., 1999, Program Evaluation: Forms and
approaches, Allen and Unwin, Crows Nest, NSW.
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Research task: Generating data for AQTF quality indicators

The AQTF has three quality indicators for RTOs. State and territory registering bodies use the outcomes of these measures to develop and manage the risk profile of RTOs. That is, how well they are meeting their obligations under the AQTF. Indicator 1: Employer satisfaction This indicator focuses on employer evaluations of learners’ competency development, its relevance to work and further training and the overall quality of training and assessment. Indicator 2: Learner engagement and competency development This indicator focuses on the extent to which learners are engaging in the types of activities which are likely to promote high quality skills outcomes, as well as learners’ perceptions of the quality of their competency development and the support their receive from RTOs. Indicator 3: Competency completion rate This will be calculated for qualifications and units of competency or modules delivered, based on data provided by RTOs concerning the number of enrolments in the previous calendar year as well as the number of qualifications completed and/or units of competency or modules awarded in the previous calendar year. Each RTO needs to manage the risk associated with LLN against each indicator according to their learner profile and scope of registration. Choose one of the AQTF quality indicators and then brainstorm with colleagues a list of qualitative or quantitative methods that could be used to gather information on how effectively the RTO is managing each indicator in regard to language, literacy and numeracy. Use the evaluation plan template to outline an approach to evaluation of the RTO’s response to managing your chosen quality indicator.

Appendices

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Appendix 1: Trigger Words

Reading	Writing	Numeracy	Speaking and listening
according to signs, barcodes and labels appropriate documentation check comply with directions follow written procedures identify interpret and monitor legislative requirements marked out obtain information from written instructions policies and procedures receipt of recording system understanding written reporting	chart complete reports document is completed identify inventory label maintain records marked monitor notes outline record data report tagged written reporting	according to signs, barcodes and labels adjust allowance calculate collect data computations convert determine value estimate formula interpret charts and graphs levels measuring techniques perform proportion quantity size time tolerance	access relevant information allocate clarify meaning or advice contribute discuss delegate explain feedback follow verbal instructions or procedures identify inform liaise make suggestions monitor negotiation recommend refer to relate supervise team discussions use questions verbal reporting

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Appendix 2: Unpacking the Core Skill Demands of a Streamlined
Unit of Competency

Three steps to unpacking the core skill demands of a streamlined unit of competency
STEP 1	STEP 2	STEP 3
Identify core skills (using the Trigger words tool)	Analyse complexity/ACSF level	Evaluate the representation of the core skills and ACSF in the foundation skills section
Core skill	Elements and performance criteria	Assessment requirements performance and knowledge (or critical aspects of a ‘pre streamlining’ unit)	Foundation skills (or required skills section of a ‘pre streamlining’ unit)

Appendix 2: Unpacking the Core Skill Demands of a Streamlined Unit of Competency
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Unit code and title: MSAPMSUP303A Identify equipment fault (worked example of one core skill: oral communication)
Reading
Writing
Oral communication	1.4 Explain the operating principles of hydraulic, pneumatic, mechanical and electrical/electronic systems related to workplace equipment. 1.5 Implement measures to control identified hazards. (in this small business, it involved talking) 1.8 Discuss test procedures and obtain necessary permission. 2.4 Make arrangements for additional resources. 4.3 Explain report to relevant workplace personnel including options and recommendations.	Implement appropriate action in the case of potential situations requiring action (again, in this small business, appropriate action involved talking with colleagues)	No oral communication or language skills listed in required skills section	The candidate will have to engage in a range of conversations exploring issues to do with equipment failure, explaining the outcomes of systems and equipment, and problem solving to identify and implement solutions. The systems explained in PC1.4 and the test procedures discussed in PC 1.8 require specialised vocabulary. It is likely that the candidate would be operating at ACSF level 4 in oral communication.	Oral communication is embedded in several performance criteria which are listed as ‘critical aspects’. While specific reference is made in the required skills to the core skills of reading, writing and numeracy, no specific mention is made to oral communication or language skills. This unit would benefit from more explicit reference to oral communication demands, such as: oral communication skills to explain options and recommendations regarding equipment operating systems to colleagues.

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Numeracy

Learning

Unit code and title:

