creating a proficiency framework for the workplace: global ... · english learning objectives for...

Creating a proficiency

framework for the

workplace:

Global Scale of

English Learning

Objectives for

Professional English

Image by Lucy Vigrass

Mike Mayor

Director, Global Scale of English

Introducing the Global Scale of English

Extending the CEFR for EnglishCommon European Framework of

Reference for Languages (2001):

• developed in Europe for a European

learning environment

• developed for adult and young adult

learners – never intended for Young

Learners

• mainly focussed on general English

with limited reference to work and

study

• uneven distribution of Can Do

statements across the skills

• wide levels that take many hours to

master

• no information below A1

Glo

bal Scale

of English

10

22

30

43

59

76

85

90 C2

C1

B2+

B2

B1+

B1

A2+

A2

A1

<A1

A scale based on the original CEFR research

LOGIT CEFR

>3.80 Mastery C2

2.80 Operational eff. C1

1.74

VantageB2+

0.72 B2

-0.26

Threshold

B1+

-1.23 B1

-2.21

Waystage

A2+

-3.23 A2

-4.29 Breakthrough A1

-5.39 ‘Tourist’

Defining what a learner “can do” at specific levels of the Global Scale of

English

Pearson

Learning

Objectives

database

4243

Can …..

Can …..

Can …..

Can …..

Can ….. Additional

review &

revision

required

Creating Learning Objectives

Syllabuses

Course

materials

National

curricula

CEFR

CEFR

Sources Learning objectivesWorkshops with expert raters

(teachers) from around the

world + online surveys

44

Can …..

Can …..

Can …..

Can …..

GSE resources for teachers

English.com/gse

English in the workplace

7 17 31 68 91

1. …..% of the global businesses surveyed assess their employees’ proficiency in English

2. …..% of the global businesses surveyed found that job applicants lacked the necessary written skills in English

3. …..% of the second language speakers felt they could communicate effectively in English at work

4. …..% of the global businesses surveyed thought it was beneficial to the company if employees spoke English

5. …..% of the global businesses surveyed found that job applicants lacked the necessary reading skills in English

What are employers looking for?

What are employees looking for?

7 17 31 68 91

1. 68% of the global businesses surveyed assess their employees’ proficiency in English

2. 31% of the global businesses surveyed found that job applicants lacked the necessary written skills in English

3. 7% of the second language speakers felt they could communicate effectively in English at work

4. 91% of the global businesses surveyed thought it was beneficial to the company if employees spoke English

5. 17% of the global businesses surveyed found that job applicants lacked the necessary reading skills in English

The future of English in the EU: 2025 and beyond

2018

British Council launched a report on the future of English in the EU in 2025 and beyond

They interviewed 62 experts from 6 countries (France, Greece, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Romania Spain)

Experts from:

• Mainstream education

• Private ELT market

• Employers and organisations representing commerce and trade

• Digital developers of language products

• Linguists and language teaching experts

www.britishcouncil.org


Key Findings

• The total number of potential English language learners in parts of the EU is set to fall by 15.3 million by 2025.

• English will continue to the be the lingua franca in the European Union.

• Employers will continue to need employees who have high level English skills, including for specific tasks, such as negotiations, solving logistical problems, or presenting a new strategy.

• Adults will need ‘top-up’ tuition throughout their working life, as they move between different industries and roles.

• Working adult learners will increasingly want flexible, personalised, purpose specific and time efficient learning.

• Demand for regular evening or weekend courses that run over many months will decrease.

www.britishcouncil.org

English for employability: building a framework

Don’t we already have a framework?

Publishers of Business English exams all

have correlations with CEFR

BUT CEFR focusses mainly on general

English – with the workplace as one

domain of language use


Many employers interviewed were not using the well-established global certificates of English proficiency but instead were using in-house testing or third-party testing when recruiting. HR managers said that even high-level qualifications did not always guarantee fluency or the ability to use English in different work-related contexts, so this was tested as part of the recruitment process. This is not to suggest that employers do not value accreditation and certificates, but at this point they are not developed to test the language skills in contexts that matter to employers.

