Enhancing workplace communication: The new role of language assessments in business success

When my son created a web consulting business as a summer job, I offered to have business cards made for him. “Oh Dad,” he said, “Business cards are so 20th century!”

It was an embarrassing reminder that communication norms are constantly changing, as are the technologies we use. Younger generations share contact information on their phones’ social media apps, not with business cards. A similar shift has been the move away from business cards featuring fax numbers. “What’s a fax?” my son might ask.

Fax machines have had a surprisingly long life–the first fax machine was invented in 1843–but they have been largely retired because it’s easier to send images of documents via email attachments.

More recent technologies, such as the 1992 invention of text messages, seem here to stay, but continue to evolve with innovations like emojis, a 1998 innovation whose name combines the Japanese words e (picture) and moji (character). 

The 55/38/7 rule and the three Cs

Changing technologies challenge language teachers who struggle to prepare students with the formats and the strategies they need to be effective in academic, business, and social settings. These challenges start with questions about why we have particular norms around communication. These norms form a culture of communication.

The artist/musician Brian Eno defines culture as what we don’t have to do. We may have to walk, but we don’t have to dance. Dancing, therefore, is culture. Communication is full of cultural practices that we don’t strictly need to do, but which make communication more successful. These include practices based on the 55/38/7 Rule and The Three Cs.

The 55/38/7 rule is often misinterpreted as being about what someone hears when we speak. It actually refers to the insights of University of California professor, Albert Mehrabian, who looked at how our attitudes, feelings, and beliefs influence our trust in what someone says.

Mehrabian suggests words only account for seven percent of a message’s impact; tone of voice makes up 38 percent, and body language–including facial expressions–account for the other 55 percent. The consequence of this for our students is that it’s sometimes not so important what they are saying as how they are saying it.

Another way of looking at this nonverbal communication is in terms of The Three Cs: context, clusters, and congruence. 

Context is about the environment in which communication takes place, any existing relationship between the speakers, and the roles they have. Imagine how each of these factors change if, for example, you met a surgeon at a party compared to meeting the same surgeon in an operating theater where you are about to have your head sawn open.

Clusters are the sets of body language expressions that together make up a message; smiling while walking toward someone is far different than smiling while carefully backing away.

Congruence refers to how body language matches–or doesn’t match–a speaker’s words. People saying, “Of course! It’s possible!” while unconsciously shaking their heads from side to side are perhaps being less than truthful.

How does a culture of communication practices translate to new technologies? Mobile phone texts, just like 19th-century telegraph messages before them, need to be precise in conveying their meaning.

In virtual meetings (on Teams and Google Hangouts, for example), students need to understand that tone of voice, facial expressions, and body language may be more important than the words they share.

Politeness as one constant

An additional key concern in virtual meetings is politeness. Once, in preparation for a new textbook, I was involved in soliciting topics of interest to university teachers. I was surprised that several teachers identified the need to teach politeness. The teachers pointed out that the brevity of social media meant that students were often unwittingly rude in their requests (typical email: “Where’s my grade!”). Moreover, such abruptness was crossing over to their in-person interactions.

Politeness includes civility, getting along with others, as well as deference, showing respect to those who may have earned it through age, education, and achievement. But politeness is also related to strategies around persuasion and how to listen actively, engage with other speakers by clarifying and elaborating points and ask a range of question types. Online or in person, if students cannot interrupt politely or know when it is better to listen, whatever they have to say will be lost in the court of bad opinion.

This is particularly important in preparation for academic and business contexts where students need to interact in groups, such as seminar settings and business meetings. Within these, it’s necessary for students to be able to take on a variety of roles, including leadership, taking notes, and playing devil’s advocate to challenge what a group thinks.

Engaging students with project work

Role-play can help raise awareness of these strategies among students, but it’s not enough to just take on a variety of roles found in common academic and business exchanges; students need to be able to reflect after each role-play session and infer what strategies are successful.

Technology-based projects can also help students engage in a range of communication strategies. For example, a Pearson series, StartUp, embraces technology in each unit by sprinkling various text messages and web-based research tasks. There are also multimedia projects where students use their phones to collect images or video and share the results in presentations that develop their critical thinking.

For example:

Make your own video

Step 1 Choose a favorite restaurant or meal.

Step 2 Make a 30-second video. Talk about the meal. Describe what you eat and drink. Explain why you like it.

Step 3 Share your video. Answer questions and get feedback.

This simple project subconsciously reinforces the unit’s vocabulary and grammar. It also allows students to personalize the project based on things that they need to talk about in daily life–their local foods in this case. This means that each student’s presentation is unique. Unlike with essay assignments, students tend to work hard to craft several versions until they are satisfied because they know their work will be seen by other students and that they will be asked questions that only they can answer.