Reading

Writing

Oral communication

Numeracy

Learning

Appendix 3: Summary Analysis of Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey data
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Appendix 3: Summary Analysis of Adult
Literacy and Life Skills
Survey data
Below is an outline of key data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) 4228.0 –
Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey, Summary Results, Australia, 2006. This summary
outlines the key shifts in performance between the 1996 and 2006 surveys.
References to table numbers in the summary below refer to the tables in the ABS
summary document, available from the ABS website at
<http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/[email protected]/mf/4228.0>, or in the IBSA online LLN
readings folder.
General
In 2006, between 46% and 70% of adults in Australia had poor or very poor skills across
one or more of the five skill domains of prose literacy, document literacy, numeracy,
problem-solving and health literacy. This means they did not attain skill level 3, the level
regarded by most experts as a suitable minimum for coping with the increasing and
complex demands of modern life and work.
There has been some upward movement in performance from the lowest skill levels since
1996. In regard to prose literacy, there has been a significant 1–2% percentage point
decrease in the proportion of adults with a skill level of 1 and a corresponding 2–3%
increase in the proportion of adults with skill levels 2 and 3. In regard to document
literacy, there has also been a significant decrease in the proportion of adults with a skill
level of 1.
The number and proportion of adults with low skills in the other countries surveyed to
date have been similar to those in Australia. Australia’s results across all domains were
ranked in the middle. Australia’s skill levels are generally higher than Italy and the United
States, about the same as Canada and Bermuda, and lower than Norway and
Switzerland.
Age
Age and skills are inversely related. Younger cohorts tended to score higher on average
and also had larger proportions at higher skill levels (Tables 1 and 2).
The literacy skills of people aged 45 years were lower than younger age groups.
Compared with the older age cohorts, larger proportions of people aged 45 years and
under had skill levels of 3 or more. The exception to this was in relation to people aged
15–19 years (Tables 1 and 2).
Comparison of document and prose literacy skills levels in the 1996 and 2006 surveys
reveal similar distributions. There were however, significant changes across the older
population, with decreases in the proportion attaining level 1, and an increase in the
proportion attaining level 3 (Table 2).
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Sex
The proportion of females with prose literacy skill levels of 3 or higher was slightly greater
than that of males, while the proportion of men with document literacy skill levels of 3 or
higher was greater than for females (Table 1).
Males outperformed females on numeracy (Table 1).
Males and females performed similarly on problem solving and health literacy (Table 1).
In most ALLS participating countries, males performed better than females in numeracy,
and slightly better in document literacy. Females generally performed better in regard to
prose literacy (Table 6).
States and territories
In 2006, there were no major differences in the skill levels of people by state/territory,
except in the ACT, where proportionately fewer people were at skill levels 1 and 2 across
all the skill domains (Table 4).
There has been little movement in the skill levels of people by state/territory since 1996.
However, in NSW, there has been a significant decrease in the proportion of people with a
prose skill level of 1, and in Victoria, there has been a significant increase in the
proportion of people with a prose skill level of 2 (Table 4).
Educational attainment
The number of years of formal education has an impact on an individual’s skill levels. The
majority of those who had completed 10 years or less of formal education attained skill
levels of 1 or 2 across all scales (Table 10).
Conversely, the majority of those who had completed 21 or more years of formal
education achieved a skill level of 3 or more across all scales except problem solving
(Table 10).
Persons whose highest qualification was a Bachelor Degree or above consistently
outperformed those whose highest qualification was an advanced diploma/diploma or
below, particularly on the problem solving domain (Table 10).
Persons without a qualification who had completed school to Year 12, achieved higher
skill levels than those who had completed school to Year 11 only, and similarly those who
had completed to Year 11 achieved higher skill levels than those who had completed
school to Year 10 or below. Such findings, however, are likely to be related also to the age
of respondents (Table 10).
Employment
Employed persons had higher literacy levels on average than those who were unemployed
or not in the labour force (Tables 12 and 13).
Regardless of full-time or part-time status, a greater proportion of employed persons had
a skill level of 3 or higher across all scales, than either unemployed people or those who
were not in the labour force (Tables 12 and 13).
On the problem solving and health scales, the majority of employed people still achieved
poor or very poor results, that is, scores lower than 3 (Tables 12 and 13).
Appendix 3: Summary Analysis of Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey data
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In general, ‘knowledge-intensive’ industries (for example, professional, scientific and
technical industries) have higher proportions of workers with high literacy levels
(Table 14).
Between 1996 and 2006, the relative proportions of older workers with lower levels of
literacy have decreased (Table 16).
Participation in education and learning
Those with lower literacy levels were less likely to have participated in course-based
learning over the last 12 months (Table 11).
Income
There is a strong association between prose skill level and median personal gross weekly
income. For example, those with a skill level of 1 had a median income of $205 less per
week than those with a skill level of 2. This gap in income potential remained fairly steady
as people moved up the skill levels. For example, the difference between those with a
skill level of 2 and 3 was $192 (Table 8).
Over 50% of workers with prose skill levels of 3 and above were in the top two personal
income quintiles, whereas for those with skill levels of 1 or 2, over 50% were in the 1st to
3rd income quintiles (Table 16).
There has been little change in the distribution of income of workers by literacy level
between 1996 and 2006 (Table 16).
Information communication technology
There is a relationship between high literacy levels and greater computer and internet
use, as well as the range of computer/internet skills that people have (Table 24).
However, regardless of skill level, a very high proportion of 15–24 year olds used the
internet, particularly for browsing, on a daily basis or a few times a week. Also regardless
of skill level, few people aged 55 years and over used the internet on a daily/weekly basis
(Table 24).
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Appendix 4: Research for Planning Adult
Learning – An Overview
Reproduced with permission from:
 Keenan, D., 2010, Research for Planning Adult Learning: An Overview {Adult
Learning}, Developing Education, viewed April 2011,
<http://www.mrkeenan.com/?p=402>.
Malcolm Knowles
Malcolm Knowles began where few in the educational field had trodden when he began
to conceptualize his theory of andragogy in the 1950s. His belief that adult learners were
inherently different than child learners, and his theories surrounding that belief, have
informed much of the research surrounding andragogy to this day.
Knowles’ five assumptions about adult learners seem simple in some respects, but only
because so much of our modern concepts of adult learning are built on and presuppose
the work of Knowles. If we plan learning activities for adults which do not consider selfconcept, experience, readiness to learn, orientation to learning, and motivation to learn42
we are immediately falling short of our responsibility.
Also of note in Malcolm Knowles’ work, is the importance of his work on informal adult
education, and how it has informed even formal roles within the educational community
in modern times. Many of the outcomes present in now formalized documents for
continual professional improvement can be linked to outcomes for adult learning
developed in Knowles’ book Informal Adult Education.43
 Adults should acquire a mature understanding of themselves.
 Adults should develop an attitude of acceptance, love and respect toward others.
 Adults should develop a dynamic attitude toward life.
 Adults should learn to react to the causes, not the symptoms, of behaviour.
 Adults should acquire the skills necessary to achieve the potentials of their
personalities.
 Adults should understand the essential values in the capital of human experience.
 Adults should understand their society and should be skilful in directing social
change.
While the responsibility for achieving these outcomes of learning lies in the individual
learner in Knowles’ theory of informal education, it seems logical that adult learners will
gain much more from their professional learning if we can provide materials as
presenters that facilitate interaction with these outcomes.
42 Knowles, M.S., et al., 1984, Andragogy in Action: Applying modern principles of adult education, JosseyBass, San Francisco.
43 Knowles, M.S., 1950, Informal Adult Education, Association Press, Chicago.
Appendix 4: Research for Planning Adult Learning – An Overview
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Stephen Brookfield
What Stephen Brookfield has brought to the research is a clarification and practical
application of the ideas Knowles’ had developed, with specific insight into the realities of
adult education that Knowles did not explicate nearly as thoroughly in his theoretical
discussions. Brookfield tries to break away from the traditional ‘myths’ of adult education
that it is:
inherently joyful, that adults are innately self-directed learners, that good
educational practice always meets the needs articulated by learners themselves
and that there is a uniquely adult learning process as well as a uniquely adult form
of practice.44
What Brookfield puts forward in his overview of adult learning, is four major areas of
research in the post-war study of adult learning. These four areas include: Self-Directed
Learning, Critical Reflection, Experiential Learning and Learning to Learn. In contrast to
the work of Knowles, these areas of research have links to the teaching of children as
well, and Brookfield makes no attempt to disassociate his theory from the teaching of
children. Instead, he develops his ideas to display how these research areas have social
and political implications for adults that are minimized or less apparent in child learning.

