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In today’s interconnected world, effective communication in English is more crucial than ever. As educators and language learners seek to measure and improve English proficiency, a resource like the Global Scale of English (GSE) offers a valuable framework for assessment. This blog post will explore how the GSE can be used to assess listening skills, providing insights into how it also helps tailor instruction and support language development.

For listening skills, the GSE focuses on how well learners can understand spoken English in different contexts. It assesses comprehension at varying levels of complexity:

Understanding simple information: At lower levels, learners are expected to understand basic information, such as simple instructions or everyday topics. The GSE provides learning objectives for how well learners can grasp essential details.

Understanding main ideas: As proficiency grows, learners should be able to identify main ideas and key points in more complex spoken texts, such as conversations and broadcasts. The GSE outlines how well learners can extract important information from various sources.

Understanding detailed information: At advanced levels, learners are expected to comprehend detailed and nuanced information, including implicit meaning and speaker intent. The GSE describes the level of detail and depth of understanding required at these stages.

The GSE also shows how students engage in different operations of listening, from global comprehension, recognizing information and identifying specific information to extracting information. By taking this into account, teachers can monitor students’ progress and assess their listening skills. An example will show this in action.

Let’s consider a level, say GSE 30-35 (equivalent to low A2 on the CEFR) and focus on how students process information. When checking a listening activity, rather than simply focusing on whether the answers are correct or incorrect, we can analyze our learners using the GSE and see what progress they are making and what we need to do as teachers to help them move on. Heres how:

Ehsan Gorji is an Iranian teacher and educator with 18 years of experience in English language education. He collaborates on various ELT projects with different language schools around the globe. Ehsan currently owns and manages THink™ Languages and also works as a TED-Ed Student Talks Leader.

Learning has always been an interesting topic to explore in the language education industry. Every week, a lot of webinars are delivered on how learning another language could be more successful, lots of articles are written on how to maximize learning, and many discussions take place between teaching colleagues about how they could surprise their language learners with more amazing tasks and games. In our lesson plans, too, we put learners into focus and try to write learning objectives that will benefit them in the real world.

We are celebrating teaching excellence around the world through the Pearson English Teacher Awards 2024. 

Open to all types of English language educator, the 15 lucky global winners will take home thousands of pounds of prizes, from trips to conferences to the latest language learning software for their school. 

Nominating an educator for the Pearson English Teacher Awards is simple. All applications are made via the awards entry page, and you have 600-1000 words to tell us how your nominee builds learners’ confidence to be themselves in English. 

Here are our top tips to make the most of every word and ensure your entry is top of the class. 

Application tips

1. Make it category specific 

One of the core judging criteria is how well an application matches the category description. 

Educators can be nominated in one of five different categories: 

1. Teaching Young Minds English
2. Empowering Teen Confidence in English
3. Cultivating Lifelong Learners in English 
4. Innovation in English Language Teaching 
5. Rising Stars of English Language Teaching 

Tailoring your answer to the category description will make sure our judges understand exactly why your nominee is the perfect winner. 

For a detailed description of each of the categories, take a look at our recent blog post.

2. Focus on confidence

Learning a language isn’t just about knowing the vocabulary or understanding the grammar; it’s about having the confidence to go out there and use your newfound skills to unlock a world of opportunities. 

But feeling confident in something you’re still learning is hard. Anyone that’s learnt a language has experienced those dips in motivation and confidence when you come across a topic that doesn’t come naturally to you. 

That’s where a great teacher can make all the difference. The right support and encouragement combined with innovative teaching techniques can help learners protect and even build their confidence in challenging moments. 

That confidence is what transforms language learning from just communicating to feeling able to really be yourself in English. And when you’re able to do that, great opportunities come your way. 

Our judges are looking for nominations that understand the connection between confidence and self-expression and the impact that can have on learners’ lives. 

3. Demonstrate your impact

Including relevant data and examples in your application will help judges understand the impact your nominee has had. 

This might include data such as internal or external test results, as well as how those results have changed during that teacher’s tenure. 

Evidence doesn’t have to mean numbers. Judges also welcome anecdotes and examples that describe the impact an educator has had on learners’ confidence. 

The judging process

Nominations can be submitted between 15th August and midnight (CST) on 1st November. 

After that date, all entries will be reviewed and a shortlist submitted to our expert judges. 

There are two to three judges for each category who will independently review and shortlist nominees before collectively awarding a Gold, Silver, and Bronze winner in their category. 

Shortlisted entries will be contacted by our team and announced at the Pearson Teacher Awards ceremony on November 21st 2024. 

Meet the judges

From Argentina to Algeria, Italy to Germany, Pearson English Teacher Award 2024 judges come from all over the world. 

Many have years of ELT teaching experience, as well as expertise from academia and business. 

Here are just three of our expert judges: 

• Belgin Elmas: Head of the English Language Teaching Department at TED University in Ankara, Belgin is a professor with more than 34 years of teaching experience. 
• Dr Silvia Minardi: President of Lingua e Nuova Didattica and Vice President of Aermigo. Dr Minardi has extensive experience in CLIL training, collaborating with the ECML and the Council of Europe.
• Dr Renata Condi: An experienced teacher, development professional, and course book author, Dr Condi holds a PhD and MA in Applied Linguistics and an MBA in School Management. 

The prizes

With a Gold, Silver, and Bronze winner in each of the five categories, there are 15 chances for educators and their schools to win. 

Gold winners will receive a trip to a regional professional conference, including flight and hotel, as well as up to £500 in credit for professional development. 

Their school will win annual licenses to top language learning app, Mondly by Pearson as well as a course, assessment, and certification bundle valued at £1000 

Silver and Bronze winners will take home top prizes too, with £250 in credit towards their professional development and up to 500 Mondly by Pearson licenses for their school to continue their good work building learners’ confidence in English. 

Ready to make your nomination? Visit this page and tell us about the amazing work your nominee’s been doing.