All this forces students to consider speaking strategies, as well as strategies for appropriate facial expressions and body language. Similarly, they have to use active listening strategies when listening to others’ presentations while asking questions. As technology continues to evolve, teachers need to integrate new applications into their teaching so students learn how to communicate with the tools they have at their disposal.

While English is a rich language, there are some words from other languages that don’t have a direct translation. These words often describe special feelings, situations, or ideas that are deeply connected to their cultures. For example, just as some languages have specific words for different types of weather, other languages have unique words for particular moments or emotions that are hard to explain in English. Here are some interesting examples of untranslatable words that show us the different ways people see the world.

We want lots of fun in our lessons, with a good balance of activities and games with strong educational value. But in my opinion, today’s young learners need more than just fun and games to stay motivated. Fun and games can quickly become meaningless and boring for some students.

How do we create fun and engaging lessons for young learners aged 6-14?

• Have a strong relationship with your students. Know about their natural talents, their weaker points and where they are in their development.
• Encourage them to be active learners and engage them in learning that is meaningful to all of them. E.g. through project work.
• Provide opportunities for students to use technology and develop success skills. E.g. collaboration, communication, critical thinking, creativity and self-learning.

Most teachers agree that we have to assume the responsibility of preparing students for life as well as helping them to acquire a language – and this is what I aim to demonstrate in this blog. Using Howard Gardner’s Model of Multiple Intelligences, I want to demonstrate how you can learn more about your students and care for individual needs in one classroom.

The students will also learn about themselves and their classmates. They will acquire vocabulary and language (at their level) in a dynamic way and create a project to explore their interests and demonstrate their talents. They will use technology and develop their success skills. Assessment will be fun and engaging. I hope you will be able to adapt the ideas and put them into practice with children aged 6-14.

Howard Gardner’s Model of Multiple Intelligences

Howard Gardner’s Model of Multiple Intelligences prompts us to ask: How is this child intelligent? He identified eight different types of intelligence which guide the way students learn:

• Verbal-Linguistic Intelligence (Word Smart)
• Logical-Mathematical Intelligence (Maths Smart)
• Spatial Intelligence (Picture Smart)
• Musical Intelligence (Music Smart)
• Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence (Body Smart)
• Naturalistic-Environmentalist Intelligence (Nature Smart)
• Interpersonal Intelligence (People Smart)
• Intrapersonal Intelligence (Self-Smart)
• (He later went on to identify Existential Intelligence – Life Smart, and Pedagogical Intelligence -Teacher Smart)

Lesson 1: Outline the student’s learning goals

Explain to the students that they are going to learn about Howard Gardner’s Model of Multiple Intelligences and that you want them to achieve learning goals on completion of the project. Write the goals on a poster and discuss them with your students. Take a digital photo of the poster to use during the assessment.

Student learning goals – you will be able to:

• Identify different intelligences and what they mean. Name eight different intelligences you have
• Communicate ideas clearly through a project to demonstrate your talents and interests
• Use your success skills more effectively.

Tip: Video parts of lesson 1, especially discussion of the learning goals, to use as part-assessment and reflection on completion of the project.

What do you know about the Multiple Intelligences? How are you smart?

• Ask children what they know about multiple intelligences. Teach key language and vocabulary as necessary, depending on level.
• Ask, “What does it mean be intelligent?” (They will probably say, good grades, be good at maths, English, reading, writing, computers...)
• Tell them being intelligent or smart (get the younger children to repeat the word smart several times) isn’t only about getting good grades. Ask them to think of more ways to be smart.
• Elicit the eight ways to be smart according to Gardner. (You may need to mime). E.g. mime playing the piano or clap a rhythm to elicit Music Smart.
• Discuss what the different intelligences mean. (E.g. Word Smart (Linguistic Intelligence): you like reading, writing or speaking, you are probably good at languages…)
• Teach career vocabulary associated with the different intelligences. (E.g. Word Smart: journalist, teacher, lawyer, editor, TV announcer, web editor.)

Lesson 2: Find out your smarts quiz

Tell students they are going to do a quiz to discover how they are smart. Model each stage of the activity and do the quiz with them to find out about your own strengths. Give each student a piece of paper.

• Take your paper and show the students how to fold it into eight sections, then unfold it and draw lines along the folds to make a grid.
• Write the different smarts in each section. (Use small handwriting to leave room to illustrate each smart with a picture).
• Give a picture dictation to illustrate each smart. Here are some examples:

Word Smart: Draw a dictionary and children reading, writing and speaking.

Logic/Number Smart: Draw sums on a computer, a scientist with test tube.