Self-directed learning

There may be a political dimension to self-directed learning, as often self directed projects are serendipitous to larger overall goals and initiatives of those in authority roles over the adult. In addition, Brookfield notes that research is needed into the roles of assessing effective adult learning, as even the assessments may result in a loss of autonomy for the adult learner in choosing and engaging in learning.

Critical reflection

This is an area in which Brookfield devotes a great deal of effort, as the conceptualization of ‘Critical Reflection’ in adult learning may be wrongfully seen as reflecting in a negative way an individual’s learning or practice. Brookfield offers this explanation: As an idea critical reflection focuses on three interrelated processes: 1. the process by which adults question and then replace or reframe an assumption that up to that point has been uncritically accepted as representing commonsense wisdom 2. the process through which adults take alternative perspective on previously taken for granted ideas, actions, forms of reasoning and ideologies 3. the process by which adults come to recognize the hegemonic aspects of dominant cultural values and to understand how self-evident renderings of the ‘natural’ state of the world actually bolster the power and self-interest of unrepresentative minorities.45

44 Brookfield, S., 1995, Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco.
45 Ibid.
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Unfortunately, because this self-reflective process is steeped in the language of the psychoanalytic tradition, it can be a difficult area for educators to gain insight readily.
Experiential Learning	Brookfield believes that learning from practical experience is an essential component of effective adult learning. However, he does note two pitfalls of exclusive reliance on experiential learning: First, learners must realize that we do not objectively reflect on experience, and that our learning is still framed by contextual and historical perspectives; Second, that the richness of the learning is not directly linked to the quantity or length of experiences reflected upon. We must critically affirm the experiences of adult learners to ensure that the learning is not based on a romanticised or idealised version of the experience.
Learning to Learn	This concept functions in some ways as a catch-all term for many of the processes adults undertake to understand their learning styles and approaches. While the concept of learning to learn has suffered from a lack of formal study in adult education, Brookfield contends that it is an essential component of adult education, and should be seen as part of a lifelong learning strategy as opposed to something to be taught to children in school. It can also be seen as the area of research that can have the broadest impact on adult lives outside of academic boundaries, as it can inform many of the activities adults are involved in daily.46

Brookfield goes on in his overview to discuss emerging trends as of his writing. From
these emerging trends, the concept of practical theorizing seems particularly relevant to
professional learning today, as it is based on the learner’s careful consideration of their
experience and informal theories that guide their practice. The process by which practical
theorizing is borne out of critical reflection, is the sharing of the theory with colleagues
leading to refinement of the ideas, and then bending the theory back to their own practice
by using at as a lens through which they may assess their teaching. If teachers engage in
this process, formal theory can help educators identify areas of their practice that they
prior may not have been able to envision or attend to.47
46 Ibid.
47 Ibid.
Appendix 4: Research for Planning Adult Learning – An Overview
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Jack Mezirow
Jack Mezirow has formalized many of the issues raised with the previous two researchers
into functional frameworks of andragogy that also consider ethical questions present
when educating adults. Often we consider ethical questions far more readily when
working with youth, as the fiduciary responsibility of the teacher for a student requires
that we do so. However, Mezirow raises a number of issues in Transformative Dimensions
of Adult Learning that he claims are ethical in the role of an adult educator, which include
allowing the educator to:

	Intentionally precipitate transformative learning without making sure that the learner fully understands that such transformation may result.

