This is the next iteration of my ideas on how to write embedded literacy and numeracy learning outcomes. I’ve tried to simply the process as it tends to come across as more complicated than it needs to.

What I’ve written here updates my Youtube clip on this. I’ll re-record it at some stage soon.

What I’ve outlined below is more prescriptive than how I’ve taught this in the NCALNE (Voc), but I think the format is going to suit our audience better… as it takes away some of the choices (which isn’t a bad thing).

This probably won’t make too much sense unless you’re involved in embedded literacy and numeracy delivery or you’ve done the NCALNE (Voc) with us.

And remember these are your intended learning outcomes for your literacy and numeracy training interventions. These are designed to help you crystalise your thinking around the literacy focus you are bringing to your vocational training content and context.

Writing an embedded literacy learning outcome

1. Frame the learning with one action verb from this list:
   • Remember
   • Identify
   • Complete
   • Select
   • Understand
   • Explain
   • Summarise
   • Outline
   • Discuss
   • Apply
   • Carry out
   • Demonstrate
2. Identify the specific literacy skills you intend to target with your training intervention.This should be clear from your diagnostic and mapping the literacy demands For example, and one of these
   • Decoding strategies
   • Specialised (or technical) vocabulary or terminology
   • Academic words
   • A variety of sentence structures and paragraph structures
   • An understanding of specialised text types
   • Awareness of rhetorical patterns in the text
   • Reading comprehension strategies
   • Language features used for a specific purposes
   • Writer’s purpose
   • Critical reading strategies
3. Identify the specific aspect of your subject context, training content or subject matter that this relates to. The more specific  or narrower you can be here the better. For example:
   • Dermatology for hairdressing
   • Basic tool identification for building and construction
   • Plant propagation
   • Workplace health and safety instructions
   • Following instructions on how to mix agricultural sprays
   • Employment agreements
   • French vegetable cuts
   • Basic food safety
   • listening to a short introduction to electricity supply networks
   • Vehicle logbook entries
   • Accident reports
   • Preparing for an assessment or an exam
   • Understanding instructions to complete a task or undertake a process

Putting it all together

Now we need to put the three parts together to create well structured learning outcomes.

You don’t need the numbers, but I’ve left them in so you can see how they relate to the lists of examples above. I’ve also tinkered with the focus of the literacy skills or targeted vocational area to make it fit my purposes better.

These are just examples. See if you can make up your own variations that connect with your own vocational training purposes.

1. Identify
2. specialised vocabulary
3. in the context of basic tool identification for building and construction

1. Understand
2. a variety of sentence and paragraph structures
3. in the context of reading an employment agreement

1. Explain
2. rhetorical patterns including cause and effect
3. in the context of workplace health and safety instructions

1. Apply
2. a variety of reading comprehension strategies
3. in the context of understanding a text on dermatology for hairdressers

1. Demonstrate
2. decoding strategies including for more specialised words
3. in the context of French cooking terminology

1. Summarise
2. the writer’s purpose
3. in the context of reading an advertisement for a political candidate

1. Outline
2. language features used for a specific purpose
3. in the context of a newspaper editorial covering election candidates

1. Discuss
2. academic language used 
3. in the context of preparing for an assessment

1. Select
2. a variety of sentence structures and paragraph structures
3. in the context of writing an accident report

1. Remember
2. technical terminology
3. in the context of following instructions on how to mix agricultural sprays

1. Discuss
2. comprehension strategies used
3. in the context of listening to a short introduction to electricity supply networks

1. Explain
2. Industry specific jargon and slang
3. in the context of cooking and catering