Language as a medium of training

Dear Readers,

Everyday working life presents a wide variety of occasions to use different kinds of language. We are required to communicate both in writing and orally and to use specialist and idiomatic language. Then there is the challenge of mastering a foreign language and sometimes even sign language. The objective of vocational education and training, the imparting of employability skills, is also ultimately articulated via the vehicle of language. The final examination requires written, oral and practical tasks to be completed in a communicative manner.

Successful communication

Formal correctness remains a crucial part of the written language. Language competence, however, extends beyond the mastery and application of the rules of spelling and grammar. Alongside reading skills, in other words the ability to understand and categorise information, comprehensible communication which is appropriately addressed to the respective target audience is essential for successful training. Communication via electronic media in particular shows us that abbreviations are often enough to get the message across. Linguistic correctness is retreating in the face of the directness and rapidity of communication.

We do not merely use language to exchange technical information. We are constantly also imparting social messages conveying aspects such as proximity and distance and recognition and criticism. For this reason, the way in which trainers and trainees communicate with each other is important to the success of the training process. Sensitivity towards our own communication can help to increase the effectiveness of learning and contribute to the avoidance or constructive resolution of communication problems.

Differentiated requirements

Surprisingly, very little is known about the language requirements which exist within the world of work. When these demands are identified within the scope of competence assessment procedures, they are mostly derived from general educational objectives rather than from specific occupational actions. This leads to the mapping of cross-cutting competences which have a fundamental bearing on many occupations and situations. These cannot identify the respective specific demands within the various occupations. There is, therefore, a need for occupationally-specific work on the categorisation of language requirements and for empirical studies on the use of language in work situations. These may help ensure that greater attention is paid to the way in which language is handled during training.

German language learning during training

The language requirements during training represent a major hurdle for those who have come to Germany as immigrants or refugees. In order to have a chance of securing a training place, they need to understand the German language and to be able to make themselves sufficiently understood. Level B1 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages is usually viewed as the minimum prerequisite. This is probably enough to facilitate entry to training, although there also needs to be an opportunity for trainees to improve their knowledge of German during vocational education and training itself in order to successfully complete training and pass the final examination.
Accompanying systematic language learning provision is important in this regard. It is, however, likely that language training in daily professional practice is even more crucial. Without lowering standards, we should also seek ways to make the final examination easier to master for those from a different native language background. A starting point here is to formulate examination assignments in a way that is readily comprehensible. It should also be possible for candidates to use dictionaries or translation aids.

REINHOLD WEIß
Prof. Dr., Deputy President of the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB) and Head of Research

Translation from the German original (published in BWP 6/2016): Martin Kelsey, Global Sprach Team, Berlin