Table 1 Comparison of adult (L2) literacy education in Canada, Belgium, and Luxembourg
Canada | Belgium | Luxembourg | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Dutch-speaking community | French-speaking community | |||
1. Types of multilingualism | Territorial bilingualism | Territorial multilingualism | Functional multilingualism | |
2. Implementation of L2 literacy training | By each province and territory | By each language community (the Flemish and the French communities) | On the governmental and private levels | |
3. Framework of L2 literacy training | Integrated into Adult Basic Education (ABE) | Independent of general ABE | Integrated into ABE | Integrated into Additional Adult Education |
4. Coordinating institution for L2 literacy training | LINC (Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada) on federal level | Dutch Language Houses on governmental level | Private organizations and networks | Mainly private organizations, except for one course at the National language center |
5. Public discussion or survey | LSUDA (1989) | Round table conferences (1997, 2002) | Lire et Ecrire reports | Not available |
IALS (1994) | ||||
IALSS (2003) | ||||
6. Guideline for L2 literacy curriculum | Canadian Language Benchmarks | Decisions made at the Round table conferences: e.g., CEFR as a common reference for language assessment (1993), Cognitive skills test (2002) | Not available | Not available |
7. Placement test | Available | Available | Available | Not available |
8. Skills taught at adult literacy courses | • Literacy skills | • Literacy skills | Depend on course organizing bodies | Not known |
• Numeracy skills | • Numeracy skills | |||
• Pre-reading skills | ||||
• Study skills | ||||