English for Vocational Purposes

Language Use in Trades Education

Averil Coxhead, Jean Parkinson, James Mackay, Emma McLaughlin

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9781138326286
• eBook ISBN: 9780429832161
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Linguistics
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

English for Vocational Purposes provides a linguistic description of English in the context of the trades and investigates how this specialist language is used in real-world contexts. As the demand for English-speaking workers in the trades grows internationally, a major gap in the research on language in the trades is evident. Based on courses in construction and engineering at a polytechnic in New Zealand, this book offers an empirical response to this gap in research. Features of this book include:

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• new research on linguistic features of written and spoken texts in trades education, with a special focus on discourse, visual elements of written texts and vocabulary;

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• real-life examples of the language in context, along with implications for teaching and learning and a chapter devoted to putting research findings into practice;

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• qualitative and quantitative data to support examples and shed light on the most complex aspects of English as a trades language;

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• supplementary material online which includes technical word lists in areas of carpentry, plumbing, automotive technology and fabrication (welding).

Paving the way for a new research agenda in the field of ESP, English for Vocational Purposes is key reading for advanced students, researchers and practitioners in the areas of ESP, trades education and vocational education.

Chapter 1

Language in the trades and English for specific purposes

Introduction

Although there is a growing literature in vocational education, a surprisingly small amount of research considers language use in vocational education and how a description of this language can contribute to learning a ‘trade’. In addition, surprisingly little of the existing research on vocational language is in the English for Specific Purposes (ESP) tradition. Contributing to existing literature on vocational language, this book introduces a description of both the lexis and the discourse features of the technical language used in four different ‘trades’, as employed in an educational context at a polytechnic institution in New Zealand. The specific trades that are the focus of the study are automotive technology, carpentry, fabrication,¹ and plumbing. This chapter opens up an agenda for investigation of language in vocational education in the ESP tradition. We begin this process by contextualising our investigation of language in the trades in international and local research.

1.1 What is a trade in this study, and why does study of trades language belong in English for specific purposes?

The trades are a range of skilled occupations, such as carpentry, auto mechanics, plumbing, welding, and the electrical trade. Many trades, such as carpentry, stonemasonry, and blacksmithing, go back centuries to medieval times. Traditionally, a trade was learned during an apprenticeship through on-the-job training. In western countries today, apprenticeship continues to be a part of learning a trade, but this is usually combined with initial or simultaneous education in a technical school, vocational college, or polytechnic institution. Vocational education in a polytechnic institution is the main focus of this study.

English for specific purposes (ESP) research is focused on language use in professional and occupational spheres. For example, ESP researchers have studied aviation English (e.g., Estival, Farris, & Molesworth, 2016; Moder, 2013; Read & Knoch, 2009), legal English (e.g., Northcott, 2013; Hafner, 2013), business English (Bremner, 2010; Zhang, 2013; Nickerson & Planken, 2015), and English for nursing (Bosher, 2013; Yang, 2015; Lu, 2018; Gimenez, 2008). Much of this research has focused on the needs of tertiary undergraduate students studying to enter these professions rather than on the needs of graduates once they enter the workplace. Although our study of the language of trades education in the pre-workplace phase fits comfortably within this focus on language used in tertiary study prior to entering various professions, in contrast to these quite well-established areas of study, empirical research into trades-based learning and teaching is sparse. Anthony (2018) notes that growth in vocational ESP research has been mainly in the areas of hospitality and aviation English. In this book we intend to remediate this by extending ESP research into the area of vocational education.

As Feak (2019) points out, in order to extend ESP research into vocational education, ESP researchers and practitioners need to develop knowledge of pedagogical content and of the vocational ‘trades’ themselves, as well as developing collaborative relationships with subject specialists. This development is crucial in order to understand ‘what of this research is teachable, what can inform our teaching and how we can best go about the work of Language for Specific Purposes teaching’ (Feak, 2019, p. 17). It should be noted, however, that our focus in this study is limited to the educational context and does not extend to language use in vocational workplaces.

