Can Texas businesses compete globally when 28 percent of Texas adults cannot complete a job application?
By Anne Marie Moss Fall 1995; pages 32-34 Tejas Amidst a continuous mechanical hum, the XeTel corporation exudes high-tech global competitiveness: busy lab-coated technicians, complex electronic machinery – and an adult basic literacy program. “Today, we will discuss making and following written instructions,” announces Sara Heydon, a workplace literacy instructor to her class of five. For the next hour-and-a-half, the staffers focus on mandatory English as a Second Language (ESL), designed for 5th through 10th grade proficiency levels. Wearing reading glasses rimmed with protective goggle-like plastic, a woman with furrowed brow forms her words slowly, “Draw a square inside a circle.” She stops reading and glances quizzically at Heydon. Her XeTel name tag reads “Hong.” “That’s right,” responds Heydon, nodding encouragingly. “Now can you draw that on your paper?” she asks, pointing to a worksheet example. Two students discuss the request in Vietnamese before beginning. Besides beginnin
