A non-english-speaking background in adult vocational education: breaking through the barriers

Abstract

Hindrances or barriers to learning faced by non-English-speaking background (NESB) adult vocational students can lead to increased feelings of desperation, frustration, helplessness and inadequacy. In some cases these outcomes lead to course withdrawal and lowered chances of breaking through the boundaries and achieving job attainment and satisfaction. This research aims to determine whether the needs of a group of NESB students were being met by the training they received and whether their difficulties and major hindrances were primarily institutionally (related to the training process) or non-institutionally grounded. A questionnaire was used to collect both quantitative and qualitative information and to identify NESB students. The results indicated that both institutional (e.g. poor quality instructions) and non-institutional factors are implicated as hindrances to learning. Some suggested ways, within the training institution, of breaking through the barriers are discussed.