LIT2T Leadership Guide

53 TO: TABLE OF CONTENTS Evaluation Division, Citizenship and Immigration Canada. (2010). Evaluation of the language instruction for newcomers to Canada (linc) program (Ref. NER201102_01E). Retrieved from website: http://publications.gc.ca/site/eng/384737/publication.html Spencer, B. & Lange, E. (2014) The purposes of adult education: A short introduction. Toronto, ON: Thompson Educational Publishing. Walker, & White, G. (2013). Technology Enhanced Language Learning: Connecting Theory and Practice. Oxford: Oxford University Press. In the past, most language learning was limited to timed and scheduled language labs in isolation from the classroom curriculum. This disconnect between the classroom teaching and the call lab can be bridged by the edulinc courseware for newcomer learners and their instructors. This innovation has been amplified by the pervasive access to mobile devices and wireless internet services. One of the anticipated results of this project is the emergence of instructors who are able to customize courses for blended learning or to author interactive learning objects. In a sense, the approach that this project offers is to prepare participants to facilitate a blended approach to settlement language training using the linc courseware and to become an e-materials developers. 10.4 Leadership – Change Agency & Innovation Lessons from Innovation and Leadership Theories: Part 1 Innovation, Leadership and Change Agents Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada (LINC) LINC (Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada) exists to serve the settlement and language adaptation needs of adult immigrants. It is a complex system of many organizations, thousands of practitioners serving tens of thousands of students. More than 250 delivery agencies—colleges, school boards and community organizations from coast to coast (to coast)— are contracted by the funder to deliver assessment, referral and training services to about 80,000 clients a year (EVALUATION DIVISION, C. A. I. 2010). Such an agglomeration of organizations might seem to naturally diffuse power and control on one hand, but Service Provider Organizations (SPOs) are governed by the provisions of their contracts with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), and are regulated by local frontline case officers. National policies guide local delivery; particularly in the past ten years as partnership agreements with the Ontario, Manitoba, Alberta and British Columbia governments have lapsed, local initiative and autonomy has been constrained by a more directive and involved national policy-making and control apparatus. LINC is a program grounded in a national English-language skills taxonomy (Pawlikawska- Smith, 2000), national curriculum guidelines (Hajer, Kaskens, A-M, Stasiak, 2000; updated 2012), assessments and professional standards for language educators. Stakeholders are first and foremost the learners, but also IRCC, SPOs, and English as a Second Language specialists. The sector reflects a complex interplay between and among groups, systems and environmental