English-in-the-workplace for Garment Workers: A feminist project?

Harper, Helen J.

doi:10.1080/713668482

Cited by 13 publications

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“…Traditional gendered identities and hierarchical workplace relations can actually be reinforced through the language practices workers learn, as Harper (1996) shows in her study of an English-in-the-Workplace programme for immigrant women employed as garment workers. Harper locates one problem in the 'personal' focus of the pedagogy, and calls for more critical pedagogical approaches to provoke workers' sense of their rights and conditions.…”

Section: Critical Education and Language Learning In The Workplacementioning

confidence: 94%

“…This article examines two interrelated dynamics: (1) the negotiations of the adult educators in conducting workplace education; and (2) the complex character of the pedagogy and learning described by both educators and their students, the garment worker-learners. This educational approach is neither critical in the traditional sense of critical pedagogy nor reproductive of gendered, hierarchical relations as are some English workplace programmes (Harper 1996), yet appears to have promoted critical learning, voice and solidarity among the workers.…”

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confidence: 98%

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Tightrope walkers and solidarity sisters: critical workplace educators in the garment industry

Fenwick

2007

International Journal of Lifelong Education

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Section: Critical Education and Language Learning In The Workplacementioning

confidence: 94%

mentioning

confidence: 98%

Tightrope walkers and solidarity sisters: critical workplace educators in the garment industry

Fenwick

2007

International Journal of Lifelong Education

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“…Workplace English courses have been tailored and designed to fit the needs of the sectors of industry where they are most needed and have concentrated on a number of areas including aviation, construction, health care, the electronics industry, and textiles (see Aiguo, 2007;Frydenberg, 1982;Harper, Peirce, & Burnaby, 1996;Katz, 2000;Li So-Mui & Mead, 2000). While a lot of attention has focused on design issues and understanding the variety of contexts, little has changed regarding the economic realities of those immigrants who find themselves working in industry.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Discursive power and the new labor force: the metamorphosis of a speech community

Miles

2010

Language and Intercultural Communication

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This article describes the results of a six-month ethnographic case study of a French immigrant of Senegalese descent and how he recreates the culture of an American company's speech community. Data were collected through interviews, field notes, and shadowing the participant at his place of employment. The transcribed interviews and field notes were then categorized and analyzed. Conclusions indicate that the subject discursively controlled contexts that contributed to social change on site.Este artículo describe los resultados de un estudio etnográfico que durante seis meses documenta las experiencias de un inmigrante francés de ascendencia senegalesa en su intento de recrear la cultura del discurso comunitario de una compañ ía estadounidense. Los datos, recogidos de entrevistas, notas de campo y la observació n del participante en su lugar de empleo, más tarde se dividieron en categorías y se analizaron. Los resultados indican que el participante, a través de un control discursivo de diferentes contextos, contribuyó al cambio social en su entorno laboral.The germ of this research was a response to a plea for help. A frozen foods processing and packaging company contacted the university department requesting assistance with a problem that had been occurring in their company: a US workplace that had become multilingual and multicultural because of the recent influx of West African and Hispanic employees and its concomitant miscommunication problems which decreased productivity and endangered immigrant workers who weren't able to read safety instructions labeled on large machinery. Furthermore, cultural misunderstandings were blatant, resulting in employees' mistrust and apprehension in communicating with each other.The company contracted with the university to design and implement language training in English, French, and Spanish. The primary goal of the English as a Second Language (ESL) courses was to focus on language specific to safety issues and understanding the safety signs and directions of how to operate machinery located in the plant. The French and Spanish courses were designed within the same context with special emphasis placed on increasing the effectiveness of the type of *

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“…Even in English-dominant countries such as Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States, immigrant workers do not necessarily use English in the workplace; rather, they often use their native language or learn other immigrants' languages for workplace interaction (Block 2007;Duff et al 2000;Goldstein 1997;Harper et al 1996;Whiteside 2007, 2008;Norton 2000). Indeed, frequent reference to English as an international lingua franca in scholarly and educational contexts reinforces the truth effect of this assumption.…”

Section: Teaching English Skills and Ideologiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘Language is only a tool’: Japanese expatriates working in China and implications for language teaching

Kubota

2013

Multiling.Ed.

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Drawing on a qualitative case study, this article questions two prevailing assumptions: that English is a universal lingua franca and that English proficiency is indispensable for transcultural work. The study involved Japanese manufacturing companies with subsidiaries in China and investigated the language use of Japanese expatriates and Chinese office workers as well as the views of participants (including managers in Japan) about competencies deemed important for overseas work. Interview data revealed that the major languages used were Japanese and to a lesser extent Mandarin. Although English proficiency was deemed useful, the primary importance was placed on the "ability to communicate'' supported by communicative and foundational dispositions along with cultural knowledge. These findings pose a challenge for critiquing neoliberal underpinnings.

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English-in-the-workplace for Garment Workers: A feminist project?

Cited by 13 publications

References 0 publications

Tightrope walkers and solidarity sisters: critical workplace educators in the garment industry

Tightrope walkers and solidarity sisters: critical workplace educators in the garment industry

Discursive power and the new labor force: the metamorphosis of a speech community

‘Language is only a tool’: Japanese expatriates working in China and implications for language teaching

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