Effective international communication is crucial in the world of global commerce. In today's borderless marketplace, companies need to be linguistically flexible to be successful. For HR managers and business practitioners, comprehensive language evaluations are not just an add-on but a vital duty that can enhance your organization's success in the international market.
This guide will take you through the crucial role of language assessment in business. It will discuss why language assessment is important, how to effectively implement it, its benefits for students and business professionals, and the current tools and technologies available. By the end, you will have the knowledge to identify the significance of language assessment in your business and make informed decisions that reflect the essential role of linguistic ability in the modern global economy.
Why language assessment matters
Enhancing communication effectiveness
Effective communication is the lifeblood of any successful business. When diverse teams come together, be it in an office, on a shop floor, or at a virtual meeting, the ability to exchange information clearly and concisely can mean the difference between streamlined operations and costly misunderstandings. Language assessment ensures that employees possess the necessary language skills needed to communicate across teams and with clients worldwide.
Global market competitiveness
Accessing international markets hinges largely on the language capabilities of your workforce. Assessing language skills not only amplifies your organization's ability to engage with prospective clients and partners but also ensures that the customer experience is seamlessly delivered, regardless of the customer's primary language.
Talent acquisition and retention
Proper language assessments play a pivotal role in the recruitment process. They aid in identifying candidates with the language proficiencies required for specific roles, such as those involving international correspondence or multilingual customer support. By enabling a streamlined and objective measurement of language ability, your business can attract and retain talent, securing a competitive edge in a multilingual talent pool.
Types of language assessments
Proficiency tests
Proficiency tests are the benchmarks for evaluating a person’s overall language capability. This category includes tests that cover all language skills, such as reading, writing, listening and speaking, like the Versant tests offered by ÃÛÌÒapp. These tests provide a comprehensive analysis that helps gauge an individual's ability to function effectively in a language, both in academic settings, the workplace and everyday contexts.
Interviews
Conversational skills and the application and comprehension of language in real-world scenarios play a significant role in many job roles. Structured interviews that focus on language are a vital component of the language assessment suite. These interviews typically evaluate oral and sometimes written language skills, providing context-specific insight into how these skills might translate in a professional setting.
Role-playing scenarios
Simulations that mimic workplace interactions provide an immersive method of assessing language skills beyond language proficiency tests. Candidates engage in practical scenarios that mirror the challenges and dynamics of a business environment, which is particularly valuable for assessing their ability to manage real-time communication under pressure.
Implementing language assessment
Best practices for HR managers
When starting your language assessment program, begin with a thorough needs analysis. This involves identifying which roles require language proficiency, to what level and in which languages. Then, select or develop an assessment that aligns with these requirements. It's also important to provide clear instructions and support for candidates, ensuring that the assessment process is transparent and equitable.
Training and development strategies
Personalized learning plans can be a game-changer for employees who require language improvements. Identify the areas for development, set achievable goals, and incorporate regular assessments to measure progress. This approach ensures that training is targeted and effective, helping employees advance their language skills in a way that's both strategic and supportive.
Benefits for business professionals
Career advancement opportunities
Proficient multilingualism can open doors to international career opportunities and is a key differentiator in many sectors. A dedication to mastering a foreign language can lead to personal and professional growth, including access to leadership positions and broader responsibilities.
Cross-cultural competence
Language proficiency is closely tied to cross-cultural understanding and competence. Business professionals who possess these abilities can traverse cultural boundaries with sensitivity and insight, essential for global leadership and successful collaborations in multicultural teams.
Enhanced collaboration
Clear and expressive communication fosters an environment of trust and collaboration. By investing in the linguistic abilities and listening skills of your teams, you're not only improving the performance of individual employees but also elevating the collective capacity for innovation and problem-solving within your organization.
Modern language assessment software is designed to be sophisticated yet user-friendly. It provides a platform to automate the testing process, delivering reliable and consistent evaluations while providing a positive candidate experience. Look for software that offers flexibility in test administration and the ability to measure multiple languages.
Online platforms
With the rise of remote work, online platforms for language assessments offer unparalleled convenience for job applicants. These platforms are scalable, allowing you to administer tests to candidates globally and often come with robust reporting features that provide detailed insights into test results.
