New opportunities for language learning

A shared perspective

The global pandemic presents unprecedented challenges to societies and economies around the world but it also offers up new opportunities for language education. While there is no denying the inevitable stresses and strains placed on us all, both as educators and learners- the closure of the schools has also provided the opportunity, perhaps like never before, to reflect and innovate.

While the inevitable march of disruptive EdTech solutions on our sector have been accelerated, resistance from teachers who in the past might have viewed technology as a threat now see online learning solutions as a means of survival and as an enabler for success in these trying time. More forward-thinking educators have realised that the pandemic has opened doors and accelerated adoption of technologies which might otherwise have taken years to become a reality.
But it’s not just about the pace of adaptive technologies. This brave new world has opened up new opportunities and innovative ways to master languages for teachers and students alike.

Anglia Examinations is an ESOL English language Exam board and wholly owned subsidiary of Ofsted outstanding Chichester College Group. Acquired in 1993 Anglia Exams has grown steadily with a presence in over 40 countries around the world. In 1996 Anglia partnered with The English Education Group BV, based in Rosendal in the Netherlands. The English Education Group now offer Anglia Exams every year in over XXX schools in the Netherlands.

2021 marks not only the second year of the pandemic, but perhaps more importantly for us, 25 years of collaboration and working together across geographical boundaries for the promotion of the English language as the “lingua franca” of business.
To mark this quarter-century of collaboration Steve Bannister, Group Director of Anglia Exams and Arnold Augustin, Director and founder of The English Education Group have laid down our collective reflections on collaboration, what it means for us and how the pandemic has opened up new opportunities, influenced our thinking and shaped our shared vision.

When schools around Europe and the world closed last year for lockdowns we were catapulted into a world of uncertainty and accelerated change. What, we wondered would be the impact on young people? On teachers? Would students acquire the skills required to socialize and acquire language skills? It didn’t take long for those initial “rabbit in the headlight” thoughts to dissipate and for us to refocus our attention on finding innovative new solutions. Never has the adage of “adapt or die” seemed more relevant.
Since the initial closure of the schools and despite Brexit we have been surprised, both in the Netherlands and the UK, at our capacity to change and accelerate our shared evolution. We’ve taken heart from the fact that we share a common fate irrespective of where in the world we live. The expression “in it together” has become foremost in our minds as we’ve sought ways to find new solutions. And we’ve been surprised too by the many new doors that have opened to different ways of learning language.
This has given students, students, teachers and parents a fresh perspective on language education. Traditionally, there has been an emphasis on teaching grammar and vocabulary in our industry, but online learning has moved that popular emphasis and cast things in a different light. Together we grapple for terminology that captures this new shared experience, the term “global village” doesn’t quite explain it, but national boundaries certainly seem less relevant than they did pre-pandemic.

Digital experience leads to variation

First of all, online lessons have become much more popular. The lockdown in March 2020 pushed the percentage of pupils and teachers experiencing online lessons from 15% to almost 100%. Initially, teachers filmed their lessons with a camera fixed in front of them, but gradually the teaching became more varied. Various digital formats were found to be available that offered the students additional opportunities.
For Anglia in the Netherlands, as both educators and examiners, we discovered new ways of analysing student progress. Improved data provided new insights into the manner in which students were acquiring skills. We quickly developed dashboards to show progress, for individual students, entire classes, year groups and indeed for entire schools. The need to keep parents informed became a priority as they suddenly found themselves to be facilitators of home learning whilst juggling the pressures of working from home themselves.

Back in the UK at Anglia HQ in Chichester we faced similar challenges. Anglia has for many years delivered exams in paper-based format. Transitioning to online exams replete with AI Proctoring and anti-cheat technology has been on the cards for years but there was always a reticence, a concern that the integrity of exams might be compromised. Again, the pandemic accelerated that planned change and in 2020 we launched online exams globally enabling diligent students in many countries to achieve their exams in circumstances where attending a paper-based exam centres was out of the question.

Never mark compositions again?

Experiments with digital systems have led to an interesting cross-fertilisation of ideas resulting in enhanced innovation. In the field of speech recognition, great strides have been made. The use of Artificial Intelligence is a recurrent theme. What once seemed like threatening technologies are starting to open a panoply of collaboration and inventiveness. Data identifying trends and which analyse all student interactions have improved by leaps and bounds. This also applies to reviewing compositions; there are now options for students to have their stories checked by the computer, which can have an enormous impact on language teachers- providing instant feedback loops which benefit the acquisition of learning.

International cooperation coming closer in BORs

In the field of international learning and cooperation, the past year has given birth to a new trend: the Breakout Room. No longer do students have to travel to a foreign country to benefit from interactions with native English speakers. At the touch of a button, they can talk in English with students from different countries, at the same level, with prepared tasks. The teacher can listen in on everything, if necessary, the whole session can be recorded so that students unable to attend can catch up later.
Parents can observe lessons online and perhaps for the first time appreciate the care, diligence, professionalism, and passion of teachers charged with educating their children. It’s as though we all have a greater stake in this journey that is lifelong learning. And while these new possibilities will not replace school trips or otherwise supplant irreplaceable experiential learning; they are certainly a supplement to be carefully considered and taken seriously.

In It Together

In the past Anglia HQ in the UK and Anglia Netherlands used to meet a few times a year. Often face to face, either in the Netherlands or the UK. These days we catch up online weekly, sharing challenges, exploring new ways of working together, shaping our shared vision and developing new solutions for our growing markets.
These days when we ask each other “How are You”, it’s not simply a pleasantry, we really want to know, we ask after each other with real concern. And while we do sometimes talk wistfully about sharing a bear or meal together, we feel that this ordeal has made us closer, stronger and more resilient.

We follow the news in our respective countries closely, contrasting the reports we see and hear with first-hand experiences on the ground. We’ve come to realise that effective communication is more important than ever, that our commercial fates are intertwined and that when we part and say “say safe” to each other we aren’t just being polite, there is real concern, real mutual care.

So, after 25 years of working together and the experiencing the advent of Covid we aren’t sticking our heads in the sand, we’re not beaten or demotivated. Sure, we’re been exhausted at times, really worried at other times but overall, we are heartened by the fact that we have more shared interest than ever and that as educators and English examiners our quest is far from complete. Our partnership is stronger than ever. We’ve learnt a lot; our ties are stronger and once this terrible pandemic is consigned to the past- that we be our biggest and abiding takeaway.