Options Open to an Employee wanting to Improve his Language Skills

Usually most of the professionals who lack the linguistic skills that should improve their performance, argue that they do not have any problem in communicating in English. Even when it is proved to him that he has a serious language problem, he is reluctant to attend classes and may ask for a one-to-one course. It is the role of the language specialist to come round this problem and train the employee on the skills required in his job.

Firstly, the language specialist should try to convince the person that his attendance of a language course does not at all mean that he is incompetent. This is only judged by his professional background and performance. However, it should be pointed out that poor language skills in a way impair the performance of the person. Yet language training is analogous to being trained in driving a car. Since a professional engineer does not find taking driving lessons affront he should not be reluctant to learn language skills.

Having done this type of counselling then the specialist should give the learner all the options open to him in order to improve his language skills:

1. The best option is, of course, attending the courses designed and implemented at the in-service training centre. The training here is approached professionally and is almost tailored for him. The disadvantage might be that he is away from his office or from the plant during working hours.
2. The next option is to attend the classes of a language school in town. However, these are public courses aimed at adults wanting to improve their language skills for their jobs. They are usually textbook courses and they lack the element of job-specific tasks provided at the company training centre.
3. The employee can also hire a competent teacher to give him private tuition at home. Again such a person would probably select one of the business language texts available in the market and is not aware of his needs in order to perform his job duties efficiently.
4. The last resort would be self-study. But this option needs a lot of preparotary work in order that the study is a success. First, he should seek the advice of the language specialist to outline a syllabus for him based on the training needs identified. Then he should get learner training; preferrably at a self-access centre or from the language trainer in the company. Then he should be trained in planning his study: the duration, frequency of lessons, duration of sessions, and a timetable. He should also plan how he is going to evaluate his progress.

When the language trainer has explained all the options, he should ask the learner to take some time to consider these options and come back with his decision. Whatever his decision is the language training unit should provide all the assistance possible.