	Present his or her own perspective, which may be unduly influential with the learner.

	Make educational interventions when psychic distortions appear to impede a learner’s progress (even) if the educator is not trained as a psychotherapist.48

These statements make it apparent that the responsibilities of the educator to an adult
learner are significantly different than the responsibilities toward a child learner. With
different responsibilities comes a different methodology to teaching process. Mezirow
also outlines the following 12 goals he created that he believes practitioners of andragogy
must fulfill:
1. Progressively decrease the learner’s dependency on the educator.
2. Help the learner understand how to use learning resources, especially the
experience of others, including the educator, and how to engage in reciprocal
learning relationships.
3. Assist the learner to define his/her learning needs, both in terms of immediate
awareness and in terms of understanding the cultural and psychological
assumptions influencing his/her perceptions of needs.
4. Assist the learner to assume increasing responsibility for defining learning
objectives, planning his/her own learning program, and evaluating progress.
5. Help the learner organize what is to be learned in relationship to his/her current
personal problems, concerns, and levels of understanding.
6. Foster learner decision making, select relevant learning experiences that require
choosing, expand the learner’s range of options, and facilitate the learner’s taking
the perspectives of others who have alternative ways of understanding.
7. Encourage the use of criteria for judging that are increasingly inclusive and
differentiating in awareness, self-reflexive and integrative of experience.
8. Foster a self-corrective, reflexive approach to learning – to typifying and labeling, to
perspective taking and choosing, and to habits of learning and learning
relationships.
48 Mezirow, J., 1991, Transformative Dimensions of Adult Learning, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco.
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9. Facilitate posing and solving of problems, including problems associated with the
implementation of individual and collective action, and recognition of the
relationship between personal problems and public issues.
10. Reinforce the self-concept of the learner as a learner and doer by providing for
progressive mastery and for a supportive climate with feedback to encourage
provisional efforts to change and to take risks; by avoiding competitive judgment
of performance, and by appropriate use of mutual support groups.
11. Emphasize experiential, participative, and projective instructional methods and
use modeling and learning contract where appropriate.
12. Make the moral distinction between helping the learner understand his/her full
range of choices and the ways to improve the quality of choosing and encouraging
the learner to make a specific choice.49
In this comprehensive list, we see a synthesis of the ideas of Malcolm Knowles and
Stephen Brookfield that were presented earlier. Mezirow goes back to Knowles’ assertion
that adult learning is inherently different than the learning of children, not that the
teaching process has to be different, but rather that we must be aware of the different
role that we have as educators and the ethical implications of that role. Also, Knowles
outcomes for adult learning are present in the background of Mezirow’s goals, as
teachers work toward independent practice, change and reinforcement of learning.
Brookfield’s more practical approach to analysis of adult learning is also represented in
Mezirow’s goals, as elements of his four identified research areas in adult learning, selfdirected learning, critical reflection, experiential learning, and learning to learn, are all
represented within the goals in Mezirow’s list.
What these three authors represent to me is a tradition and focus on adult learning that is
becoming ever more essential today. Each of these writers speaks of future development
in research and learning about adult education, showing a continuing need (as teachers
have) to rethink, revise and rework our learning and continue improving for all adult
learners.
49 Ibid.
Appendix 5: Pronunciation
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Appendix 5: Pronunciation
Reproduced with permission from:
 Pawlikoska-Smith, G., 2002, Canadian Language Benchmarks 2000: Theoretical
Framework, Centre for Canadian Language Benchmarks, viewed May 2011,
<http://www.language.ca/cclb_files/doc_viewer_dex.asp?doc_id=138&
page_id=257>, pp.28–29.
There is no systematic, one-to-one relationship between learners’ clarity of pronunciation
and their proficiency levels.
Several experimental studies have shown that accent does not seem to be closely
associated with an individual’s ability to function in a language. For example, the
validation study for The Cambridge Assessment of Spoken English (CASE) demonstrated
that pronunciation relates highly to grammatical competence but not to discourse
competence, strategic competence or general task achievement.50 The common
experience is that some highly proficient ESL speakers have a ‘heavy accent’, and there
are also ESL learners with less accented pronunciation who do not necessarily achieve
high levels of proficiency.
Accent is determined by L1, age of learning, motivation and aptitude, all of which vary in
any given ESL setting. There is no one-to-one relationship among accentedness,
comprehensibility or intelligibility of speech.
Accentedness is a subjective judgement by a listener on the ‘heaviness’ of the speaker’s
accent, that is, the extent to which a learner’s spoken productions are judged to differ
from the accent of the community. Comprehensibility is also a perception-based
judgement by a listener of the relative difficulty or ease in understanding a speaker’s
accented speech. Intelligibility is an objective measure based on actual listener’s
comprehension (answering comprehension questions, for example).
