LANGUAGES IN CORPORATE QUALITY WORKSHOP ECML, Graz November 2013 Structured interview with enterprises on current practice in language assessment in the business community Presentation of the survey Lusine Fljyan, Yerevan State Linguistic University “Brusov“, Yerevan, AR

The demand for foreign languages and communication skills is steadily rising on the European labour market. In order to reduce the gap between offer and demand of the language skills we need to understand how language competence can be demonstrated.

For different jobs various language skills/competences are required, and the employers should be aware of the different options that will help them to assess the language skills of the staff.

The goals of this survey were to: Better understand the ways in which the business sector assesses and promotes employees’ language skills; Raise awareness among enterprises of the relevance of informal and non-formal language learning outcomes and the assessment thereof. Make language competence a key aspect of corporate quality

WHY HAVE WE CHOSEN STRUCTURED INTERVIEWS IN OUR RESEARCH? WHY HAVE WE CHOSEN STRUCTURED INTERVIEWS IN OUR RESEARCH? 1. To gather significant and revealing information on language assessment; 2. To make interesting comparisons through asking similar questions.

Preparation of the draft: second expert meeting (13-14 September 2012) Guided interviews Questionnaire available in EN, FR, DE Telephone/Skype or face-to-face interviews Audio-recording when possible Interviews were approved by the respective interviewees Confidentiality issue Identification of correspondents

30 private companies (SMEs, big companies) Sectors: agro-industry, energy, manufacturing, construction, communication, consultancy, legal and financial services, pharmaceuticals, retail, tourism and trade HR departments/managers, people involved in recruitment Languages used: AR, RU, IT, FR, DE, EN CountriesARBECAENDEFRIRITLURU Number of interviews