Implementing Versant by ÃÛÌÒapp
Versant language tests
Versant tests by ÃÛÌÒapp are renowned for their accuracy, efficiency and comprehensive analysis of the four language skills tested. These tests are automated and provide objective evaluations that are crucial for making important HR decisions.
Compatibility and security
ÃÛÌÒapp's Versant system ensures that your language testing process is both accessible and secure. Language assessments can be conducted remotely or at testing centers, with strict security measures in place to maintain confidentiality and integrity.
Training and support
With ÃÛÌÒapp, you're not just getting a product; you're gaining a partner. Training and support services ensure that HR professionals and corporate clients are equipped to implement and make the most of their language assessment program, fostering an environment of continuous improvement.
Conclusion
Language assessment in business isn't just about evaluating a person's ability and skills; it's about building a foundation for success in the global economy. By understanding the significance of effective language assessment, and by utilizing the best tools and practices, businesses can ensure their place at the forefront of an international and multilingual world. The insights gained through comprehensive language assessments promote a diverse talent pool, foster inclusivity, and drive strategic business growth.
To truly capitalize on the benefits of language assessment, consider the impact that Versant by ÃÛÌÒapp can have on your business. With its state-of-the-art assessments, it empowers organizations to make well-informed decisions that lead to a more competent workforce and a thriving business ecosystem. Investing in language assessments can be the catalyst for achieving your business goals, enabling a future where linguistic diversity is a celebrated asset, not a challenge to overcome.
Identify the specific language requirements of each role by considering the daily tasks and interactions the role entails. Factors to consider include the frequency of communication in the target language, whether the role involves written, oral, or both types of language skills, and the level of nuance and professional vocabulary required. After establishing these criteria, correlate them with standard language proficiency test levels, such as the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) or the Global Scale of English (GSE), to define your requirements more precisely.
Yes, many language assessment providers, including Versant by ÃÛÌÒapp, offer a range of customization options. This can include tailoring the content of the assessments to match industry-specific terminology or the specific linguistic challenges your employees might face. It’s also possible to adjust the difficulty level to align with the roles you're assessing for.
To make sure an educational testing service ensures fairness, it’s crucial to select or design assessments that are culturally unbiased and accessible to individuals with disabilities. Providing clear instructions in multiple languages and offering practice tests can help candidates understand what to expect and reduce test anxiety. Additionally, using automated scoring systems like those in Versant tests can help eliminate human bias from the evaluation process.
For employees who exhibit strong potential but need to improve their language proficiency, consider implementing personalized language training programs. Assess their language abilities to identify specific areas for improvement, set realistic goals and provide access to language learning resources. Use regular follow-up assessments to track progress and adjust the learning plan as needed. Remember, investing in your employees’ language development is an investment in their future and the future success of your business.
It's important to determine the frequency of language assessments based on your business needs and objectives. If you're hiring new employees, language assessments should be conducted as part of the recruitment process. For current employees, consider conducting annual or bi-annual assessments to track their progress, particularly after any training or development programs aimed at improving their language skills. Moreover, if there's a significant change in an employee's role or responsibilities that require different or higher-level language or communication skills, then a reassessment should be conducted.
AI is revolutionising every industry, and language learning is no exception. AI tools can provide students with unprecedented access to things like real-time feedback, instant translation and AI-generated texts, to name but a few.
AI can be highly beneficial to language education by enhancing our students’ process of learning, rather than simply being used by students to ‘demonstrate’ a product of learning. However, this is easier said than done, and given that AI is an innovative tool in the classroom, it is crucial that educators help students to maintain authenticity in their work and prevent AI-assisted ‘cheating’. With this in mind, striking a balance between AI integration and academic integrity is critical.
How AI impacts language learning
Generative AI tools such as ChatGPT and Gemini have made it easier than ever for students to refine and develop their writing. However, these tools also raise concerns about whether submitted texts are student-produced, and if so, to what extent. If students rely on text generation tools instead of their own skills, our understanding of our students’ abilities may not reflect their true proficiency.
Another issue is that if students continue to use AI for a skill they are capable of doing on their own, they’re likely to eventually lose that skill or become significantly worse at it.