Intelligibility of speech depends on many factors, including lexical choice, grammaticality,
and fluency as well as pronunciation features. Some of the factors may relate to specific
differences in various accents.51 52 Having a noticeable or even ‘heavy’ accent is not
considered a significant factor in oral proficiency as described by the CLB unless it affects
the intelligibility of the speaker’s speech (i.e. the listener’s comprehension).
Although some features of accent (such as pronouncing {th} in a non-native way) are
noticeable, they do not have a major impact on intelligibility. Accented speech does
require, however, more processing time on the part of listeners as compared with native
speaker speech. For example, it takes longer to react to the statements by ESL speakers
50 Milanovic, M.N., Saville, A., Pollitt, A., and Cook, A., 1996, ‘Developing Rating Scales for CASE: Theoretical
Concerns and Analyses’, Validation in Language Testing, Multilingual Matters, Clevedon.
51 Derwing, T.M., and Munro, M.J., 1997, ‘Accent, intelligibility, and comprehensibility: Evidence from four
L1s’, Studies in Second Language Acquisition, no. 19, pp.1–16.
52 Munro, M.J., and Derwing, T.M., 1995, ‘Processing time, accent, and comprehensibility in the perception of
native and foreign-accented speech’, Language and Speech, no. 38, pp.289-306.
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as true/false than it does when responding to native speaker statements in the
same way.
Contemporary research indicates that intelligibility is more strongly related to the prosodic
elements of speech (e.g., stress, rhythm, and intonation) than to individual sounds.
Traditionally, language instruction methodologists and teachers maintained that clarity in
pronunciation was ensured by the correct articulation of individual sounds of a language.
Recent studies show that the pronunciation features that influence intelligibility the most
are the global prosodic features (e.g., intonation, stress, rhythm), rather than individual
sounds as thought previously. Second language pronunciation in adult learners depends
on the first language (mother tongue); with different L1 learners there will be different
pronunciation learning needs and syllabus objectives. It has also been established that
typologically related languages are generally easier for L2 learners to pronounce than
unrelated languages.53 Second language pronunciation depends on age. Learner age in
L2 acquisition has a significant impact on accent. It may be one mechanism in SLA which
is age-dependent; after puberty, the acquisition of ‘native-like’ accent is extremely rare.54
Implications for teaching
The goal of the pronunciation syllabus is to address each learner’s clarity of speech in
view of:
 the learner’s specific needs (specific intelligibility problems, goals)
 empirically identified factors which affect intelligibility most, and the teaching of
which has been shown by research to be most effective and efficient in meeting
the goal
 socio-cultural appropriateness.
The general direction of the pronunciation syllabus should be from a wide-angle global
view to zooming in on specific local elements as needed. The starting point is the
learner’s general speaking habits (mumbling, eye contact, volume, etc.), followed by
‘suprasegmentals’, followed by ‘segmentals’.55
Ethical issues in the teaching of pronunciation in adult ESL
There is the point of view that certain individuals are held back in the pursuit of their
goals by an ‘accent ceiling’. For those individuals, special pronunciation classes may be
helpful. For the majority of adult ESL speakers, however, ‘accent reduction’ classes will
not eliminate an accent, according to the research evidence. Accent should not be treated
as ‘pathology’; it is perfectly acceptable to have an accent (everybody has one), as long as
speech intelligibility is not impaired. While remedial classes teaching global prosodic
features of speech do make a difference in better intelligibility evaluations of learners’
53 Bongaerts, T., 1999, ‘Ultimate attainment in L2 pronunciation: The case of very advanced late L2 learners’,
Birdsong, D. (ed.), Second Language Acquisition and the Critical Period Hypothesis, Lawrence Erlbaum, New
Jersey, pp.133-159.
54 Flege, J., Munro, M., and Mackay, I., 1995, ‘Factors affecting degree of perceived foreign accent in a
second language’, Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, no. 97, pp.3125–3134.
55 Firth, S., 1992, ‘Pronunciation syllabus design: A question of ‘focus’, Avery, P., and Ehrlich, S. (eds.),
Teaching American English pronunciation, Oxford University Press.
Appendix 5: Pronunciation
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speech over time, selling adult ESL learners on the idea that an ‘accent’ is and will
continue to be a problem and an obstacle in achieving their goals may be, in some cases,
ethically unclear.
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Appendix 6: A range of Theories
Skills-based approach
This approach perceives literacy as a set of skills that remain constant and can be learnt
and used in all contexts.
Phonics is a method of teaching beginners to read and pronounce words by learning to
associate letters or letter groups (graphemes) with the sounds they represent
(phonemes).
When applied to reading the phonics view is that novice readers acquire a set of
hierarchically ordered sub-skills that sequentially build toward comprehension ability.
This method is often contrasted with the Whole language method of teaching reading and
writing that emphasises that teaching methods should focus on meaning and strategy
instruction.
A combination of ‘whole language’ and ‘skills-based’ features form the basis of the
features of the ACSF.
Essential reading
 Hempenstal, K., 1999, ‘The role of phonics in learning to read: What does recent
research say?’ Fine Print, vol. 22, no. 1, pp.7–12, viewed February 2011,
<http://www.valbec.org.au/05/fineprint/archive/1999/99AU.PDF>.
Additional reading
 Anstey, M. and Bull, G., 2004, The literacy labyrinth, 2nd edn, Pearson Prentice Hill,
Frenchs Forest, NSW, Chapters 5 and 7.

