Benchmarking of language skills
Many organisations face difficulties evaluating their employees’ level of foreign language fluency - particularly international organisations with offices all over the world. In certain countries, for example, English levels may be evaluated as "upper intermediate" or "advanced" by local language service providers, but these levels do not seem comparable with the same levels in Denmark. In addition, this evaluation may be based on a written test, and oral levels may be weaker or stronger.
The result of this disparity can mean that employees who are considered to have a high language level, and indeed those who themselves feel that their fluency levels are good, can struggle to fully understand or be fully understood in their written and/or spoken communication, and may not even be aware of the problems.
Therefore, what BLS can offer is a single test of writing and/or speaking which all relevant employees would take, and which would then provide a standardised level for each skill. We have several tests available but would be more than happy to devise something with you, meaning that it becomes a true measure of exactly the skills and areas of language you require of your employees.
On a practical level, oral evaluations can take place either face-to-face or over the telephone, and written tests can be administered by email. This means that we can, and do work on an international basis, testing participants from all over the world. Upon completion of the test, each participant is sent a full report with a separate level for speaking and writing, a summary of the types of errors they made and suggestions for improvement. The tests can also be followed up by retests at a later date if relevant.
We have run this procedure with a variety of languages and organisations for some time now. It has always functioned very successfully and smoothly, and the feedback from participants regarding the reports has been extremely positive – even from those with a high level of English (there is always room for improvement!).
Other services: