Chennai: “In the commercial world, the requirement to know English has increased and the demands are going high since the past several years,” said UK Cambridge Assessment English head – higher education, Sue Trory.
On observing the global movement pattern, she stated that Indians have been travelling across the world and communicate in English extensively that has led to increasing demands.
“In order to function in a digitally-driven global environment, better level of communicative method is required to interact with clients,” added Trory.
In an interaction with News Today, the head speaks about the research that Cambridge Assessment English conducted recently at Bhubaneshwar, Hyderabad, Coimbatore and Chennai on the need for equipping with adequate communicative skills required to sustain in industries.
About the study, she stated, “Cambridge Assessment English carried out a survey of 5,000 employers in 38 countries and territories all over the world, including India. What we found in India is that even more than in the rest of the world, employers see English as important and that employees with a good level of English have faster progression through job grades.”
“It is also striking that employers in India, far more than in other countries, value international language qualifications. They also perceive a gap in the language skills of their existing workforce – 91 per cent of employers are satisfied with the language skills in their organisations at top management level, but at other levels up to a quarter of employers feel that language skills are lacking in certain parts of their organisations,” added Trory.
However, she states that the country does not falter in training students in English and opines that, “In India, the biggest advantage in learning the language is that English is the medium of instruction in higher education, which is not the case in many countries. But the challenge is that we need to focus on institutions where this system is not in implementation.”
To provide solution to the global crisis, Trory and team have been working out with strategies and ideas. “We have understood the requirement of clients and have devised plans. There is a need to support the employees on the communication front. Our teaching methodology is based on the communicative method of teaching English and we are looking at how we can use our assessments to hone the skills. Support will be provided to the higher education teachers by giving them materials and assessments that improve standards,” said Trory.
Cambridge Assessment English has British English Certification and she stated that the new add-on will have more training around communication.
| AI POWER |
| ‘Write & Improve’ and ‘Speak & Improve’ are two practice tools that have been devised by Cambridge University experts by embedding Artificial Intelligence (AI).Revealing about the pipeline project, Sue Trory said, “While many companies have the same tool, powered by AI in writing, we are trialling to incorporate it in speaking where the student can speak with the computer which will assess the skills.” |