English-in-the-workplace for Garment Workers: A feminist project?

This article draws on a recent study of an English-in-the-workplace (EWP) programme currently in operation at three Canadian garment factories. The EWP programme offers formal instruction in English during the workday to a labour force comprised mainly of immigrant women employed as sewing machine operators. Among other things, results from the study suggest that newly acquired English skills may be reinforcing linguistic behaviour that reconstitutes traditional relations between workers and management, men and women. The article highlights a possible connection between workers' linguistic behaviour and the pedagogical practices evident in the EWP classes. We suggest that an exclusive and/or particular emphasis on the 'personal' in the form and content of lessons, taken up as it is in the EWP classes is problematic and may not ultimately work in the best interests of women workers. We look to the development of more critical EWP programmes.