To extend ESP research into the area of vocational education in the way we have suggested, we put together a research team with multiple perspectives and areas of expertise. We outline briefly our backgrounds and research interests here in order to provide context for our investigation into the field of vocational education. Two researchers on our research team are applied linguists, both with an interest in ESP but with rather different areas of expertise. Averil Coxhead is a vocabulary specialist with a particular interest in ESP and English for academic purposes (EAP). Jean Parkinson is a discourse analyst with a focus on the genre and register features of text and talk in science and technology. Emma McLaughlin and James Mackay teach in the vocational sector. Emma is a language, literacy and numeracy specialist and has wide experience in materials design. James is a science education specialist teaching in engineering programmes, with an interest in how meaning is represented both visually and in writing in science and technology texts.

1.2 Why is language for vocational purposes necessary?

The main focus of English for specific purposes has always been to make explicit for those for whom English is not a first language the language demands of disciplinary, professional, and occupational language. In this section we begin by discussing this focus before noting how the usefulness of ESP extends beyond those studying English as a second or foreign language (ESL/EFL) to those studying a new discipline or vocational area in general. We return to this point in Chapter 10, where we focus on implications of our research beyond the New Zealand context.

1.2.1 Studying in a second/foreign language

A trade qualification enhances workers’ ability to move internationally. This means English language skills are vital in the trades, even for those who are not educated in English-speaking contexts such as Aotearoa/New Zealand (henceforth referred to as ‘New Zealand’), Australia, the UK, Canada, and the USA. Evidence of this mobility is found, for example, in a 2014 survey of 200,000 people in 189 countries (Strack, Booker, von der Linden, & Strohmayr, 2014), which found that 70% of those employed in technical fields indicated a willingness to seek work abroad. The survey also found that English-speaking countries were the most attractive destinations. The worldwide demand for workers in the trades and growth in these sectors are important factors. For example, the International Labour Organisation (2015) reports a consistent worldwide growth over the period since 2010, both in construction (including carpentry and plumbing) and motor vehicle repair.

This possibility for workers in the trades to relocate to a country where English is the dominant language suggests the value of attention to the vocational sector by ESP researchers. To date, however, there has been relatively little ESP research with a focus on the vocational sector. This is despite the fact that the proportion of non-English background students is high in vocational education and training (VET). For example, in Australia, Ryan, Gwinner, Mallan, and Livock (2016) report that compared to universities, VET provides training for triple the proportion of people from non-English backgrounds. Tran (2017) reports that as many as 21% of vocational students in New Zealand are international students, and this proportion agrees well with the student demographics in the context we studied (see Parkinson & Mackay, 2016)

Language proficiency may stand in the way of entering vocational education for non-English background students. Smith and Smith (2010) found that non-native-born adults perceived that their literacy proficiencies, such as reading and writing, limit their job opportunities to a greater extent as compared to native-born adults. Annen (2018) notes that studies of migration usually list language as one factor that contributes to economic marginalisation of migrants, leaving them in the situation of either not being employed or being employed at a lower level than their VET qualifications would warrant.

Examples of these difficulties are found first in a US study by Smith and Smith (2010), which compared participation in vocational education of native-born US citizens to non-native-born citizens. One finding was that the lower the English proficiency of non-native-born citizens the less likely they were to participate in vocational education. Another US study by Batalova, Fix, and Creticos (2008) found that immigrants with high skills but limited English proficiency were twice as likely to work in unskilled jobs as those with good English proficiency. Similarly, in the Canadian context, Annen (2018) considers the influence on workers of having been born abroad, particularly in a non-western country, on their success at getting a job and being employed at their level of qualification. In the European context, Chadderton and Edmonds (2015) discuss the difficulties that refugees have of gaining access to VET training, and Filliettaz (2010) reports on the difficulties experienced by migrants once they do enter vocational training.