Global Scale of English for Professional English

The Global Scale of English solution

Making the framework available

to teachers

GSE resources for teachers

English.com/gse

GSE Teacher ToolkitEnglish.com/gse

I can select the type of learner I am

teaching:

Learners of General English

Learners of Academic English

Learners of Professional English

Young Learners

I can select the level of my class by

moving the slider to select a GSE

range or a CEFR level

Identifying appropriate learning objectives

I can select the type of learner I am

teaching:

Learners of General English

Learners of Academic English

Learners of Professional English

Young Learners

I can select the level of my class by

moving the slider to select a GSE

range or a CEFR level

I can select the skill I want to teach:

Reading

Writing

Listening

Speaking

25

I select Learners of Professional

English I select the level (CEFR B2+/ GSE

67-7)

I select the skill


26


I select Speaking

Identifying appropriate learning objectivesI have 71 learning

objectives to chose from

I can download and print off my

search results


I can use the QR code to scan the

results to my phone/portable device


Even in countries where general English proficiency is high, moving from general English to industry/sector-specific English, with linguistic confidence for activities such as giving presentations, negotiating, participating in international conference calls, networking at eventsetc. is challenging.

Targeting specific business skills

European Commission (2015) Study on Foreign Language Proficiency and

Employability.

MeetingsLearning Objective

1 Can understand the advantages and disadvantages of

different options during a discussion.

2 Can check that everyone agrees in group discussions using

fixed expressions.

3 Can politely respond to interruptions during a discussion

and return to the main topic.

4 Can write up the objectives and key points of a work-related

meeting in a simple way.

5 Can invite others into the discussion during a

teleconference by asking for questions.

MeetingsLearning Objective CEFR GSE

4 Can write up the objectives and key points of a

work-related meeting in a simple way.

B1 50




B1 50

2 Can check that everyone agrees in group

discussions using fixed expressions.

B1+ 57




B1 50



B1+ 57



B2 60




B1 50



B1+ 57



B2 60

1 Can understand the advantages and disadvantages

of different options during a discussion.

B2 64




B1 50



B1+ 57



B2 60

1 Can understand the advantages and disadvantages

of different options during a discussion.

B2 64

3 Can politely respond to interruptions during a

discussion and return to the main topic.

B2+ 69

37

Identifying appropriate learning objectives for

specific business skills

Select a specific business skill

38

For example, meetings



Select a specific business skill

39

For example, dealing with

customers



Option to drill down to specific

sub-skills

40


specific business skills57 appropriate learning

objectives for B1+ and above

Aligning job tasks to language skills


With a larger proportion of the adult population having some proficiency in English in future, it is likely that the demand for “top-up” tuition or refresher courses throughout life will rise. Many providers in mature markets (eg. Spain and Portugal) are already seeing a demand for short, sharp courses from adults who need English for a specific work or family reason and a decline in the adult beginner market.

Job tasks & GSE Learning Objectives

Job tasks: Healthcare

Job tasks: Registered Nurse

Job tasks: Identifying learning objectives

Monitor, record, and report symptoms or changes in patients' conditions.

Can record the details of project-related actions and results in a log.

Modify patient treatment plans as indicated by patients' responses and conditions

Can ask open-ended questions to better understand the specific details of a problem.

Direct or supervise less-skilled nursing or healthcare personnel or supervise a particular unit.

Can give a clear, detailed spoken description of how to carry out a procedure.

Hand items to surgeons during operations.

Can understand detailed instructions well enough to be able to follow them without making mistakes.

47


specific jobs

Select a specific job role

Select Professional Learner

48


specific jobs

Select a job family

Select a specific job role

49

63 appropriate learning

objectives for nurses


specific jobs

What makes us employable?

What did you want to be when you grew up?

So…times change. Should we be worried?

Millennials will have on average

12-14 jobs over the course of their career

What the papers say

www.bbc.co.uk

www.nytimes.comwww.theguardian.com

Haven't we been here before?

Early 1900s

Factories and dockyards employed

someone – a knocker-upper – to wake

workers so that they were not late for work

1940s

Alarm clocks were mass

produced and affordable

So…times change. Should we be worried?

www.weforum.org/agenda/2016

Future Skills

Top skills for employability

B&C_Pearson_Jobs2030.mp4

B&C_Pearson_Jobs2030.mp4

What are the key skills that employers will be looking for?

futureskills.pearson.com

Do foreign language teachers need to worry?

How about van drivers?

Look familiar?

Do any of these look familiar?

Do they remind you of any other sets of skills that are talked about in relation to education?

