Enabling Students to Articulate the Value of Language Skills in an Ever-Changing Work Environment

This paper shares some of the findings of an evaluative research project funded by the Leeds Institute of Teaching Excellence (Brown et al., 2018). The project explored the value of 'Broadening' as part of the Leeds Curriculum and the value of language learning in the context of Institution-Wide Language Provision (IWLP). The paper focuses on the data gathered from interviews with employers and presents the findings around employer expectations of graduates and their perceptions of the value of language skills and cultural awareness. It considers how to enable students to articulate the knowledge, skills, and experience gained during their undergraduate journey. It identifies the value of language skills beyond linguistic competence and maps this to employer expectations. It proposes an end-of-module reflective task for any language module to enable students to articulate their personal 'brand' based on their knowledge and social capital, thus evidencing the breadth of their employability. [For the complete volume, "Innovative Language Teaching and Learning at University: Treasuring Languages," see ED604577.]