Music Smart: Draw children singing and playing musical instruments.

Body Smart: Draw children playing a sport, dancing or cooking.

Nature Smart: Draw trees, animals, insects, child watering a plant.

Spatial/Picture Smart: Draw children drawing, painting or taking photos and a pilot in a plane.

People Smart: Draw a child helping or leading a group or a group of children holding hands.

Self-Smart: Draw children keeping a journal, researching on a computer, or meditating.

Encourage students to order their smarts from 1-8. For example, if you love music, write number 1 in the Music Smart section and continue to 8 in order of preference. (You may wish to model this first and order your smarts from 1-8 and then encourage the children to order their smarts.)

After the quiz

• Encourage students to compare and discuss their results. Collect the papers and make notes about each student’s results. This will help you reach all your students when planning activities.
• Explain that we have all the intelligences in different degrees and that all of the intelligences are equal (no intelligence is better than another). Also point out that it is important to know our strengths in order to help in all subjects. (E.g. a music smart student who finds maths challenging may want to sing multiplication tables). Remind students that we usually use several intelligences to do something and we can explore and develop all our smarts.

Tip: Video lesson 2 to use as part of assessment.

Lesson 3: Beginning the project

Encourage the students to create a project for enjoyment. Explain that you want them to collaborate in groups that share the same smarts and interests and using their creativity you want them come up with an interesting topic to explore. (Remind students to concentrate on developing their success skills when they are working with others and mention that you will also be monitoring this as part of the assessment).

Organize the students into groups of no more than five students in each. Give students time to brainstorm in their groups and come up with the best topic for the project, using their critical thinking skills. (E.g. Picture Smart students may decide to create a project about a famous artist, such as Salvador Dali).

You may wish to give each student a KWL chart (Know, Want-to-know, and Learned) to complete during the project process, asking questions such as: What do you know? What do you want to know? What have you learned?

Lesson 4: Planning the project

Inform students about the timing of the project. Encourage each group to make a project mind map, which will encourage them to be more creative and organized.

Remind all the groups to keep the following questions in mind:

• What are you going to do/make? (Presentation, PowerPoint, website, video, posters.)
• How will you research it? (Internet, tech tools, library.)
• How will you delegate responsibilities?
• How will you check that your audience has understood the message of your project? What questions will you ask?

Decide on how many lessons are needed to prepare the project and how much will be done in school or at home, depending on the age groups and timing.

Encourage the students to share their work with the rest of the class (or in assembly.)

Tip: Video the different groups sharing their work.

Can assessment also be fun and engaging?

Yes, it can; here are some tips and suggestions.

• Show the videos you have recorded and ask the students to compare and contrast their knowledge in Lesson 1 and how it developed over the lessons. Encourage them to observe and comment on their success skills.
• Display the photo of the Student Learning Goals poster from Lesson 1. Get the students to self-assess and decide whether they have achieved the goals that were set in Lesson 1. (You may wish to give the students three small pieces of colored paper: red to represent I understand quite well, orange to represent I understand well and green to represent I understand very well). Ask: Can you identify the different intelligences and say what they mean? Encourage the students to hold up a colored piece of paper according to their understanding. (Make a mental note of all red pieces of paper to be ready to give extra help to those students). Check understanding by getting several students to answer the question.
• Get the children to reflect on the learning experience. What have they learned about the different intelligences? How can they develop weaker points using their strengths to help them? Can they use all eight intelligences inside and outside school? Did they manage to get along well with their classmates? Did they communicate the message of their project so that the audience understood?
• Give individual feedback to each student. E.g. congratulate them on their attitude and effort or identify areas for improvement: “You managed to use vocabulary and language effectively when you shared your project, we understood your message perfectly.” Or “You need to work on being more collaborative.” “You weren’t on task during the project.” “How do you think you can improve that?”
• Ask students to give you feedback on the activities they enjoyed. Get them to draw happy and sad face cards. Go through all the activities and get the students to show a happy or sad face according to whether or not they liked the activity. E.g. say “Did you like the ‘Find out your smarts’ quiz?” and ask them to hold up the happy or sad face depending on whether they liked the activity or not.

Create fun lessons to engage all your students keeping this model in mind: traditional activities such as short fun activities and games + Howard Gardner’s model of Multiple Intelligences + PBL (Project Based Learning) + success skills + meaningful assessment. Enjoy the results with your students.

How the Global Scale of English can help

The Global Scale of English (GSE) Learning Objectives for Young Learners provides ready-made learning objectives that can help with planning curriculums and lesson and benchmarking learners’ progress. They are great for young learners because they describe language functions in a granular way, enabling educators to give their learners credit for small achievements. They also clearly show the language functions to target next in order to take learners to the next level.