MEASURING ENGLISH COMPETENCY
ANTHONY HOLLICK
On Aug 3, a group of business English teachers from as far away as Lampang gathered at the American School of Bangkok to learn more about current practices in teaching and assessing business English. Two speakers were invited.
Alison Taylor, sales and marketing manager of Pearson Education Indochina, spoke on the topic of "How to Teach Business English".
Dr Duncan Rayner, development manager for Asia, Esol (English for Speakers of Other Languages) Examinations, the University of Cambridge, spoke on "Globalisation and Workplace Language Assessment".
Teaching business English
Alison started her talk by discussing Braj Kachru's (a scholar and linguist from Kashmir) three circles of English.
The inner circle represents the traditional bases of English, including the United Kingdom, North America, Australia, etc., that account for approximately 380 million people.
The outer circle includes countries where English is not the official language, but where it has played, and continues to play, a significant role, such as: India, the Philippines and Malaysia. This circle comprises 150 to 300 million speakers.
The expanding circle encompasses other countries where English is used as a foreign language. These countries include Thailand, China and most of Europe, where English is not the official language and did not have a historical or governmental role. The English users in this category range up to one billion.
The above estimates reflect the growing importance of English globally, especially among non-native speakers of English who communicate with other non-native speakers in English in English.
This is critical to bear in mind when you teach English. For example, consider whether the students are doing business with a client in New York, or with a supplier in Shanghai.
Similarly, course materials are important. Would a book help them to memorise business terms for a university exam? Would the course improve their correspondence and lead to greater global sales? Would it prepare them for the next level on the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) for a benchmark-related promotion?"
Assessing business English
Duncan continued by reaffirming Alison's comments that English is now global, having become the international language in business, education and travel.
It is important to develop people's English competency and to have the best tools available to assess and benchmark it. When choosing an assessment of business English, consider the four key principles of Vrip: validity, reliability, impact and practicality.
Validity refers to the extent to which test scores reflect a person's actual competency in business English. Reliability is how consistently accurate a test is. Impact refers to the positive effect a test has on the candidates and other people. Practicality is the extent to which the test is feasible in terms of the resources required.
Current trends in worldwide business English testing have rapidly shifted toward those that produce results aligned to the CEFR and the Alte (Association of Language Testers Europe) levels. CEFR and Alte provide neutral and independent frameworks for measuring competency in language.
Furthermore, CEFR also offers "can do" statements, which include general, workplace, academic, social and tourist typical English. These statements indicate what a person can do in English at their level and in these contexts.
Benchmarking of English can be used to formalise the degree of competency required for a particular position in an organisation. For example, the positions of technician might be benchmarked at CEFR as A2, secretary as B1, international sales manager as C1 and legal representative as C2.
However, these benchmarked levels for job positions are not the same across all companies or industries. For example, the degree of English required for a secretary who communicates with people locally is different to that expected of one who communicates internationally.
This is why benchmarking needs to be conducted by trained consultants.
For pointers on developing and measuring the English competency of your staff, visit http://www.CEC.co.th , or contact Corporate English Consulting at info@CorpEnglishConsult.com or on 02-248-8306 - 13.
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