1. Employees' English-language skills

In this part of the language policy, the university is underlining the importance of both academic staff and technical and administrative staff being able to communicate in English in a work context. It therefore refers to what employees are expected to do in their work-related activities. Although English has been used at the university for many years now, both in teaching and administration, some employees may still need language training support in order to further develop their English skills. Therefore, raising awareness about available tools for language support and offering opportunities to participate in language courses are important elements in the process of further language development.

Most members of the academic staff are familiar with the disciplinary genres and terminology in their field in English because they have participated in international research projects and/or research dissemination (e.g., conferences, journal publications). However, teaching in English requires a different set of communicative skills, like, but not limited to, initiating and maintaining interaction with students, presenting and explaining difficult material, providing examples, giving instructions, assigning tasks, explaining procedures, and providing oral and written feedback. Members of the academic staff also need to use English when participating in meetings and /or university committees or working groups.

The communicative situations in which administrative staff members use English vary depending on their administrative position. For example, for finance staff, it is important to be able to explain how to put in a claim for reimbursement in RejsUd, go through a grant budget, or present a set of accounts. HR staff need to communicate in areas such as talking or writing emails about employment terms and conditions or explaining procedures for taking maternity leave. Laboratory technicians need to explain lab safety rules to groups of students who will be using the lab.  Staff may need to be able to carry out these tasks via telephone or email or in face-to-face situations. Other work-related activities range from participating in formal meetings in English to making small talk with international colleagues.

For academic staff, observing colleagues’ English-medium classes can provide an opportunity for identifying language use in the academic domain. Then, experimenting with the language and reflecting on one’s own language use can also promote the development of communicative skills. Finding strategies to overcome language difficulties may be a more beneficial way to contribute to effective communication, rather than focusing too much on accurate grammar and native-like pronunciation, which may lead to an avoidance to communicate. 

Administrative staff members need to familiarize themselves with the terminology that is specific to their work-related activities. As such, they should be offered opportunities to use English on a daily basis because continuous language use helps develop fluency.

For management, recognizing staff members’ needs and offering adequate support is essential. The required proficiency levels included in the appendix to the language policy are intended to serve as indicators of minimum proficiency needed to perform certain work-related activities. Therefore, meeting these requirements may not be sufficient to ensure effective communication at the workplace. Employees may still lack confidence using English and may need language training and support in relation to the specific communicative challenges they encounter.

What represents relevant and useful evidence of employees’ English language proficiency levels (e.g., upper secondary school grades in English, commercial test scores, self-assessment, peer-assessment) needs careful consideration. Large-scale standardized English for academic purposes tests, like TOEFL, IELTS, Aptis, or Duolingo, have been developed for international student admission in Anglophone universities, so they may not be relevant for lecturer certification. Using inadequate evidence about employees’ language abilities may lead to negative consequences at both personal and institutional level and may lead to inequality and exclusion at the workplace. Establishing different measures to avoid negative consequences is therefore crucial.

CIP runs a wide range of English language courses aimed at both academic and administrative staff.

CIP offers tailor-made courses for individuals and courses for groups who all have more or less the same English training needs and wants. Check out our course catalogue or contact us directly at cip@hum.ku.dk.

For teaching staff, CIP offers the Test of Oral English Proficiency for Academic Staff (TOEPAS), an oral English proficiency certification procedure specially designed to assess  university lecturers' English language use on English-medium instruction (EMI) courses and programmes. TOEPAS was designed to identify any lecturers who may need language support to teach EMI courses, and to raise lecturers’ awareness about their own English language strengths and weaknesses through an extensive written and oral formative feedback report. You can read more about TOEPAS here.

For administrative staff, CIP runs courses and workshops that focus on HR, finance, or study administrative terminology, including general email writing and language for meetings.

CIP also offers free materials for self-study including the handbook Uses and Abuses of English. It covers the most common English language errors made by university administrative staff and how to correct them. The handbook is available here.