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This publication reviews the literature to 1998 on vocational education and training (VET) for people from non-English-speaking backgrounds (NESB). VET for people of NESB is becoming increasingly important in Australia as the variety and origins of people from such backgrounds change and as NESB people within and outside the workplace are affected by ongoing workplace restructuring and change. This review: teases out the complexity within a simple NESB definition and the effects of constantly changing migration patterns on learner diversity and potential VET clients in Australia; identifies trends in participation in VET as well as a wide range of influences, beyond language spoken at home, on NESB participants; locates NESB participation in a national education and training policy context; and summarises conclusive, inconclusive and contested evidence from the literature, drawing out some areas for further research.