	Burton, M., 2011, Phonetics for phonics – Underpinning knowledge for adult literacy practitioners, NIACE, England.

	Lunn, L., 2006, ‘Phonics for All’, Basics Skills Bulletin, November, viewed February 2011, <http://www.basicskillsbulletin.co.uk>.

 Reyhner, J., 2003, The reading wars: Phonics versus whole language, North Arizona
University, viewed April 2011,
<http://www.jan.ucc.nau.edu/~jar/Reading_Wars.html>.
 DEEWR, The Australian Core Skills Framework (ACSF), viewed February 2011,
<http://www.deewr.gov.au/SKILLS/PROGRAMS/LITANDNUM/ACSF/Pages/
default.aspx>.
Systemic functional linguistics
This theory suggests that language can only be understood in relation to the context in
which it is used. It accounts for the syntactic structure of language and also places the
function of language as central (what language does, and how it does it). It focuses on
language at the level of the whole text.
Appendix 6: A range of Theories
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A key concept in Halliday’s approach is the ‘context of situation’ which obtains ‘through a
systematic relationship between the social environment on the one hand, and the
functional organization of language on the other.’56
In practical terms the application of Halliday’s work assists the learner to see that there is
a direct connection to the ‘text and the context’. That is, we read and write and speak for
particular purposes and we do so differently according with whom we are interacting.
This work introduces the affect that status and various power relationships have on the
way an individual might structure their language (both spoken and written).
Functional linguistics establishes the concept of ‘purpose’ in actively choosing the words
we write or speak to fulfil a particular goal. Sometimes the goal is explicit and pragmatic
such as filling in a form to ‘sign up’ for something we want. Sometimes the goal might be
less tangible in purpose but equally as important for the individual, such as having a yarn
and offload about the week over Friday night drinks with friends.
Essential reading
 Chapelle, C.A., 1998, ‘Some notes on systemic-functional linguistics‘,
English/Linguistics, no. 511, October 28, viewed April 2011,
<http://www.public.iastate.edu/~carolc/LING511/sfl.html>.

	Eggins, S., 2004, An introduction to systemic functional linguistics, 2nd edn, Continuum International Publishing Group, London, viewed April 2011,

<http://www.linguistlist.org/issues/16/16-1590.html>.
Additional reading

	Feez, S., 1995, ‘Systemic functional linguistics and its application in Australian language education: A short history’, Interchange, No. 27.

	Halliday, M.A.K., 1985, An introduction to functional grammar, Edward Arnold, London.

 Hammond, J., Burns, A., Joyce, H., Brosnan, D., and Gerot, L., 1992, English for
Social Purposes: A handbook for teachers of adult literacy, National Centre for
English Language Teaching and Research, Macquarie University, Sydney, pp.1–13.
 The Pennsylvania State University, A brief introduction to the work of M.A.K.
Halliday and systemic-functional linguistics, Pennsylvania State University, viewed
February 2011, <http://www.language.la.psu.edu/spcom497b/halliday.html>.
Psycholinguistics
Psycholinguistics is the study of the relationship between linguistic and psychological
behaviour. It is an attempt to describe the mental processes involved in language
acquisition, comprehension and production.
56 Halliday, M.A.K., 1985, An introduction to functional grammar, Edward Arnold, London, p.11.
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When applied to the teaching of reading, the psycholinguistic model and the top-down
model share the same features and philosophy. The model places the reader at the
centre of the reading process acknowledging the strong relationship between language,
thought, and culture and the reader’s prior experience and knowledge as a factor in
gaining meaning from text.
Essential reading
 Theories of reading, BBC website,
<http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/articles/theories-reading>.
 ERIC Clearinghouse on Languages and Linguistics, 1992, ‘What is linguistics?’,
ERIC Digest, ERIC Clearinghouse on Languages and Linguistics, Washington DC,
<http://www.ericdigests.org/1992-1/what.htm>, viewed April 2007.
Additional reading
 Chomsky, N., 1965, Aspects of a theory of syntax, MIT Press, Cambridge, MASS.
 Steinberg, D. D. and Sciarini, N. , 2006, Introduction to psycholinguistics, 2nd edn,
Longman, London.
Genre theory
Genre theory aims to teach learners how to create and analyse spoken and written
genres so they can use language to participate fully in their culture. Genre refers to
culturally-specific text types that are written, visual or spoken for specific purposes and
situations.
According to genre theory texts are socially constructed and serve particular functions in a
social context. A text has a specific schematic structure – a distinctive beginning, middle
and end. It will use predictable language structures, depending on its social function, and
will conform to certain established patterns. Genre theory emphasises this predictability
and seeks to identify the characteristics of different texts.
A practical application of genre theory involves the teacher helping the learners to
recognise the various texts that they need to navigate their personal, learning and work
lives and to understand the particular features of certain text types. Once a learner can
recognise the expected features of certain text types they can begin to develop mastery
over reading and creating texts of their own.
Essential reading
 Department of Employment, Education and Training, ESL fundameNTals:
Understandings and strategies that underpin ESL pedagogy and practice,
Northern Territory Government, viewed May 2011,
<http://www.det.nt.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0015/5244/esl_fundamenta
ls.pdf>

