EF English Live Business

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CertifiedEducation quality
08/2019
EF English Live Business

EF English Live Business

EF Education First
English language learning
EF English Live Business offers courses in professional English for beginners to high level learners.

EF English Live Business offers a blend of highly engaging course content, unlimited access to online group classes and private review classes with your own teacher as standard. The service offers courses on various language levels and different business-related topics and the content can be customized to individual needs. Learning is based on interactive content and sessions with your live tutor.

Age groups 
Professional education
Languages 
English
Spanish
Japanese
Chinese
Portuguese
German
French
Italian
Korean
Thai
Russian
Arabic
Indonesian
Turkish
Simplified Chinese
Cantonese
Platform 
Browser-based
Mobile Android
Mobile iOS
Registration 
Required
Offline play 
Internet required
Pictures
Videos
Pedagogy
Educational Quality
Learning Goals

The pedagogical analysis covers how the product supports learning of the identified skills. The student’s role is assessed by four contrary pair parameters, which are selected to cover the most essential aspects on the use of the product.

Passive
Active
The student needs to be active throughout the whole course. The course provides a lot of interesting pre-curated materials and the way they show them is interactive and engaging. These materials are current and connected to the real world. In order to progress, it is necessary to use new information and skills. The course also provides encouragement via email and offers interactive help if needed. All areas of language learning are practiced.
Rehearse
Construct
Users prior knowledge on the language is assessed and the courses are recommended based on it. In the course, it is necessary to repeat the tasks until the learner gets them correct, which makes sure the learner is actively engaging. The solution also teaches a lot of learning to learn skills such as good strategies for reading long texts. The learner feels well taken care of throughout the course - for example after a private lesson the student receives feedback and recommendations.
Linear
Non-linear/Creative
Each unit follows linear, predetermined user progression, which makes language learning easier. It also has clear goals and a clear start and finish. The user can determine the study pace, and the learning analytics clearly tell, what you have learned. All aspects of language learning are taken into account, and a course provides a highly effective tool for all learners.
Individual
Collaborative
Progress depends on the user's own action and they can self-regulate their own learning, decide how much they’re going to do in a day and scheduling their own group/private classes. The user can act and progress autonomously, but if needed they can choose to be advised by a teacher. The group classes and private classes allow social interaction through digital channels as part of the learning experience, which is a great addition and enables the use of spoken language naturally.

The following are the high educational quality aspects in this product.

The solution offers plenty of opportunities to practice your English skills - covering all aspects at the right level for you based on the initial placement test.
Effective combination of independent studying with interactives and practice with peers and/or private teacher via live video sessions.
The learning materials (texts, talks and dialogues) are all relevant and interesting, and there is a good amount of humor in the exercises as well.
Plenty of support and encouragement to go forward. The student can flexibly choose their own pace and goals.

The supported learning goals are identified by matching the product with several relevant curricula descriptions on this subject area. The soft skills are definitions of learning goals most relevant for the 21st century. They are formed by taking a reference from different definitions of 21st century skills and Finnish curriculum.

Subject based learning goals

The solution is inline with CEFR framework for second language learning and includes content for all CEFR levels.

Soft skills learning goals

Learning to listen other people’s opinions
Practicing to notice causal connections
Learning to build information on top of previously learned
Learning to combine information to find new innovations
Practicing to notice links between subjects learned
Getting familiar with different cultures
Learning about different languages
Encouraging to build new information and visions
Learning about cultural aspects and to respect different cultures
Practicing to argument clearly own opinions and reasonings
Practicing communication through different channels
Practicing to use foreign language as a communication tool
Practicing to express own thoughts and feelings
Learning to use foreign language in work context
Practicing versatile ways of working
Connecting subjects learned at school to skills needed at working life
Learning to understand and interpret diverse types of texts, from vernacular to academic
Learning to understand and interpret diverse types of texts
Practicing to use information independently and interactively
Learning to plan and design own written content and textual representations
Using technology for interaction and collaboration
Using technology to express one’s emotions and experiences
Using technology for interaction and collaboration (also internationally)
Practicing letters, alphabets and written language
Practicing memorizing skills
Practicing to observe spoken and written language
Practicing persistent working
Practicing to take responsibility of one's own learning
Practicing to set one's own learning goals
Learning to find the joy of learning and new challenges
Practicing creative thinking
Practicing to improvise
Learning to recognise and evaluate arguments and their reasonings
Practicing to create questions and make justifiable arguments based on observations
Practicing to look things from different perspectives
Learning to face respectfully people and follow the good manners
Learning to understand people, surroundings and phenomenons around us
Supporting student to build their own linguistic and cultural identity
Learning about different countries and their characteristics
Practicing to work with others
Learning decision-making, influencing and accountability
Practicing to give, get and reflect feedback
Enabling the growth of positive self-image
Practicing time management
Encouraging positive attitude towards working life
Practicing decision making
Realizing the connection between subjects learned in free time and their impact to skills needed at worklife
Practicing logical reasoning to understand and interpret information in different forms
Using technology as a part of explorative and creative process
Practicing categorization and classification
Practising visual recognition
Learning to notice causal connections
Practicing to use imagination and to be innovative
Practicing to use imagination and to be innovative
Practicing to recognize and express feelings
Encouraging the growth of positive self-image
Using technology as a part of explorative process

The Finnish Educational Quality Certificate

Our Quality Evaluation Method is an academically sound approach to evaluating a product’s pedagogical design from the viewpoint of educational psychology.

The method has been developed with university researchers and all evaluators are carefully selected Finnish teachers with a master's degree in education.

More about the evaluation