21st Century Skills

C

C

C

C

ritical Thinking

reativity

ollaboration

ommunication

The Problem Solvers

“Current education systems risk preparing us to become second-rate robots. Instead, we should do what robots cannot do well, by learning to become more human.

This is because humans still have an edge so far as high-level reasoning, and social and emotional skills are concerned.”

www.charlesleadbeater.net

Pearson Employability Framework

What does it mean to be employable?

Four areas make up the Pearson Employability

Framework. What would you expect to see

covered in each area?


• Literacy

• Numeracy

• Digital fluency

• Skills related to

a specific job

• “Hard” skills

• “Soft” skills/21st

Century Skills

• Critical Thinking

• Creativity

• Communication

• Collaboration

• Self

Management

• Leadership

• Social

Responsibility

• Showcasing

skills and

qualifications

• Developing a

presence on

social media

• Interview skills

• CV writing


• General

competency in

English as a

foreign language

• ESP

• General

Business

English

language skills

• ??????????? • Writing a CV

• Letter of

Application

• Interviewing

Transitional

Global Scale of English for Professional English

Personal & Social Competencies

English and “soft skills”

Does ELT courseware (and do ELT teachers) teach the “soft skills”?

Critical Thinking

• Giving opinions, inferencing, negotiating, problem-solving

Creativity

• Writing stories, imagining different scenarios

Communication

• Speaking and Writing activities

Collaboration

• Pair work, group work, task-based learning

Self Management

• Organising/Taking responsibility for own learning

Leadership

• Leading groups, influencing, negotiating, emotional intelligence

Social Responsibility

• Via topics

Success Criteria: Language

Teacher’s notes:

Ss work in small groups and share their experiences and advice,

then agree on the two best pieces of advice. Monitor and make

notes on Ss’ language use for later feedback.

In the group discussion, did you…?

Use the grammar from the unit

Use 3 phrases for giving advice

……

Success Criteria: Future Skills

In the group discussion activity, did you see evidence of:

Active Listening (checking for understanding)

Polite interruption

Asking others for their opinions

Inviting others into the discussion

……….

https://www.pearson.com/corporate/efficacy-and-

research/skills-for-today.html

https://www.pearson.com/corporate/efficacy-and-research/skills-for-today.html

Teaching Future Skills: what the research says

Soft skills need to be explicitly taught – you cannot assume they

will simply be “picked up” along the way

This is particularly true for students from disadvantaged or lower

socio-economic backgrounds who may not have soft skills

modelled by their family or peers

Soft skills are taught most effectively within the context of

teaching other subjects

Timely feedback on performance is one of the most effective

ways to teach soft skills

Questioning opinions/answers/decisions will help to train a

questioning mindset – key to critical thinking

Create a safe environment for students to experiment with these

skills – without fear of ridicule or punitive measures

Teaching Future Skills in English class

Provide students with the language they need eg. to collaborate

effectively:

So what you’re saying is….. (Active Listening: Checking understanding)

I’d like to hear what Sue has to say… (Inviting others to give their opinion)

I’m not sure I entirely agree with you there… (polite disagreement)

Can I just make a quick point… (polite interruption)

Set up Group Work to ensure students focus on the different

skills (eg. assign roles)

Raise the profile of these skills – tell students which of the skills

they are practising (don’t rely on the coursebook to do this!)

Get students to self-evaluate/peer-evaluate against success

criteria for these skills

CEFR and “soft skills”

CEFR Companion Volume (2018)

Additional descriptors for Mediation, eg:

• Collaborating in a group• Facilitating collaborative interaction

with peers• Collaborating to construct meaning

• Leading group work

Available to download from the Council of Europe website (www.coe.int)

Mediation and “soft skills”

81

Select Communicative Categories

Select a Mediation Category

Mediation in the GSE Teacher Toolkit

Skills that make us employable

Core academic competencies (numeracy, literacy, digital fluency)

Occupational competencies (“hard” skills)

Transition skills (moving from education to employment)

English

Personal and Social Capabilities (“soft” skills)

Language

Functional skills

Non-linguistic skills

One last request…..Thank you for attending this presentation. I’d like to

ask you to spend a few minutes providing feedback

on the session. Please scan the QR code below to

access the survey:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/mmexternal

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/mmexternal

There’s so much

more to learnFind out more about us at

english.com/gse

[email protected]

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