	Cope, B., and Kalantzis, M., 1993, ‘Introduction: How a genre approach to literacy can transform the way writing is taught’, The powers of literacy: A genre approach to teaching writing, Falmer Press, London, pp.1–21. Wray, D., and Lewis, M., 1998, ‘An approach to factual writing’, Reading Online,


viewed February 2011,
<http://www.readingonline.org/articles/art_index.asp?HREF=writing/
index.html>.
Appendix 6: A range of Theories
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Metacognition
Metacognition is about ‘being in control of your learning, monitoring your learning,
knowing what you know and what you still don’t know’57 and about how you have learnt it.
It’s also about selecting strategies that will help you to learn. The capacity for a learner to
actively develop their own set of learning strategies is critical to their ability to expand
their LLN repertoire of skills (this concept is explored in the ACSF).
The metacognitive view, as it applied to reading, combines the top-down and bottom-up
processes so that the reader brings together everything they know in order to ‘read’ the
text. Metacognition involves thinking about what one is doing while reading.
The metacognitive view accepts that both English (L1) speakers and speakers of English
as a second language (L2) bring different sets of background knowledge to a task and will
be selecting from menus of ‘skills’ and experience to make sense of text.
Essential reading

	BBC, Theories of Reading, viewed May 2011, <http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/articles/theories-reading>.

	‘Learning strategies’ section of the Australian Core Skills Framework, DEEWR, 2011.

 Metacognition – Thinking about thinking – Learning to learn, Holistic Education
Network Tasmania (HENT), viewed May 2011,
<http://www.hent.org/world/rss/files/metacognition.htm>.
 McCormack, R., and Pancini, G., 1990, Learning to learn: Introducing adults to the
culture, context and conventions of knowledge, Division of Further Education,
Ministry of Education, Melbourne.
57 McCormack, R., and Pancini, G., 1990, Learning to learn: Introducing adults to the culture, context and
conventions of knowledge, Division of Further Education, Ministry of Education, Melbourne.
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Appendix 7: Required Knowledge from Core Units of the VGC
Mapped to Topic Areas of the Knowledge Bank.

TAELLN701A Required knowledge	Knowledge Bank topic
Adult learning principles and practices as they apply to teaching literacy	Topic 2: Learner characteristics Topic 3: Adult language, literacy and numeracy teaching theories
Applied linguistics for teaching purposes, for example:  code switching and use of non-standard Australian English  conventions of formal English in a range of genres and registers  text analysis, including how to analyse the linguistic structure and features of a text	Topic 3: Adult language, literacy and numeracy teaching theories Topic 4: English language system and the ACSF
Cognitive processes involved in reading, writing, speaking and listening	Topic 3: Adult language, literacy and numeracy teaching theories Topic 4: English language system and the ACSF
Diverse needs of those participating in literacy provision and learning resources to support them	Topic 1: National VET system Topic 2: Learner characteristics
English language systems and structures, including basic features of English grammar, phonology and lexis development	Topic 4: English language system and the ACSF
Knowledge of generic features of texts	Topic 4: English language system and the ACSF

Appendix 7: Required Knowledge from Core Units of the VGC Mapped to Topic Areas of the Knowledge Bank.
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TAELLN701A Required knowledge	Knowledge Bank topic
National standards, such as:  accredited course documentation  ACSF  Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF)  Australian Quality Training Framework (AQTF)  training packages	Topic 1: National VET system Topic 4: English language system and the ACSF Topic 1: National VET system Topic 5: Monitoring and evaluation
Range of literacy provision in VET, the workplace and the community	Topic 1: National VET system
Relationship of teaching practice to adult literacy teaching theories, such as:  applied linguistics  applied social theory and sociolinguistics  cognitive and metacognitive theories  critical literacy  humanistic and progressivist pedagogy  psycholinguistics	Topic 3: Adult language, literacy and numeracy teaching theories Topic 5: Monitoring and evaluation

Knowledge Bank
Knowledge Bank for TAE70110 and TAE80110
© 2011 Innovation and Business Industry Skills Council Ltd Page 121 of 126

TAELLN701A Required knowledge

Knowledge Bank topic

Variables that interact to determine the level of difficulty of literacy tasks, for example:  application of language in variety of settings, including personal communication, social communication or workplace communication  familiarity of context  length and complexity of text language and structure  degree of inference the reader is required to make or how explicit a text is  kind of information in a text, for example concrete compared to abstract  extent of support required to respond to a text

Topic 4: English language system and the ACSF Topic 1: National VET system

TAELLN702A Required knowledge	Knowledge Bank topic
Adult learning principles and practices as they apply to teaching numeracy	Topic 2: Learner characteristics Topic 3: Adult language, literacy and numeracy teaching theories
Diverse needs of those participating in numeracy provision and learning resources to support them	Topic 1: National VET system Topic 2: Learner characteristics
Formal and informal mathematical and general language, including some specialised mathematical language and terminology	Topic 3: Adult language, literacy and numeracy teaching theories Topic 4: English language system and the ACSF

