A wide range of English for Academic Purposes (EAP) programs provide important support for international students enrolled in Canadian post-secondary contexts. While there has been a recent uptick in academic interest and research surrounding EAP programs in Canada, there has been relatively little work focused on understanding the practitioners…

This paper investigates the language fluency problems of skilled immigrants from mainland China to Canada. It capitalises on interview data to explore the relationships between Chinese immigrants' identities, second language practices, and language skills. It reports the informants' difficulty in integrating into their workplaces and their…

Newcomers to Canada with low proficiency in English or French often face challenges in the workforce (Kustec, 2012). While language classes provide workplace language training, not all newcomers are able to attend face-to-face classes (Shaffir & Satzewich, 2010), suggesting a need for outside the classroom, occupation-specific language…

From the perspective of newcomers to Canada, using English as an additional language (EAL), this study explores how newcomers' interlocutors might impede workplace communication. Six participants speaking EAL and with a variety of language backgrounds shared their workplace experiences. Qualitative data were collected through semi-structured…

English language teaching upholds racist nativist notions that competent teachers are white native speakers of English born in majority-white countries. These notions manifest when international students, expecting to be taught by these speakers, are skeptical about having a racialized instructor, who may be seen as non-native to English and the…

This article presents study results on workplace writing from English-as-an-additional-language (EAL) employees' perspectives, and shares findings about how educational institutions in British Columbia can better prepare EAL students to write in the workplace. In post-secondary academic writing, content rather than writing accuracy is often…

The Ministry for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada includes employment-related language training in its current initiatives. This article aims to contribute to the topic of teaching soft skills for job interviews and job retention, as informed by research from the fields of business and applied linguistics, including pragmatics, as well…

Private English language schools market the language as a tool that helps one connect with others from different cultures. Despite their promotion of English aiding in intercultural communication, these institutions may believe that only the white native speaker is the ideal teacher of the language. This valuing of the white native speaker can…

Canada, like other first-world countries, relies in large part on professional immigrants trained in other cultures and languages to complement its workforce in a wide range of professions, including medicine. International medical graduates (IMGs) who are nonnative English-speaking (NNES) and who have trained in different medical contexts are…

In this study, I investigate how French immersion students in two junior high schools in Alberta see themselves in Canadian society. The data come from three years of ethnographic research that included classroom observations and 94 interviews with students, teachers, administrators, and parents. This study shows how French immersion students do…

Changing economic realities in Canada are likely to result in increased employment opportunities for immigrant professionals. In Alberta, where these changes have already begun, issues of language in the workplace have surfaced, some relating to oral skills. In this investigation of Canadian-born employees' preferences for 40 L2 accented voices,…

In recent years, an increasing number of university students in Canada speak a home language other than English, which can put added pressure on the kinds of linguistic, cultural, and academic support they may require in their tertiary education and in the workplace. Indeed, communication difficulties can surface in the workplace for students…

Discusses research on English-as-Second-Language for the workplace, identifying gaps in existing literature and promising directions for new explorations. A qualitative study was conducted in one type of program for immigrant women and men in Western Canada seeking to become long-term resident care aides or home support workers. (Author/VWL)

Suggests the concept of English as a second (ESL) training in the workplace as a response to the immediate language needs of working adult immigrants. Several programs now underway on the job-site are described that were formed to meet the expressed language needs of those who do not have the time or energy to benefit from existing programs. (SL)

Presents an overview of the first year's operation of a Learning in the Workplace project that intended to develop industry-specific training materials and model programs that can be used to help employees develop the literacy skills needed in the changing workplace. The effectiveness of a peer-tutoring component is discussed. (Author/CB)