On-line learning transforms English language skills

The GlobalEnglish Corporation will present international research showing how its on-line GlobalEnglish Corporate Learning Service increased language fluency by 101 points after only 24 hours of study, compared to an average of 50 points per 100 hours achieved by other methods.

The results were independently measured by the Mitsubishi Corporation, using the Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC) to gauge improvements stemming from its on-line training programme for business English.

"Teaching English globally is a vast undertaking, so any system that achieves dramatic improvement in results will be looked at very closely and with great interest," says MELT director Sally-Ann Moore, one of the worlds' leading experts in on-line learning.

"Learner motivation has been a long-standing concern for e-learning products, and self-paced on-line learning is only successful when a learner is motivated to use the system. GlobalEnglish appears to have overcome this challenge and MELT delegates will be very eager to learn about the techniques that have made this possible."

Research findings to be presented by GlobalEnglish covered employees of global corporations in 130 countries who were asked to describe their level of satisfaction, improvement in English skills, and applicability of learning to the job. Of more than 4,000 surveyed, 95% found the service relevant to their current jobs and 86% rated it as good, very good, or excellent.

There are now about 130 million on-line learners across the world and MELT will be the springboard for the next phase of development. The event takes place at the Madinat Jumeirah Convention Centre on April 5-6, when specialists, vendors and users of e-learning and knowledge management come together in the Middle East for the first time.

Highlights include an in-depth survey of top corporations using e-learning. A unique feature is a series of clinics for delegates who can bring their own project material and problems and get world-leading specialist advice on instructional design, performance measurement and building the business case for their projects.

Moore reports that exhibitors booked so far include nearly all the world-leading multinational vendors of e-learning systems along with companies based in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Dubai.

"They cover learning management systems, authoring tools, testing and assessment software, education administration systems, virtual classrooms, deployment methods and services, courseware for language learning, business skills, IT skills, compliance and vocational certificates - everything you need for e-learning under one roof," she said. "Everyone of consequence in this field will be represented."