Appendix 7: Required Knowledge from Core Units of the VGC Mapped to Topic Areas of the Knowledge Bank.
Knowledge Bank for TAE70110 and TAE80110
Page 122 of 126 1st edition version: 1

TAELLN702A Required knowledge	Knowledge Bank topic
National standards, such as:  accredited course documentation  ACSF  Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF)  Australian Quality Training Framework (AQTF)  training packages	Topic 1: National VET system Topic 4: English language system and the ACSF Topic 5: Monitoring and evaluation
Mathematical knowledge as required for teaching purposes (minimum ACSF level 3):  data and statistics  measurement  quantity and number  space and location	Topic 3: Adult language, literacy and numeracy teaching theories Topic 4: English language system and the ACSF
Mathematical knowledge to analyse and articulate a problem at ACSF levels 4 and 5, including to:  identify which operations are necessary  give possible approaches without necessarily being able to successfully solve the problem	Topic 3: Adult language, literacy and numeracy teaching theories Topic 4: English language system and the ACSF

Knowledge Bank
Knowledge Bank for TAE70110 and TAE80110
© 2011 Innovation and Business Industry Skills Council Ltd Page 123 of 126

TAELLN702A Required knowledge	Knowledge Bank topic
Range of numeracy provision in VET, including higher level mathematics provision	Topic 1: National VET system
Role that mathematics plays in conveying information, for example:  critical appreciation of the place of mathematics in society  interplay between mathematics, language, context and the political, social and cultural contexts within which the mathematics arises	Topic 2: Learner characteristics Topic 3: Adult language, literacy and numeracy teaching theories Topic 4: English language system and the ACSF
Relationship of teaching practice to theories that inform adult numeracy teaching, such as:  applied social theory, for example mathematics and culture, mathematics and gender  constructivism  critical literacy and numeracy  cultural use of specific mathematics  functionalism	Topic 3: Adult language, literacy and numeracy teaching theories
Variables that interact to determine the level of difficulty of numeracy tasks:  complexity of mathematical information or data  type of operation or skill  expected number of operations  kind of information included, for example how relevant it is to the task  type of match / problem transparency	Topic 1: National VET system Topic 3: Adult language, literacy and numeracy teaching theories Topic 4: English language system and the ACSF

Appendix 7: Required Knowledge from Core Units of the VGC Mapped to Topic Areas of the Knowledge Bank.
Knowledge Bank for TAE70110 and TAE80110
Page 124 of 126 1st edition version: 1

TAELLN703A Required knowledge	Knowledge Bank topic
Adult learning principles and practices as they apply to working with culturally and linguistically diverse adults	Topic 2: Learner characteristics Topic 3: Adult language, literacy and numeracy teaching theories
Conventions of English language in a range of genres and registers	Topic 3: Adult language, literacy and numeracy teaching theories Topic 4: English language system and the ACSF
English language needs of learners in a multilingual and multicultural learning environment	Topic 2: Learner characteristics Topic 3: Adult language, literacy and numeracy teaching theories
English language systems and structures, including basic features of English grammar, phonology and lexis development	Topic 4: English language system and the ACSF
English language teaching and learning approaches applicable to learners with English language needs in different contexts	Topic 3: Adult language, literacy and numeracy teaching theories
National standards, such as:  accredited course documentation  Australian Core Skills Framework (ACSF)  International Second Language Proficiency Rating (ISLPR) scale  training packages	Topic 1: National VET system Topic 4: English language system and the ACSF Topic 5: Monitoring and evaluation

Knowledge Bank
Knowledge Bank for TAE70110 and TAE80110
© 2011 Innovation and Business Industry Skills Council Ltd Page 125 of 126

TAELLN703A Required knowledge	Knowledge Bank topic
Social, cognitive and affective factors that may influence language development	Topic 3: Adult language, literacy and numeracy teaching theories Topic 4: English language system and the ACSF
Text analysis, including how to analyse the linguistic structure and features of a text	Topic 3: Adult language, literacy and numeracy teaching theories Topic 4: English language system and the ACSF

TAELLN704A Required knowledge	Knowledge bank topic
Adult language, literacy and numeracy teaching approaches applicable to learners at different levels of the Australian Core Skills Framework (ACSF), and in different contexts	Topic 3: Adult language, literacy and numeracy teaching theories
Broad repertoire of teaching strategies and learning activities incorporating various types of learning to meet specific language, literacy or numeracy need	Topic 3: Adult language, literacy and numeracy teaching theories
Current influential teaching theories that underpin teaching of adult literacy and adult numeracy	Topic 3: Adult language, literacy and numeracy teaching theories

Appendix 7: Required Knowledge from Core Units of the VGC Mapped to Topic Areas of the Knowledge Bank.
Knowledge Bank for TAE70110 and TAE80110
Page 126 of 126 1st edition version: 1

TAELLN704A Required knowledge	Knowledge bank topic
Relevant national standards, codes of practice and legislation, such as: ACSF  Australian Quality Training Framework (AQTF)  equal opportunity legislation  training specifications, such as:  accredited course documentation  non-accredited course documentation  training packages	Topic 1: National VET system Topic 4: English language system and the ACSF Topic 5: Monitoring and evaluation
VET sector, including the structure, purpose and delivery of training packages and accredited courses	Topic 1: National VET system