Connecting Communication and Soft Skills

As an international language and a basic skill, English has become increasingly necessary for employability and professional success. While the CEFR and GSE have broadened our understanding of communicative competence, traditionally most texts and many programs continue to focus on the subskill of linguistic competence at the expense of sociolinguistic and pragmatic competence, which both entail the soft skills employers seek. By presenting a learning model that includes the soft skills most requested by employers today, Connectivity coauthors Joan Saslow and Allen Ascher will demonstrate how we can expand learners’ communicative competence using the following principles: building awareness of the importance of soft skills, integrating soft skills practice with traditional language practice, keeping expectations commensurate with students’ language level, and including cultural fluency practice as a key soft skill for English as an international language.

Ms. Joan Saslow 

Ms. Saslow has taught adults and young adults in a variety of programs in South America and the U.S. She is author of a number of widely used courses, some of which are Pearson’s Ready to Go, Workplace Plus, Literacy Plus, and English in Context. She was the series director of True Colors and True Voices, also from Pearson. Ms. Saslow has participated in the English Language Specialist Program of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. She is fluent in Spanish. 

Ms. Saslow has a BA and MA in French from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Mr. Allen Ascher

Mr. Ascher has been an ELT teacher, teacher-trainer, program administrator, consultant, and publisher. He is author of the “Teaching Speaking” module of Pearson’s Teacher Development Interactive, an online multimedia teacher training program. 

In addition to two years serving as a “foreign expert” in Beijing, China, Mr. Ascher was academic director of the International English Language Institute at Hunter College and taught in the ELT teaching certificate program at the New School in New York City.

Mr. Ascher has an MA in Applied Linguistics from Ohio University in Athens, Ohio.