ABSTRACT
This book is based on work carried out in multi-ethnic workplaces during the 1970s and 1980s by the UK Industrial Language Training-Service, the aims and objectives of which are described in Appendix 1. The service started in 1970 as an initial response to the English-language needs of ethnic-minority * workers with little or no English. At this time, although local education authorities recognised the need for the provision of English as a Second Language classes, the majority of ethnic-minority workers were unable to attend adult-education classes because of the nature of their work – for example, long working hours and changing shifts. At the same time, they were effectively cut off, both inside the workplace from management and unions, with little access to the white English-speaking culture and channels of communication, and outside from access to public and community services. In this context the workplace itself was the logical place in which to provide the opportunity to acquire and use English. In the event, it proved to be a strategic site for both educational action and research, covering not only language training for workers with little experience of English but also training for supervisors, union stewards and others to improve their skills as communicators with regard to relationships in multi-ethnic settings.
