Learning English and employability

Tas Viglatzis
Business people stood together around a laptop in a office
Reading time: 4 minutes

English not only opens up career opportunities beyond national borders; it is a key requirement for many jobs. It’s also no longer a case of just learning English for employability, but mastering English for business – and that means an on-going commitment to learn.

My experience is consistent with this trend. If I had to estimate the value that being fluent in English has had on my career, I'd say it was my entire life’s earnings. Learning English has offered me educational options beyond the borders of my own country and enabled me to develop the skills to work for global companies that operate across national boundaries. I have been privileged to work in different countries in roles that have spanned functions, geographies and markets – and my ability to learn and evolve my English skills has been an underlying factor throughout.

Mastering English for employability
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How I improved my English

I grew up in Greece, where – as is common in many European countries with languages that aren’t widely spoken – learning a second European language is part of the education system. As a result, my first encounter with English was through the Franklin approach, which focuses on grammar and writing rather than all the four core skills. This meant I could read and write very well, yet when I first arrived in the UK I couldn’t hold a simple conversation in the pub.

It’s a common problem with traditional educational approaches that don’t cover all the learning skills – something still evident in many countries globally. In Japan, for example, after years of focusing on reading and writing there’s now a strong desire to teach students to understand spoken English and speak fluently.

I was fortunate to complete my postgraduate studies in the UK. This was challenging because I had to raise my English to a much higher standard. I also had to improve my conversational English to enjoy a social life, which was a pretty powerful motivator. I surrounded myself with people who only spoke English, because hearing and using the language regularly are powerful tools in more easily understanding others, and making yourself understood.

Precision learning in the workplace

This approach, together with formal learning, eventually paid off for me. However, once I entered the workplace, I found that there were many new aspects of English to learn.

One of the main barriers to learning at different levels and applications of English – for university, for friendships, for work – is knowing precisely where you are at any stage of your learning journey, and knowing where you need to go next (and how best to get there). As I found, this is compounded when you enter the workplace where you also have new skills to learn in a second language, from IT to soft skills such as negotiation.

If I had been given a precise learning path to help me in my first job, or to get my second job and so on, then my end goals could have been reached more quickly and easily. Yes, I was highly motivated to learn, but what worked for me does not necessarily work for others – especially since professionals who learn English for work often have very little time.ÌýAnd with greater technology advances, we all now expect much faster results.

Crucially, whatever the learning methods and tools are, this points to two most challenging factors in English teaching and learning: making real progress and staying motivated.

In the past, progress in language learning has been measured in broad levels. Common scales, and the curriculum tied to them, are not always best designed to reflect the four skills or different applications, such as academic versus business.

These measures were increasingly being exposed as incomplete and no longer being fit for purpose. It is that need that led to the extensive global research and development into the Global Scale of English (GSE) – a precise, standardised measure of proficiency from 10 to 90 across the four skills.

The GSE extends the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR); its steps are much more granular and it provides a powerful, focused motivator for further learning throughout your career. It includes sets of learning objectives as "can do" statements at each level; because these are tailored to the learning environment – for example, for work – learning goals and measures of progress are more relevant and accurate. That, in turn, leads to greater engagement and increased motivation.

The future of language learning in the workplace

The key trends of personalisation and adaptive learning are driving the future of English language learning. Online methods and the use of big data analytics and tools continues to expand and increase in sophistication, enabling English language learning to become more specific to individual needs, learning styles and capabilities while offering improved measurement of impact and results. This is vital because language learners learn at different rates and in different ways.

Technology is also helping us support another trend: increasing demand by learners for specific interventions and focus on micro-skills and competencies. As our ability to understand individual needs improves we will become better equipped to provide solutions that concentrate on what’s important for English learners and their careers, such as interviewing in English, running an effective meeting or being able to better express thoughts in writing.

There is a big opportunity for English language learning to embrace those trends, which is why we’re so excited with what we’re doing with the GSE: it gives us the necessary framework to offer flexibility of learning and increased levels of personalisation to English language learners, while ensuring that our products and solutions complement each other. Crucially, it also allows us to measure and show our learners their actual progress.

Finally, it’s important to remember that we never stop learning. Even after living in the UK for 20 years, I still find new words and expressions that open up new possibilities – both in and out of the workplace.

Read our blog posts "Internships: how they improve language skills"Ìýand "How adult learners navigate English language learning".

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    Utilizing the GSE in language teaching

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    Audio script example:

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    Emma: Awesome! Thanks. Any plans for the weekend?

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    Emma: Nice!

    Vic: What about you? What are you doing this weekend?

    Emma: I’m going to a concert on Sunday at 3 pm.

