English has gained global significance in recent years becoming an important language for trade relations and marketing among the world countries. Within the Kingdom, it has acquired precedence owing to its role in acquiring lucrative jobs or for business opportunities even as Arabic remains the dominant language in the gulf region.
Saudi schools are keen on enhancing the English language skills of their students with the aim for better job prospects and to promote social interaction with the non-Arabic speaking communities.
Recently, seven high schools across the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia administered a new English assessment tool, Aptis to 900 students to test their strengths and weaknesses in English communication. Aptis is a testing tool introduced by the British Council in Saudi Arabia.
An additional 8,000 students are scheduled to sit for Aptis in Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam, as part of a multi-phased project.
Brian Young, deputy regional manager for professional exams at the British Council, explains that Aptis was launched in Saudi Arabia as a way of helping organizations benchmark English language levels among students or employees, and identify language training needs.
“Aptis is also the ideal exam for companies wanting to filter potential candidates for recruitment,” he said.
Aptis is a flexible test tailored to meet the needs of an organization or institution and can be delivered by the organization itself and test only the language skills they want to focus on, such as speaking, listening, reading or writing.
The British Council says Aptis was designed to meet the needs of organizations around the world, and is used by those wanting a flexible and adaptable English language test that can provide reliable results within 24 hours. Aptis tests all four English skills — reading, writing, listening and speaking in combination with a core grammar and vocabulary component. It is usually taken online, although a pen and paper version is also available. Organizations have the choice to take the full exam or test only one or more specific skills, depending on their requirements, with the exam also being customizable in terms of both content and appearance.
Young explained that Aptis can be administered by individual organizations and it can be co-branded as their own test, but it’s qualified to an international standard by a respected governing body in the British Council. Thus, employers can be confident about the qualification, which puts these new graduates on an even footing with their contemporaries.
Research previously commissioned by the British Council shows that English language skills are vital for economic development in the Middle East and North Africa, with speakers of English earning up to three times as much as non-English speakers.
Philip Rylah, MENA examinations director for the British Council, said that most young people in the region have a clear understanding of the importance of English and its role in helping them to gain employment with multinational companies either within their country or abroad, with employment in international economic hubs such as the United Arab Emirates a typical target.
The research, carried out in eight countries by Euromonitor International, shows that English fluency can have a major impact on income in the MENA region. The salary gap between similarly-skilled individuals who speak English and those who do not ranges from 5 percent in Tunisia to 75 percent in Egypt — and even 200 percent for some workers in Iraq’s capital Baghdad.
“This is the Arab world and Arabic is the key language of the region. However, in an increasingly globalized economy many organizations need strong English skills to be able to interact effectively with the outside world, and to deliver high levels of customer service to the English-speaking audience within the country,” Rylah said adding, “By helping organizations improve their ability to do international deals we help bring income into the region and hence provide employment for local people.”