Motivating employees to learn languages: what really works

Why does motivation in language courses often drop after a few weeks?

Motivation usually drops not because people lack willpower, but because of conditions the company shapes itself: no protected learning time, so day-to-day business pushes the course aside; content unrelated to work; groups with too wide a range of levels; invisible progress; and managers who treat the course as optional. All of these factors can be influenced.

Many HR departments know the typical pattern: everyone attends the kick-off, after four weeks the first people miss sessions because of customer appointments, and after three months half the group is in class. In the end, people say the employees simply weren’t motivated.

From my experience running language programmes and teaching at universities, this diagnosis is almost always wrong. Adult professionals are generally quite willing to learn a language. What undermines their motivation are conditions the company itself creates: lack of time, content with no connection to work, groups with too wide a range of levels, no feedback on progress and managers who quietly treat the course as dispensable.

Well-designed language courses for companies do not leave motivation to chance; they treat it as a design task, from the needs analysis to reporting.

Three typical reasons for falling attendance

• Competing appointments: day-to-day business always beats the course if nobody protects the learning time.
• Lack of relevance: coursebook dialogues about booking a hotel help nobody who has to negotiate with a supplier tomorrow.
• Invisible progress: if you don’t notice you are getting better, you lose patience.

What drives motivation for language learning at work: autonomy, competence, relatedness

A helpful framework is the self-determination theory of psychologists Edward Deci and Richard Ryan. It describes three basic psychological needs whose fulfilment promotes high-quality, self-determined motivation: autonomy, competence and relatedness (Center for Self-Determination Theory). Applied to workplace language training, these needs translate into concrete design principles.

This leads to an uncomfortable conclusion: compulsory courses with no say, large anonymous groups and programmes without feedback violate all three needs at once. No bonus in the world makes up for that.

Creating relevance: linking language training to real work situations

The strongest motivator in workplace language training is the experience that what you learnt helps the very next day. Lessons therefore start from real situations: learners bring their own emails, presentations and minutes, role plays recreate upcoming conversations, vocabulary comes from their own industry, and tasks between lessons are real work tasks rather than gap-fill exercises.

How to make lessons work-related

• Learners bring their own emails, presentations and minutes, which are improved in class.
• Role plays recreate upcoming conversations, such as the project meeting with the customer in Manchester.
• Vocabulary is built from the learner’s own industry and company.
• Tasks between lessons are real work tasks, not gap-fill exercises.

An example from sales

A saleswoman from Augsburg (example) prepares in class the presentation she will give two weeks later to a customer in Dublin. The teacher works with her on structure, phrasing and answers to critical questions. After the meeting, the class discusses what went well and what she wants to do differently next time. Motivation here does not come from appeals but from an immediately noticeable benefit.

The basis for this is a careful needs analysis at the start, because that is the only way to plan content that makes sense to learners. The article on planning corporate language training describes the whole process. For teams that mainly communicate internationally, Business English courses with case work from their own daily routine are particularly effective.

The manager’s role in motivating employees to learn languages

Managers motivate language learning mainly through five things: they protect learning time and do not schedule meetings during class, they ask about the course in regular one-to-ones, they delegate tasks that require the language, they allow mistakes, and they learn themselves as role models. They do not need expert language skills of their own to do this.

Managers indirectly decide whether a language programme lives or dies. They do not have to be language experts, but they constantly send signals: is learning time protected? Does anyone ask about the course? Is progress recognised?

What managers can do in practice

1. Protect learning time: do not schedule meetings during class time, and do not accept cancelled lessons as normal.
2. Show interest: briefly ask in your regular team meeting what people are currently working on.
3. Enable application: give learners tasks where they can use the language, such as part of a presentation in English.
4. Allow mistakes: anyone who is criticised for errors after their first phone call in English won’t try again.
5. Be a role model: managers who are learning themselves and talk about their own uncertainties considerably lower the threshold for their team.

Phrases for one-to-one conversations

• “Where has the course already helped you in concrete terms over the last few weeks?”
• “Which situation in English would you like to handle more confidently next?”
• “What do you need from me so that you can attend the lessons regularly?”
• “I noticed you led the customer meeting yourself this time. That was a big step.”

Reducing fear of speaking: psychological safety in company language courses

You reduce fear of speaking in a company language course by creating psychological safety: homogeneous groups at a similar level, ideally without direct managers, no more than six participants, one-to-one training for managers or very insecure learners, and correction with a sense of proportion instead of interrupting every sentence. That way, employees dare to say what they have long understood.

Many adults learnt at school that mistakes are punished. In a professional context, there is the added worry of looking bad in front of colleagues or even their own manager. This fear is one of the biggest hidden motivation killers.

In our courses, we often see that employees understand considerably more than they dare to say. Good training targets exactly this gap between understanding and speaking.