    Vic: That sounds fun!

    Listen and write T (true) or F (false)

    1. Vic is working on a new project.

    2.Ìý Vic is working on Saturday morning.

    3. Emma is going to a concert on Sunday evening.

    GSE Descriptors

    Upon dissecting this example by the GSE descriptors, we can identify the learning objectives that align with an A2 level:

    • Can identify simple information in a short video, provided that the visual supports this information and the delivery is slow and clear. (GSE 30)

    • Can identify basic factual information in short, simple dialogues or narratives on familiar everyday topics, if spoken slowly and clearly. (GSE 32)

    • Can understand the main information in short, simple dialogues about familiar activities, if spoken slowly and clearly.Ìý(GSE 33)

    • Can identify key information (e.g., places, times) from short audio recordings if spoken slowly and clearly. (GSE 33)

    We know that learners should be given a global task first for overall listening, which is also one of the communicative objectives in the Global Scale of English:

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    Dr. Ken Beatty defines goals and explains why we should think of them as doors to open rather than fixed targets.

    Goals as doors

    My eldest son, Nathan, failed to achieve the biggest goal of his life: becoming a garbage truck driver. It's hardly surprising - he was only four years old at the time. His ambition likely dissolved once he realized that garbage trucks sometimes smell bad. Before then, he'd mostly observed them from the safety of our apartment window.

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    Understanding where goals come from

    Before we start to set goals for our students, it's important that we have a degree of self-awareness and understand where our own attitudes and ideas come from.

    As teachers, we tend to resemble the people who inspired us most. Our own teachers, good and bad, shape our attitudes toward teaching and language-learning goals.

    Who was your favorite teacher? In my case, my all-time favorite teacher was Mr. Chiga, who, in 1970, taught me Grade 7 and was about to retire. He was a Renaissance man. Short and tough with fingers like cigars, he would occasionally lead us from the playground up two flights of stairs to our classroom… walking on his hands. Yet these same hands were delicate enough for his hobby of making violins, a fact I only learned later, because, unlike me, Mr. Chiga was modest.

    Mr. Chiga loved literature and taught us Greek and Roman history with a sense of joy that has never left me. One would think that his educational goals would be a perfect foundation for my own. Perhaps. But a quick check on the timeline shows that if he was about to retire in 1970, he was probably born in 1905 and likely graduated from teachers' college around 1925.

    It's ironic that although my Ph.D. is in the area of computer-assisted language learning, my favorite teacher began his career two years before the invention of the television, and, moreover, all his teachers would have been born in the 1800s.

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    Setting goals

    Are the goals we set for our students sometimes too low? Undoubtedly.

    As a Grade 11 student, my only ambition in life was to take a two-year photo technician course. My counselor discouraged me, saying I wasn't academic enough and suggested a job at the wood mill instead. In a sense, he closed a door.

    I switched schools where another favorite teacher, Mr. Ferguson, patiently kept me after school for six weeks, teaching me how to write essays and, by extension, how to think. He dangled the motivation of a university education before me and set me on my path there. And that was a door opened.

    So what's the lesson here? More than just knowing where goals come from, we also need to be aware of the power of goal setting and how it can drastically alter a particular student's life trajectory.

    Closing doors, rather than opening them, often stunts growth and limits possibilities. It can even lead to students forming life-long assumptions about themselves that just aren't true - "I'm no good at math," "I'm not cut out for independent travel", etc. Opening doors, however, can bring our students entirely new perspectives on life.

    Expecting goals to change

    When it comes to changing goals, there are a number of factors to take into account, including forming a better sense of self. We might start off with many ambitions but we measure ourselves against the realities of our skill sets and modify our goals.

    For example, a student who experiences a lot of success in learning English is more likely to consider careers that require it. Teachers, too, are more likely to offer direction: "You write very well. Have you considered a career in journalism?"

    Today, countless jobs require a second language or provide better promotion opportunities for students who speak two or more languages. Yet, students oriented toward employment opportunities may have difficulty understanding the long-term advantages of learning a second language if specific jobs are not on their radar.

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    • What goals should we help students set for themselves?
    • And how should teachers suggest them?

    Many goals are based on the educational standards that govern our profession. The Global Scale of English (GSE), in particular, is helpful to both textbook writers and teachers in identifying language goals and provides teachers with detailed steps to achieve them.

    But beyond such standards are those two magic ingredients that teachers share with language learners: joy and motivation.

    Teachers spread joy in learning by example, making language learning engaging and pleasurable. Teachers also motivate students by helping them identify personal goals, giving them reasons why language proficiency is not just worthwhile in general but is perhaps one key to future success.

    It might even lead to a job driving a garbage truck.