Vocational students who are studying in their country of origin also need to focus on the language demands of their trade. Ding (2010) discusses technical communication courses in China. He notes that year-long or semester-long ESP courses are widespread at technical universities, and students take them after an intensive general English course. Another model in China is where English majors specialise in the language of a particular discipline; this is called ‘English Related to Individual Disciplines’ (ERID), which is a major degree course comprising four to five years. The results of our research, which has investigated the lexis and discourse features of technical language, are likely to prove useful for technical English courses based on both the ESP and ERID models in countries where English is a foreign language.

1.2.2 Studying in a first language

In addition to the needs of non-English background students, the claim is also made in the literature that English-background vocational students struggle with literacy. For example, Ryan et al. (2016) estimated that half of all VET learners in Australia have language, literacy, and numeracy (LLN) skills below a sufficient level of the training programme in which they are enroled. Another study in the Australian context, based on interviews with vocational teachers, found that most teachers felt that language and literacy were a problem for their students (Bak & O’Maley, 2015). Equally, Cooper and Baynham (2005) report that many of the participants in their study of construction students at a UK vocational college required language and literacy support. A large-scale international study of adult literacy (OECD, Statistics Canada, 2011, undertaken in 2008) has made alarming claims about literacy levels in a wide range of countries, including New Zealand. This study found that 13% of adult New Zealanders would experience considerable difficulties in using many of the printed materials that may be encountered in daily life, and a further 31% were able to use only relatively simple printed materials. Similar results were quoted by this study for Australian adults (15% and 29%).

1.3 Studies of language for vocational purposes

Given the language and literacy difficulties noted previously of those entering vocational study, how have researchers responded? Vocational education is particularly diverse across the globe (Billett, 2011; Mazenod, 2016), from secondary school based education in Germany, to polytechnics and technical and further education (TAFE) colleges in Australia, through to general and vocational education that has a tertiary trajectory in the Nordic countries (Boeren & Holford, 2016). In spite of the widespread and diverse nature of vocational education internationally, less focus than might be expected has been placed on the study of the technical language of the trades.

The current literature on trades language comes from a range of traditions. These include new literacy studies, workplace studies, the vocational ESL (VESL) tradition in the US, and, particularly in studies of language in vocational education in Europe, studies in higher and further education. To date, however, the field of English for specific purposes has been weighted towards university education, and vocational education has been neglected (Coxhead, 2018).

1.3.1 Studies in the new literacies studies tradition

Over the last two decades in Australia, New Zealand, and the UK, the new literacy studies tradition has been influential in research into literacy in vocational education. The new literacy studies (Street, 1984) views literacy as multiple practices that vary with use, purpose, and social context. In this view, moving into a new context, such as trades study, requires the acquisition of new literacy practices, and with them, associated values. These practices are not necessarily transferable from other literacy contexts, such as school study. They extend beyond learning the formal features of language in a context (for example specialised vocabulary) to familiarity with specialised texts, their social purposes, and the values associated with them. This focus on the specificity of the texts and talk associated with particular disciplines, occupations, or trades aligns with the central purpose of ESP, which is to support students’ acquisition of the specialised genres of their educational, professional, and occupational fields. Differences between the new literacies and ESP approaches include the greater emphasis placed on values and identity by the new literacy studies (e.g., Lea & Street, 1998; Ivanič, 1998) and the central role of linguistic description in ESP.

Prominent in the new literacies tradition is a large-scale study by Ivanič et al. (2009) in the context of British vocational colleges. This study built on recognition in the new literacies research of the multiple nature of literacy and that literacy is specific to the field in which it is used, a notion also central to ESP. It investigates the different kinds of text and talk that students in a wide variety of vocational fields must use. Ivanič et al. (2009) show that trades-based literacy involves a wide range of demanding tasks. According to Edwards, Minty, and Miller (2013), vocational reading and writing are not only demanding, but staff and students tend to underestimate these demands. This UK-based research considered a range of trades, including childcare, hospitality, painting and decorating, and bricklaying. However it did not analyse the lexical, discoursal, and visual elements of the language of the trades. We believe such investigation to be useful, especially for the development of teaching resources. This belief reflects the ESP tradition in which we are working, where attention has traditionally been given to linguistic description of language specific to particular occupations and disciplines. Such description is necessary to develop teaching interventions and resources.