How psychological safety is created

• Homogeneous groups: people at a similar level, ideally without direct managers in the same group.
• Small groups: with four people, the atmosphere is more personal than with twelve. There should be no more than six.
• One-to-one training for sensitive cases: for managers or very insecure learners, one-to-one is often the best way to start.
• Correction with a sense of proportion: good teachers correct selectively and at the right moment instead of interrupting every sentence.

Learners who want to work on their fear of speaking themselves will find tips in our article on overcoming the fear of speaking English.

Which incentives motivate employees to learn languages?

In language learning, learning time during working hours has the strongest effect, because it signals appreciation and lowers barriers. A recognised certificate as a goal makes sense when it matches the need, as does a fair link to career paths. Cash bonuses bring short-term attendance but little learning, rankings shame many, and compulsory attendance without a say produces presence without engagement.

Realistic expectations are also a motivating factor. Anyone who believes they will be fluent in eight weeks will be disappointed. I explain how long it actually takes to move from one level to the next in the article How long does it take to learn English? How employees in Germany can also use Bildungsurlaub (educational leave) for a language course is explained in a separate article.

Making learning progress visible: feedback, metrics and small wins

You make learning progress visible with a placement test at the start and interim tests, a fine-grained scale such as the Global Scale of English, can-do statements, a portfolio of successful emails and conversations, and regular feedback to HR and managers. Otherwise, progress often stays invisible to learners during a long learning process. Visible progress strengthens the sense of competence and therefore motivation.

Tools that have proved effective

• Placement at the start and interim tests: objective measurement points show progress, even when it feels slow.
• Fine-grained scales: the Global Scale of English measures smaller steps than the six CEFR levels and shows progress earlier. I have described how this works in companies for Pearson: Measuring the ROI of Business English.
• Can-do statements: “I can open a status meeting and allocate tasks” motivates more than a score.
• Learning journal or portfolio: successful emails, presentations and conversations are collected.
• Feedback to HR and management: attendance and progress are reported regularly, so that recognition becomes possible.

How to derive robust metrics for the company from this is shown in the article on measuring language training success.

Reaching different learners: motivation is not the same for everyone

Motivation is not the same for everyone. The returner with shaky school English needs a safe setting, the busy professional needs short fixed sessions with content from current projects, the high achiever needs demanding tasks and a certificate as a goal, and the sceptic needs a clear link to their own work. A programme that treats everyone the same will inevitably lose part of the group.

What this means for course planning

These profiles are not pigeonholes, but they help when forming groups and in conversations before the course starts. Putting the returner and the high achiever in the same group frustrates both. If you don’t ask the sceptic about their work situations, you lose them after the second lesson. A short preliminary conversation with each person, which should be part of the needs analysis anyway, makes these differences visible. Our teachers are trained to respond to such differences in class.

The same principles apply to international colleagues learning German. For them, there is often the double burden of a new job and a new country. Short, flexible online German courses during working hours take a lot of pressure off.

Typical motivation killers and a checklist for HR

The most common motivation killers are awkward course times such as Friday afternoons or lunch breaks, groups with wide differences in level, changing teachers without coordination, content unrelated to work, no feedback on progress, clashing appointments and unrealistic goals. A motivating programme involves learners in the needs analysis, groups them by level with no more than six people and fixes sessions within working hours.

The most common motivation killers

1. Courses on Friday afternoons or during the lunch break
2. Groups with wide differences in level
3. Changing teachers without coordination
4. Content with no link to the learners’ own work
5. No feedback on progress
6. Managers who let appointments clash with lessons
7. Unrealistic goals and deadlines

On the third point: at choices®, course continuity is our priority. If a teacher does change, there is always a structured handover, so the group does not have to start again.

Checklist for a motivating language programme

• Needs analysis carried out with learners involved
• Personal learning goals agreed together
• Groups formed by level, no more than six people
• Fixed sessions agreed within working hours
• Managers informed and involved
• Progress measurement and feedback planned
• Successes made visible and recognised

Additional rules apply to distributed teams, as described in the article on language training for remote teams. And if you need to apply for funding, you will find arguments in the article on planning your language training budget.

The choices® methodology team, which I lead, develops programmes in which motivation is built in from the start. Find out more on our page about language courses for companies or in a personal conversation via our contact page.

Sources

1. selfdeterminationtheory.org: theory
2. ef.de: germany
3. pearson.com: gse roi business english measurable advantage 11 25

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Łukasz Pakuła

Head of Studies at choices®. Adjunct Assistant Professor at the University of Maryland Global Campus, lecturer at HM Business School Munich and Kempten University of Applied Sciences. Doctoral studies in applied linguistics, publications with Springer and Equinox, among others. More about us