“People learn faster when they are engaged and can control their own pace. With this in mind we designed a system that makes learning more personalized and flexible,” says Dr. Enio Ohmaye, EF’s Chief Technology Officer and former senior scientist at Apple. “By combining our experience in English teaching with state-of-the-art technology, we can ensure that people learn exactly what they need- no more and no less. This is a complete breakthrough in learning a language.”

EF’s proprietary method is the result of over USD 55 million in investment and extensive work conducted at EF’s research units in Shanghai, Zurich, and the University of Cambridge. Features include:

Cutting-edge speech recognition technology

24-hour access to online English teachers 500 Hollywood-style videos and 1,500 hours of customized interactive lessons

Mobile applications including pod-English videos and study tools

The world’s largest online social learning community EF Englishtown Friends

The EFCELT (EF Cambridge English Level Test)- an exclusive proficiency test developed by EF and University of Cambridge ESOL

Background

Ericsson is a world-leading provider of tele­communications equipment and related services to mobile and fixed network operators globally. In an effort to serve their increasingly global market, Ericsson Italy needed to pass a Corporate Certification which would enable their local support center in Italy to become a communications center for customers all over the world. In order to do this, Ericsson needed to immediately improve the English of a specific segment of employees.

Long term, they would need to raise the level for 1,000 employees working in the customer communications center who would need to be able to speak English with customers, write coherent reports and attend meetings in English. In deciding on the best type of training, Ericsson took into consideration the short time frame in which they hoped to see the improvement, the number of employees who needed training, the logistical effort needed to plan lessons, and the busy schedules of the individual employees.

Execution

Ericsson decided online training was the best approach for the majority of their target group due to its flexibility. They evaluated potential providers on criteria such as course quality, customer service, reporting and follow-up, testing and the presence of local offices close to their main sites. EF Corporate Language Training was selected as the preferred supplier for this project – EF has been working with Ericsson on a global level for more than 6 years.

Ericsson used their internal Communications Department to widely publicize the project, named “English for all,” to employees and managers via meetings, posters, brochures, kick offs and distributions of study guides and instruction manuals. EF worked with Ericsson to segment the students who needed language training and helped them set individual monthly targets. These study targets were included in the Performance objectives of both the employees and their managers. This ensured that training remained a priority and encouraged the manager to work with the employee in order to meet the training objectives. Managers can easily stay on top of the training progress with on-demand access to reports via EF’s online reporting system.

Benefit

The results of the online training were immediately visible. The first group of students exceeded their initial goal of each student completing 4 or more study units (approximately 32 hours of study) in less than 2 months. To date, over 700 Ericsson employees have been trained; the majority are on target with their studies and feel they have already improved their English level significantly. In addition, Ericsson in Italy passed the CorporateCertification enabling the local support function to become a global communications center.

Since EF handles most of the reporting and logistics, the training department can focus on other projects rather than devoting resources to monitoring the success of the English training program. The full dedication and commitment of Ericsson to the project and their willingness to work closely with EF really fostered a positive learning environment that in turn helped produce quick results. This integral approach has been a key factor in the success of this project.