How does increasing English proficiency drive international growth? Read on to find out how future-focused business leaders are gaining a competitive edge globally by investing in English language training.
The link between English language proficiency and global business growth is indisputable, and this presents leaders with an exciting opportunity to gain a competitive advantage.
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We know that English is the universal language of business, and globally, of us speaks it to at least a useful level – that’s 1.75 billion of us. And not just in person either – it’s also the language of emerging technologies and the internet, with almost .
Groundbreaking research has underpinned the importance of English at work. app’s global research report, How English empowers your tomorrow, reveals stark figures confirming the vital role of English in business.
Advances in technology, including a huge leap forward in AI, along with better connectivity, improved education, more outsourcing, political shifts and expanded customer bases have all played their part in transforming the international business landscape.
These trends are generating more international opportunities than ever before, but only the businesses that can effectively operate across borders will benefit.Business leaders are responding by promoting English as the common language among diverse, global teams.
Better English has multiple benefits for your business, which cannot be overstated. Let’s look at some of the leading benefits of investing in English language training for your team.
When employees are empowered to improve their workplace English skills, an uptick in confidence can be seen not only in their communication but also across a full spectrum of other skills.English proficiency powers a multitude of soft skills including emotional intelligence (EQ), innovation, diversity of thinking, creativity, collaboration and adaptability at work. This is especially important in promoting collaboration across hybrid/remote teams that are often operating across borders and different time zones.
Higher-order cognitive skills such as complex problem-solving, originality, fluency of ideas and active learning are the currency of the future, and high-performing teams tend to demonstrate these skills in abundance.
Investing in your team’s English proficiency has the power to strengthen teams, bolster teamwork and drive productivity. Takenobu Miki, TORAIZ Inc. President, Japan, says:
“Being able to speak English is directly linked to success in international business settings and is essential for communicating with people from diverse cultures and backgrounds. Proficiency in English can also expand our career possibilities and open up new professional opportunities.”
Using one common language among teams and ensuring employees feel comfortable and confident in their English proficiency brings everyone together. A sense of unity and shared understanding will infiltrate every aspect of their work and will also feed into better cross-cultural understanding and greater awareness of cultural nuances.
This will have a positive effect on diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) initiatives across your business and contribute towards a healthy culture of learning. All this can only lead to more cooperation and collaboration, a greater sense of belonging and a common drive to achieve shared goals.
Whether your customer base is established all around the world or you’re breaking into new markets, English proficiency is key to success.
With better English skills, all the outward-facing functions of your business will benefit. This includes your sales team, who will feel empowered in every interaction with a new business prospect. Your customer support team will be able to deliver next-level aftercare service to your customer base. Your marketing team will have improved language skills which they can use to broaden your reach and build brand awareness across multiple countries and cultures.
No matter the team they belong to, better English skills will help your employees build strong and reciprocal strategic relationships, including with suppliers and other important external stakeholders.
Recruitment and talent acquisition leaders are improving their own English language proficiency to access wider, more diverse talent pools and identify candidates with strong English skills. Offering language training as an employee benefit signals to candidates their future employer’s commitment to ongoing professional development. This not only increases the number of suitable candidates per role, but also improves retention rates once the position has been filled.
According to the:
“To ensure that you are hiring the best people, you may need to accept some limitations on language capabilities and be prepared to provide training to meet both global and local language needs.”
app’s Power Skills reportstates that 58% of hiring managers currently test potential candidates' English language skills at the interview stage to ensure that they can seamlessly integrate into the corporate culture.Increasing numbers of recruiters are incorporating language assessment in their hiring practices and advertising language training as a key benefit of a role.
You won’t just attract the top talent, but you’ll retain it, too. It’s well known that job satisfaction is a key driver of good staff retention and engagement. app's research has identified a clear correlation between job satisfaction and level of English proficiency, with a 24-point difference between those with the lowest and highest levels of English. Indeed, candidates themselves understand the importance of language proficiency in the context of a global marketplace. They’re taking a proactive approach by using language assessment tools to provide evidence of their English proficiency as part of their job search.
