Leveraging Language as an Employability Asset in Career and Technical Education

The Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) announced February is CTE Month (https://www.acteonline.org/why-cte/cte-awareness/cte-month/), and one technical school in Pennsylvania is launching an innovative credentialing initiative to kick the month off with style.  

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Language Proficiency: A Compliance Issue in Healthcare Amidst Tech Advances

In an era where AI-driven tools significantly influence the healthcare scenario, the following questions arise: Why should healthcare institutions diligently monitor and assess their employees’ language skills? Could technology reduce the need for human intervention in healthcare settings and reshape the landscape of language proficiency testing?

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How Many Spanish Dialects Are There?

How Many Spanish Dialects Are There?
Over half a billion people speak Spanish. Spanish is also the national language in 20 countries and one dependent territory. With its global reach, it’s no surprise that the language has variations across diverse regions and countries. Understanding the number of dialects is vital for native speakers, educators, linguists, and language learners as it impacts communication, culture, and identity. Dialect awareness is an essential part of teaching and learning any language. Being mindful of dialects gives you deeper insights into the foundation of a language and makes communication and proficiency between dialects that much smoother. If you would like to understand the significance of how one language can vary, Language Testing International® (LTI®) is a key resource for language proficiency assessment and understanding Spanish dialects.
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Language Testing for Interpreters

Language Testing for Interpreters

Language proficiency testing helps individuals start their journey toward becoming certified interpreters. It also helps individuals demonstrate language proficiency to prospective employers and makes it easier for employers to evaluate prospective candidates’ language skills. 

Using a reliable and valid language proficiency test helps companies ensure they hire the most qualified candidates. A language proficiency test is also beneficial for interpreters because it’s the first step to advancing their careers.

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Best Jobs for Bilingual Chinese Speakers

Best Jobs for Bilingual Chinese Speakers

According to Statista data from 2023, Chinese is the second most-spoken language in the world, with more than 1.1 billion Mandarin Chinese speakers.

As a result, the ability to speak Chinese has become an important skill in the workforce — many companies seek employees who can effectively communicate with clients and partners in China or conduct business in China. If you’re bilingual in Chinese and English, you can pursue numerous meaningful career paths with the help of your language skills.

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Elevating Your Language Proficiency and Role in Delivering Quality Healthcare

Is your proficiency in multiple languages the missing link needed to enhance the ability of the healthcare system to serve patients with limited English skills? What lies ahead for multilingual professionals in healthcare? Will ongoing training and assessments remain crucial for your career relevance in healthcare, even with the integration of artificial intelligence into the healthcare system?

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Language at Work: Leveraging the Power of AI in Language Education, Part 2

By Dan Edwards, Ed.D. and Kevin Gaugler, Ph.D.

From the learner’s perspective, AI might turn out to be an ideal complement to Steven Krashen’s Input Hypothesis. According to Krashen, language learners advance by understanding input that is slightly beyond their current level of comprehension, often denoted as ””i+1,” where ‘i’ represents the learner’s current level of language proficiency.

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Foreign Language Anxiety: What Is It and How to Overcome It?

As a language learner, have you found yourself filled with dread when needing to speak in a new language?  Your heart is racing, palms sweating, and words escaping your mind when trying to speak. If this scenario sounds familiar, you’re not alone. In fact, this heightened feeling of stress has a name: Foreign Language Anxiety (FLA). Many of us language learners experience foreign language anxiety – that gnawing sense of self-doubt and nervousness. In this blog post, we’ll look at this anxiety from a learner’s perspective, exploring its roots and discussing some practical strategies to overcome it. 

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Language at Work: Leveraging the Power of AI in Language Education, Part 1

By Dan Edwards, Ed.D. and Kevin Gaugler, Ph.D.

In education, the rise of AI-powered tools like ChatGPT has been met with a mix of enthusiasm and caution. Certainly, concerns over the use of artificial intelligence and academic integrity are warranted and should not be overlooked. However, this post aims to shed light on the immediate positive potential of using artificial intelligence platforms like ChatGPT in the language classroom and how it can be deployed today to support second language educators and second language learners.

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