In response to the scant studies comparing the language content of the employment-related units in Australia's Adult Migrant English Program (AMEP) and Canada's Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada (LINC) program, the present study examines the curriculum guidelines and the selected instructional materials of AMEP's Certificate in Spoken and Written English (CSWE) III and LINC level 4 and investigates four instructors' implementation of the curricula (two instructors from each program). Through qualitatively analysis using NVivo, the results show that both LINC 4 and CSWE III exhibit strengths and limitations, and also alignment and misalignment, as compared to their theoretical frameworks. While LINC 4 covers more components in the framework, CSWE III demonstrates greater depth in implementing its theoretical foundation. Further, LINC 4 instructors mostly implement a task-based approach; the CSWE III instructors incorporate multiple approaches, while the curriculum claims text-based teaching as its main approach. This study suggests that in teaching English for employment purposes, more content that introduces the different functions of language use and communication strategies would be beneficial, and authentic texts and learner experience can also be valuable. The incorporation of different teaching approaches may be advantageous. Future research can further examine newcomer language program outcomes by comparing language production data from learners of similar programs in different contexts, in order to evaluate the impact of language training on learners’ ability to engage in employment-purposed communication. / Graduate

Program evaluation (PE) is important for ESL programs but also difficult. As the scope of PE has grown, student voices have increasingly been included. Alumni provide unique perspectives, but Portland State University's (PSU) Intensive English Language Program (IELP) currently has no exit survey. Furthermore, little research uses alumni data, so this constructivist, mixed-methods study used data triangulation to compare the perceptions of former IELP students with those of three other stakeholder groups -- the topic: IELP student preparedness for PSU. Both online surveys and interviews were conducted, and participants included 63 former and 33 current IELP students, 27 IELP faculty members, and 29 PSU faculty members. Overall, respondents often praised the program with regard to how it prepares international students for mainstream classes. However, many also expressed that students were less ready for reading, in comparison to other language skills. Additionally, there was agreement regarding emotional challenges, limited faculty supportiveness, vocabulary, and speaking to and in front of native speakers, among other topics. While there are implications for the IELP, perhaps more importantly, there are implications for PSU.