Eva Lopez, Learning and Development Associate, Publicis Global Delivery, says:
“Our workforce consists mostly of Generation Z and Millennials, and we want to retain this talent. We designed our Learning and Development program with English language training at its core, to meet both the business need to improve our employees’ use of English at work, and to improve staff retention by offering language training as a benefit.”
In addition to soft skills, English is a vital core skill that enables learning hard technical skills, especially across the IT, technology, innovation and engineering sectors.Frequently the training required for technical skills is either in English, or the programs themselves incorporate English.
The conversation around the future of a global workplace can focus on automation making workers obsolete, butresearch reveals a different picture – only one in five workers are in occupations that will shrink.The future is about leveraging both human and machine capabilities so they can work together. That means human skills – the ones that machines can’t replicate – are in increasing demand.
Our global research report,How English empowers your tomorrow, urges leaders to take action:
“Employees are craving language training at work and employers ignore this request at their peril. They risk losing their talent to the 30% of organizations that have taken this employee feedback on board.”
Along with attracting new talent, English proficiency gives leaders the chance to offer their current workforce more opportunities for growth and career development.Internal talent can be nurtured and promoted to international roles, meaning there’s less risk of them moving on.
As well as opportunities for individuals, a collective proficiency in English positions your business favorably when it comes to seizing emerging market opportunities as they arise, wherever in the world they are.
CEO of EduGuide, Isaac Johnson, says:
“English is an essential skill for the future. English language training around the world has never been in such high demand. High-quality English training that uses technology to personalize learning should be the standard for every HR department and educational institution.”
A team adept in English is strategically positioned to capitalize on new prospects, regardless of their location. English is the core strength that gives your organization a competitive edge over your rivals.
So, with English proficiency delivering all these benefits and more, how do you implement language training in your own organization?
Show employees you’re committed to building a culture of learning by implementing a plan and letting the team know that you’re invested in their English language proficiency.
We’ve developed a handystep-by-step guideon how to implement English language training in your organization which will help you get started.Increasing numbers of recruiters are moving to a formalized, computer-based test such asVersant by appfor a more inclusive, business-relevant assessment of English ability levels.Then, Learning and Development managers are implementing programs to upskill all employees in business English, using relevant platforms such asMondly by app.
Find out more about how we can support your organization’s international growth with app Language Solutions for Work.
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تعد اللغة المشتركة أمرا أساسيا للعديد من العائلات ، ويمكن أن يحمل هذا معنى إضافيا عندما يكبر أطفالك في بلد يتحدث لغة مختلفة. لا يتعلق الأمر فقط بالكلمات. يتعلق الأمر بالثقافة والهوية والاتصال. إذا كنت ترغب في تعليم أطفالك اللغة التي تحتل مكانة خاصة في قلبك ، فإليك بعض النصائح لتبدأ.
يحدث الذكاء الاصطناعي ثورة في كل صناعة ، وتعلم اللغة ليس استثناء. يمكن أن توفر أدوات الذكاء الاصطناعي للطلاب وصولا غير مسبوق إلى أشياء مثل التعليقات في الوقت الفعلي والترجمة الفورية والنصوص التي تم إنشاؤها بواسطة الذكاء الاصطناعي ، على سبيل المثال لا الحصر.
يمكن أن يكون الذكاء الاصطناعي مفيدا للغاية لتعليم اللغة من خلال تعزيز عملية تعلم طلابنا ، بدلا من مجرد استخدامه من قبل الطلاب "لإظهار" منتج التعلم. ومع ذلك ، فإن قول هذا أسهل من فعله ، وبالنظر إلى أن الذكاء الاصطناعي هو أداة مبتكرة في الفصل الدراسي ، فمن الأهمية بمكان أن يساعد المعلمون الطلاب على الحفاظ على الأصالة في عملهم ومنع "الغش" بمساعدة الذكاء الاصطناعي. مع وضع ذلك في الاعتبار ، يعد تحقيق التوازن بين تكامل الذكاء الاصطناعي والنزاهة الأكاديمية أمرا بالغ الأهمية.