Within the same large-scale UK study, Edwards et al. (2013), investigating the field of hospitality, suggest that reading and writing for academic and workplace purposes are essential for success in hospitality, but they are more demanding than is generally recognised by either staff or students. Another associated study by Smith et al. (2008), this time in the field of childcare, notes that literacy in vocational fields is more complex than is generally recognised. Interestingly, they found that this complexity was actually greater in the earlier levels of study.

Under the umbrella of the same UK study, Edwards and Miller (2008, p. 127) found that in Scottish vocational colleges most of the writing students did in a range of vocational areas, including childcare and hospitality, was for the purpose of assessment. They found that the reading and writing students do in the classroom was different from what they were required to do for assessments and that teachers were not always aware of the complexity of transforming information from one genre or context into another. Like Edwards et al. (2013) and Smith et al. (2008), Edwards and Miller (2008) found that lower level students were required to use a wider range of reading and writing practices than those at higher levels. At higher levels, literacy practices became more academic.

Ivanič et al. (2007) warn against claims that there is a decline in literacy in vocational contexts in the UK, suggesting instead an increasing diversity of ‘vernacular’ text and multimodal literacy practices in which students engage outside college but are not employed in college literacy events. They used ethnographic methods, including interviews with 100 students enroled in 30 vocational units, as well as the collection of artefacts, to understand the students’ literacy practices. Ivanič et al. (2007) recommend that college tutors could consider employing some of the multiple literacy practices that learners use outside of college. Similarly, Miller and Satchwell (2006) recommend that teachers develop greater awareness of students’ ‘everyday’ literacies, claiming that this will improve teacher respect for students’ literacy practices and improve students’ experiences of further education by ‘increasing potential for negotiating the border between vernacular and curriculum literacies’ (2006, p. 135). Although following these suggestions is likely to increase student engagement, we consider it more important for vocational teachers to support students to acquire literacy practices that are central to the trade and embody the values of the trade rather than neglecting these in favour of vernacular literacies.

A study in New Zealand, by Sligo, Tilley, Murray, and Comrie (2019), confirmed the specific nature of literacy that building apprentices, and their managers and training coordinators, saw as necessary to apprentices. The focus of the vocational trainers and apprentices is literacy that supports their ability to practice their trade rather than a notion of literacy for its own sake. As Sligo et al. (2019) found, the emphasis in vocational education is on acquiring instrumental literacy that is grounded in the apprentices’ technical field, which is necessary for them to become members of their workplace communities of practice.

The studies on vocational literacy by Ivanič and her colleagues are valuable in their exploration of the literacy practices that students of these different fields must use. However, they stop short of investigating the lexical, discourse, and visual features of language associated with the different literacy practices. The present study attempts to go beyond this to investigate in greater depth the lexical, grammatical, rhetorical, and multimodal features of texts. This includes texts written by students (such as the builder’s diary), texts that vocational students have to read (course textbooks), talk (such as classroom teaching), and also the visual features of multimodal writt...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of figures
• List of tables
• List of extracts
• Acknowledgements
• 1 Language in the trades and English for specific purposes
• 2 The Language in Trades Education project: methodology
• 3 Tutoring in trades education: instruction and engagement in automotive technology classroom discourse
• 4 Writing in trades education: the case of the builder’s diary
• 5 A descriptive analysis of the use of visual elements in trades education texts
• 6 Technical vocabulary in trades education
• 7 Listening and speaking in trades education
• 8 Reading in trades education
• 9 Putting research into practice in trades education
• 10 Reflection, implications, and directions in trades education research
• Appendix
• References
• Index