English for employability: Why teaching general English is not enough

Ehsan Gorji
Ehsan Gorji
A teacher stood at the front of the class talking to her class
Reading time: 4 minutes

Many English language learners are studying English with the aim of getting down to the nitty-gritty of the language they need for their profession. Whether the learner is an engineer, a lawyer, a nanny, a nurse, a police officer, a cook, or a salesperson, simply teaching general English or even English for specific purposes is not enough. We need to improve our learners’ skills for employability.

The four maxims of conversation

In his article Logic and Conversation, Paul Grice, a philosopher of language, proposes that every conversation is based on four maxims: quantity, quality, relation and manner. He believes that if these maxims combine successfully, then the best conversation will take place and the right message will be delivered to the right person at the right time.

The four maxims take on a deeper significance when it comes to the workplace, where things are often more formal and more urgent. Many human resources (HR) managers have spent hours fine-tuning workplace conversations simply because a job candidate or employee has not been adequately educated to the level of English language that a job role demands. This, coupled with the fact that many companies across the globe are adopting English as their official corporate language, has resulted in a new requirement in the world of business: mastery of the English language.

It would not be satisfactory for an employee to be turned down for a job vacancy, to be disqualified after a while; or fail to fulfil his or her assigned tasks, because their English language profile either does not correlate with what the job fully expects or does not possess even the essential must-have can-dos of the job role.

How the GSE Job Profiles can help

The Job Profiles within the can help target those ‘must-have can-dos’ related to various job roles. The ‘Choose Learner’ drop-down menu offers the opportunity to view GSE Learning Objectives for four learner types: in this case, select ‘Professional Learners’. You can then click on the ‘Choose Job Role’ button to narrow down the objectives specific for a particular job role – for example, ‘Office and Administrative Support’ and then ‘Hotel, Motel and Resort Desk Clerks’.

Then, I can choose the GSE/CEFR range I want to apply to my results. In this example, I would like to know what English language skills a hotel desk clerk is expected to master for B1-B1+/GSE: 43-58.

Contact us to learn about how we can help support your language teaching

Screenshot of gse toolkit

When I click ‘Show Results’, I am presented with a list of 13 learning objectives in the four skills of reading, listening, speaking and writing. For example:

  • Speaking:ÌýCan suggest a resolution to a conflict in a simple negotiation using fixed expressions.Ìý(B1+/GSE 53)
  • Reading:ÌýCan understand clearly written, straightforward instructions on how to use a piece of equipment. (B1/GSE 46)

Concentrating on specific skills

The Professional section of the GSE Teacher Toolkit also has the option to select learning objectives according to a specific business skill. Consider this scenario: Ms. Lahm is an HR manager at the imaginary LydoApps company, which designs and sells computer programs and apps in Germany. She already knows her team has the following English language profile:

Team 1

English language profile: GSE 10-42 / <A1-A2+

Number of employees: 15

Nationality: German

Department: Print programs

Team 2

English language profile: GSE 10-42 / <A1-A2+

Number of employees: 12

Nationality: German

Department: Packages

Team 3

English language profile: GSE 10-50 / B1

Number of employees: 9

Nationality: German

Department: Customer care

Team 4

English language profile: GSE 10-50 / B1

Number of employees: 5

Nationality: German

Department: Design engineering Ìý

Team 5

English language profile: GSE 10-58 / B1+

Number of employees: 3

Nationality: German

Department: OverseasÌýÌý

Ms. Lahm wishes to critically check what skills her Customer Care employees need to answer telephone calls in English. She selects ‘Business Skills’ and then ‘Telephoning’, with a GSE/CEFR range of 10-50.

Ms Lahm now has 28 GSE Learning Objectives related to English telephoning, for example:

  • Can introduce themselves on the phone and close a simple call. (A2/GSE 33)
  • Can ask for repetition or clarification on the phone in a simple way. (A2/GSE 35)
  • Can answer simple work-related questions on the phone using fixed expressions. (A2+/GSE 40)
  • Can use simple appropriate language to check that information has been understood on the phone.Ìý(B1/GSE 45)

Ms. Lahm can now use these GSE Learning Objectives to help organize her current team and recruit new colleagues with the appropriate skills for the job.