جعلت أدوات الذكاء الاصطناعي التوليدي مثل ChatGPT و Gemini من السهل أكثر من أي وقت مضى على الطلاب تحسين كتاباتهم وتطويرها. ومع ذلك ، فإن هذه الأدوات تثير أيضا مخاوف بشأن ما إذا كانت النصوص المقدمة من إنتاج الطلاب ، وإذا كان الأمر كذلك ، فإلى أي مدى. إذا اعتمد الطلاب على أدوات إنشاء النصوص بدلا من مهاراتهم الخاصة ، فقد لا يعكس فهمنا لقدرات طلابنا كفاءتهم الحقيقية.
هناك مشكلة أخرى وهي أنه إذا استمر الطلاب في استخدام الذكاء الاصطناعي لمهارة يمكنهم القيام بها بمفردهم ، فمن المحتمل أن يفقدوا هذه المهارة في النهاية أو يصبحون أسوأ بشكل ملحوظ فيها.
هذه النقاط تخلق معضلة أخلاقية كبيرة:
هناك العديد من الطرق التي يمكن للمعلمين من خلالها دمج الذكاء الاصطناعي بشكل مسؤول ، مع تشجيع المتعلمين لدينا على القيام بذلك أيضا.
لا يمكن لأي مهمة أن تكون "مقاومة تماما لمواجهة الذكاء الاصطناعي" ، ولكن هناك طرقا يمكن للمدرسين من خلالها تكييف مهام الكتب الدراسية أو الاستلهام من الأنشطة لجعلها أقل عرضة للإكمال باستخدام الذكاء الاصطناعي.
على سبيل المثال:
اعتمادا على السياسات في مؤسستك ، إذا كان بإمكانك استخدام الذكاء الاصطناعي في الفصل الدراسي مع طلابك ، فسيرون أنك تعرف أدوات الذكاء الاصطناعي المختلفة ومخرجاتها. تتمثل الفكرة المفيدة في إنشاء نص كفصل دراسي ، وجعل الطلاب يحللون بشكل نقدي النص الذي تم إنشاؤه بواسطة الذكاء الاصطناعي. ما الذي يعتقدون أنه تم بشكل جيد؟ ما الذي يمكن تحسينه؟ ماذا كانوا سيفعلون بشكل مختلف؟
يمكنك أيضا مناقشة الآثار الأخلاقية لمنظمة الذكاء الاصطناعي في التعليم (والصناعات الأخرى) مع طلابك ، لفهم وجهة نظرهم فيه ومعرفة المواقف التي قد يرون فيها الذكاء الاصطناعي كمساعدة أو عائق بشكل أفضل.
في بعض الأحيان ، قد يلجأ الطلاب إلى الذكاء الاصطناعي إذا كانوا لا يعرفون من أين يبدأون بمهمة أو يفتقرون إلى الثقة في قدراتهم اللغوية. مع وضع ذلك في الاعتبار ، من المهم مساعدة طلابك على فهم مكان قدراتهم اللغوية وما الذي يعملون من أجله ، مع دليل ملموس على التعلم. هذا هو المكان الذي يمكن أن تساعد فيه أهداف التعلم GSE .
يوفر Global Scale of English (GSE) أهدافا مفصلة ومحددة بالمهارات في كل مستوى من مستويات الكفاءة ، من 10 إلى 90. يمكن استخدامها لتقسيم المهارات المعقدة إلى خطوات قابلة للتحقيق ، مما يسمح للطلاب برؤية ما يحتاجون إلى القيام به بالضبط لتحسين قدراتهم اللغوية على مستوى دقيق.
قامت كيرستي موراي بالتدريس الإنجليزية لمدة عام في كلية (المكافئ الفرنسي لمدرسة ثانوية) في فيلير-كوتيريتس: بلدة في شمال فرنسا تشتهر بكونها مسقط رأس ألكسندر دوما. قامت بتدريس مجموعات ذات قدرات مختلطة من الأطفال الذين تتراوح أعمارهم بين 11 و 16 عاما ، مع فصول تتراوح أحجامها من 10 إلى 35 طالبا. هنا ، تشارك الدروس الخمسة التي تعلمتها من التجربة.
