Reclaiming the rhetoric of outcomes: A life-wide curriculum in adult ESOL

Abstract

The narrowing of adult education has forced programs to prioritize workforce outcomes, often at the
expense of the goals that participants themselves set. This generates a range of adverse effects for
participants and programs. Any potential resistance to these trends in adult education will hinge on
work done at the classroom and program levels. This article describes a curricular model for
community-based adult ESOL that incorporates authentic assessment of a range of life-wide literacies,
thereby painting a fuller picture of the impact of our model and expanding the range of potential
funders for community ESOL programs.