Try out the GSE Teacher Toolkit today

The GSE Teacher Toolkit is a fantastic resource when it comes to teaching English. General English is often not enough – and it can be daunting for teachers when they are faced with the whole of the language to teach.

Both teachers and HR managers can use the Job Profiles feature of the GSE Teacher Toolkit to examine more than 200 jobs for their English language profile and, by targeting these specific language functions, can prepare students for their chosen careers and recruit candidates with the level of English required to successfully perform a given job.

Learn more about the GSE

More blogs from ÃÛÌÒapp

  • a woman sat in a library in front of a laptop and open books

    The importance of antonyms: Expanding your vocabulary

    By

    Expanding and improving your English vocabulary can be done in various ways, but exploring antonyms can be a handy and unique approach. Antonyms, which are words that express opposite meanings, can help you enhance your language skills. Knowing a wide range of them can be incredibly helpful in everyday life and help you get your point across clearly.

    In today's language learning blog post, we share practical tips to help you harness the power of antonyms and improve your vocabulary.

    Ìý

  • A child sat at a desk with a pen in hand, looking up at their teacher and smiling

    Dyslexia and ELT: How to help young learners in the classroom

    By Joanna Wiseman

    When you’re teaching English to young learners, you might find that there are a few students in your class who are struggling. But sometimes it can be hard to tell why. Is it because their language level is low? Or are they finding classroom work difficult because of a general cognitive difference, like dyslexia?Ìý

  • Students sat at desks in a classroom working

    Learning from mistakes: Using exam errors to perfect your English

    By

    Taking English exams can be intimidating and challenging. Everyone has their own set of strengths and weaknesses, and it's common to make the same kinds of mistakes in an exam.

    It’s possible to make use of this though, and improve your English from the mistakes you make. Today in our language learning blog, we discuss how we can use exam errors to perfect and improve your English.

    1. Find a pattern

    Firstly, you want to establish what your weak and strong points are. Write these down somewhere each time and build up a record. It's essential to take note of the mistakes you make and try to see if there's a pattern.
    Perhaps mistakes happen on:

    • A specific type or style of question
    • Questions relating to the same topic area
    • A particular way the exam is delivered (like spoken or written)

    These are only a few examples, but recognizing patterns or similarities can help you focus on areas that need improvement or extra attention.

    2. Rationalize and understand your mistakes

    Making mistakes in an exam can really impact a person's confidence, but if you can, look back and rationalize why that mistake was made. It can help your confidence in the future. Sometimes mistakes are made just because of a misinterpretation, perhaps a question wasn’t read correctly, and you realize you knew the answer after all.

    Remember, the situation of being in an exam can be stressful and you may not think or respond in the way you normally would outside of the exam room, so don't be too hard on yourself.
    Mistakes happen in the real world every day, and being able to look back at them and examine them critically is a valuable skill.

    3. Compare and team up with peers

    As we’ve already mentioned, everyone has their strengths and weaknesses. It can be a great idea to compare your mistakes with others; they may be making the same ones.

    You can team up and try to tackle them together, or you may know someone whose strength is in your weak areas (and vice versa). It's helpful to team up and help each other. They might have some handy tips and techniques for you to try.

    4. Experiment with study techniques

    It's good to switch up techniques at times and your errors might be giving you some guidance on doing so. If you tend to make errors with your spoken English, consider study techniques that work on that – like using recall or incorporating music to strengthen your speech.

    Perhaps memory is an issue, so using tools like flashcards can help you. Some techniques focus on and help improve some areas more than others, so there isn’t one solution for all. Make sure to experiment and see what works for you.

    5. Repetition

    Perhaps an obvious one, but just repeating and practicing the questions/tasks you’ve gotten wrong in the exam is a good approach. By doing it over and over again, with some persistence, it ends up being retained in your long-term memory.

    You may want to study variations of the questions you struggle with, as exams tend to alter their questions and you don’t want to be thrown off in an exam if they reword/change the question slightly.

    The next time you review your exam results, remember these steps, look for patterns, examine your thought process and don’t be afraid to ask others for help. With enough practice, those errors should be things of the past.