These points create a significant ethical dilemma:
How does AI support learning, or does it (have the potential to) replace the learning process?
How can educators differentiate between genuine student ability and AI-assisted responses?
AI-integration strategies
There are many ways in which educators can integrate AI responsibly, while encouraging our learners to do so too.
1.ÌýRedesign tasks to make them more ‘AI-resistant’
No task can be completely ‘AI-resistant’, but there are ways in which teachers can adapt coursebook tasks or take inspiration from activities in order to make them less susceptible to being completed using AI.
For example:
Adapt writing tasks to be hyperlocal or context-specific. Generative AI is less likely to be able to generate texts that are context-bound. Focus on local issues and developments, as well as school or classroom-related topics. A great example is having students write a report on current facilities in their classroom and suggestions for improving the learning environment.
Focus on the processof writingrather than the final product. Have students use mind maps to make plans for their writing, have them highlight notes from this that they use in their text and then reflect on the steps they took once they’ve written their piece.
Use multimodal learning. Begin a writing task with a class survey, debate or discussion, then have students write up their findings into a report, essay, article or other task type.
Design tasks with skill-building at the core. Have students use their critical thinking skills to analyse what AI produces, creatively adapt its output and problem solve by fact-checking AI-generated text.
2.ÌýUse AI so that students understand you know how to use it
Depending on the policies in your institution, if you can use AI in the classroom withyour students, they will see that you know about different AI tools and their output. A useful idea is to generate a text as a class, and have students critically analyse the AI-generated text. What do they think was done well? What could be improved? What would they have done differently?
You can also discuss the ethical implications of AI in education (and other industries) with your students, to understand their view on it and better see in what situations they might see AI as a help or a hindrance.
3.ÌýUse the GSE Learning Objectives to build confidence in language abilities
Sometimes, students might turn to AI if they don’t know where to start with a task or lack confidence in their language abilities. With this in mind, it’s important to help your students understand where their language abilities are and what they’re working towards, with tangible evidence of learning. This is where the GSE Learning Objectives can help.
The Global Scale of English (GSE) provides detailed, skill-specific objectives at every proficiency level, from 10 to 90. These can be used to break down complex skills into achievable steps, allowing students to see exactly what they need to do to improve their language abilities at a granular level.
Start by sharing the GSE Learning Objectives with students at the start of class to ensure they know what the expectations and language goals are for the lesson. At the end of the lesson, you can then have students reflect on their learning and find evidence of their achievement through their in-class work and what they’ve produced or demonstrated.
Set short-term GSE Learning Objectives for the four key skills – speaking, listening, reading and writing. That way, students will know what they’re working towards and have a clear idea of their language progression.
Teachers all over the world know just how challenging it can be to catch their students’ interest and keep them engaged - and it’s true whether you’re teaching online or in a real-world classroom.
Students have different learning motivations; some may be working towards their exam because they want to, and some because they have to, and the repetitiveness of going over exam tasks can often lead to boredom and a lack of interest in the lesson.Ìý
So, what can we do to increase students’ motivation and add variation to our classes to maintain interest?Ìý
Engage students by adding differentiation to task types
We first need to consider the four main skills and consider how to differentiate how we deliver exam tasks and how we have students complete them.Ìý
Speaking - A communicative, freer practice activity to encourage peer feedback.
Put students into pairs and assign them as A and B. Set up the classroom so pairs of chairs are facing each other - if you’re teaching online, put students in individual breakaway rooms.Ìý
Hand out (or digitally distribute) the first part of a speaking exam, which is often about ‘getting to know you’. Have student A’s act as the examiner and B’s as the candidate.Ìý
Set a visible timer according to the exam timings and have students work their way through the questions, simulating a real-life exam. Have ‘the examiners’ think of something their partner does well and something they think they could improve. You can even distribute the marking scheme and allow them to use this as a basis for their peer feedback. Once time is up, ask student B’s to move to the next ‘examiner’ for the next part of the speaking test. Continue this way, then ask students to switch roles.Ìý
Note: If you teach online and your teaching platforms allow it, you can record the conversations and have students review their own performances. However, for privacy reasons, do not save these videos.
