This purpose is the research report English Language as a Barrier to Employment, Education and Training is to establish whether people whose first language is not English face barriers to the labor market and the other aspects of life. It should be noted that there are no reliable data on the number of people whose first language is not English and that this research project was taken in a strict British lens. The introduction to report conveys the same message, but also delves deeper into other content that is contained in the report such as teaching reviews, marketing statistics, management reviews, and more.
Several points are brought up in this research report. Employers identified the following barriers to recruiting second language speakers: Inability to speak and/or write English to a sufficient standard, written job applications not produced in a standard format, over-reliance on academic qualifications rather than work experience, lack of ability to sell oneself at interview, difficulty in establishing equivalence of overseas qualifications (Dr. Schellekens 8). These qualities make it harder for people who speak English as a second or third language to get employed. As mentioned above, there is an inefficiency created when different languages attempt to get together in the market place. Employers are more likely to go with what is familiar, monolingualism. My personal narrative exhibited some of this inefficiency, which would explain why employers are hesitant to hire people that speak different languages.
People that had a first language of English and then learned another language are shown to have these disadvantages. The study does not take into account all the different degrees of mastery a person can have of a language, which skews the results. The research study was also done in Britain, so some of its conclusions and statistics are not universal. This study also only looks at the language aspects, but fails to take into account other factors such as culture, education, religion, etc. Complete multilingualism is not portrayed as a crutch in the report. The real problem present is incomplete multilingualism in which only fractions of English are understood. Language and the Market by Helen-Kelly Holmes and Gerlinde Mauter, shows how multilingualism can be a plus to employers whether regardless of language mastery.
Several points are brought up in this research report. Employers identified the following barriers to recruiting second language speakers: Inability to speak and/or write English to a sufficient standard, written job applications not produced in a standard format, over-reliance on academic qualifications rather than work experience, lack of ability to sell oneself at interview, difficulty in establishing equivalence of overseas qualifications (Dr. Schellekens 8). These qualities make it harder for people who speak English as a second or third language to get employed. As mentioned above, there is an inefficiency created when different languages attempt to get together in the market place. Employers are more likely to go with what is familiar, monolingualism. My personal narrative exhibited some of this inefficiency, which would explain why employers are hesitant to hire people that speak different languages.
People that had a first language of English and then learned another language are shown to have these disadvantages. The study does not take into account all the different degrees of mastery a person can have of a language, which skews the results. The research study was also done in Britain, so some of its conclusions and statistics are not universal. This study also only looks at the language aspects, but fails to take into account other factors such as culture, education, religion, etc. Complete multilingualism is not portrayed as a crutch in the report. The real problem present is incomplete multilingualism in which only fractions of English are understood. Language and the Market by Helen-Kelly Holmes and Gerlinde Mauter, shows how multilingualism can be a plus to employers whether regardless of language mastery.
Dr Philida Schellekens is a consultant and author with a special interest in language in the workplace. Philida advises UK bodies, such as the British Council and CILT, the UK standards-setting body, on occupational language standards. For University for Industry/learndirect she develops distance learning products, using Second Life and Webinar. Internationally, Philida has worked with colleagues in the Middle East, Vietnam and China on language in commerce and industry.
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Link to full Research Report.