For low literate newcomers, traditional L2 courses are often long and unrewarding. Using the Service Design methodology, we designed an innovative demand-oriented, project-based approach outside the traditional classroom in which learners can perform real-life tasks matching their needs and in which literacy, language and labour market skills are being developed.
Western Europe and, more specifically, Flanders has seen a sharp rise in the number of immigrants from outside the European Union. A non-negligible share of these adult immigrants is low literate or even illiterate. This vulnerable group faces multiple challenges and both language and literacy acquisition have proven to be long and unrewarding processes. Several studies have indicated that the current language and literacy courses in formal education in Flanders focus too strongly on language-as-a-system, on grammatical accuracy and vocabulary while the learners’ primary needs are on more urgent meaningful everyday communication (Plichart, 2003; De Niel, 2016). A rethinking of the educational system has thus to be considered, as the current approach seems to be especially discouraging for those newcomers who want to work: it often takes them three to six years before they reach an A1 level which is often required to find a job or to enter vocational training. In this presentation, we first show the results of a needs analysis among the target group of illiterate newcomers, focussing on the systemic aspects of language education. We present how we used the Service Design methodology to conduct this needs analysis, and how the learners’ experiences with their trajectories were analysed. Second, we explain how the results of this inquiry led us to an innovative demand-oriented and project-based approach outside the traditional classroom. Essential ingredients include learning on location, the involvement of role models and employers, and the autonomy of the learners to choose projects and real-life tasks according to their needs. Finally, this paper presents the outcomes of a pilot study and impact evaluation in which the new approach was being tested. Results indicate the extent to which the new approach effectively enhances low literate adult immigrants’ language and labour market skills.