Listening – A student-centered, online activity to practice listening for detail or summarising.
Ask pairs of students to set up individual online conference call accounts on a platform like Teams or Zoom.Ìý
Have pairs call each other without the video on and tell each other a story or a description of something that has happened for their partner to listen to. This could be a show they’ve watched, an album they’ve listened to, or a holiday they’ve been on, for example. Ask students to write a summary of what their partner has said, or get them to write specific information (numbers, or correctly spelt words) such as character or song names or stats, for example. Begin the next class by sharing what students heard. Students can also record the conversations without video for further review and reflection afterwards.
Writing –ÌýA story-writing group activity to encourage peer learning.
Give each student a piece of paper and have them draw a face at the top of the page. Ask them to give a name to the face, then write five adjectives about their appearance and five about their personality. You could also have them write five adjectives to describe where the story is set (place).Ìý
Give the story’s opening sentence to the class, e.g. It was a cold, dark night and… then ask students to write their character’s name + was, and then have them finish the sentence. Pass the stories around the class so that each student can add a sentence each time, using the vocabulary at the top of the page to help them.Ìý
Reading –ÌýA timed, keyword-based activity to help students with gist.
Distribute a copy of a text to students. Ask them to scan the text to find specific words that you give them, related to the topic. For example, if the text is about the world of work, ask students to find as many jobs or workplace words as they can in the set amount of time. Have students raise their hands or stand up when they have their answers, award points, and have a whole class discussion on where the words are and how they relate to the comprehension questions or the understanding of the text as a whole.Ìý
All 4 skills –ÌýA dynamic activity to get students moving.
Set up a circuit-style activity with different ‘stations’ around the classroom, for example:Ìý
ListeningÌý
ReadingÌý
Writing (1 paragraph)Ìý
Use of English (or grammar/vocabulary).Ìý
Set a timer for students to attempt one part from this exam paper, then have them move round to the next station. This activity can be used to introduce students to certain exam tasks, or a way to challenge students once they’ve built their confidence in certain areas.Ìý
With language learning, assessing both the quality and the quantity of language use is crucial for accurate proficiency evaluation. While evaluating quantity (for example the number of words written or the duration of spoken production) can provide insights into a learner's fluency and engagement in a task, it doesn’t show a full picture of a learner’s language competence. For this, they would also need to be evaluated on the quality of what they produce (such as the appropriateness, accuracy and complexity of language use). The quality also considers factors such as grammatical accuracy, lexical choice, coherence and the ability to convey meaning effectively.
In order to measure the quality of different language skills, you can use the Global Scale of English (GSE) assessment frameworks.
Developed in collaboration with assessment experts, the GSE Assessment Frameworks are intended to be used alongside the GSE Learning Objectives to help you assess the proficiency of your learners.
There are two GSE Assessment Frameworks: one for adults and one for young learners.
What are the GSE Assessment Frameworks?
The GSE Assessment Frameworks are intended to be used alongside the GSE Learning Objectives to help teachers assess their learners’ proficiency of all four skills (speaking, listening, reading and writing).
The GSE Learning Objectives focus on the things a learner can do, while the GSE Assessment Frameworks focus on how well a learner can do these things.
It can help provide you with examples of what proficiencies your learners should be demonstrating.ÌýÌý
It can help teachers pinpoint students' specific areas of strength and weakness more accurately, facilitating targeted instruction and personalized learning plans.
It can also help to motivate your learners, as their progress is evidenced and they can see a clear path for improvement.
An example of the GSE Assessment Frameworks
This example is from the Adult Assessment Framework for speaking.
As you can see, there are sub-skills within speaking (andÌýfor the other three main overarching skills – writing, listening and reading). Within speaking, these areÌýproductionÌýandÌýfluency, spoken interaction, language range andÌýaccuracy.
The GSE range (and corresponding CEFR level) is shown at the top of each column, and there are descriptors that students should ideally demonstrate at that level.
However, it is important to note that students may sit across different ranges, depending on the sub-skill. For example, your student may show evidence of GSE 43-50 production and fluency and spoken interaction, but they may need to improve their language range and accuracy, and therefore sit in a range of GSE 36-42 for these sub-skills.
