The Beatles and Harry Potter Inspire English Language Learning

The Beatles and Harry Potter Inspire English Language Learning

LONDON, January 8, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --



It's January - the perfect time to start a new challenge. And for nearly a third of
people that challenge is to learn a new language. But what is the motivation? Whilst for
some it is about gaining business advantage, for others it is being able to sing the words
to their favourite song or understand their favourite film. Today Pearson, the world's
leading learning company, has published research which shows that The Beatles and the
Harry Potter film series have been voted as the most popular sources of culture that help
people learn the English language, fighting off competition from the likes of Justin
Timberlake, One Direction, Madonna and Adele, and TV series House of Cards[1] .



(Photo:
http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150108/724024-INFO )




(Logo:
http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140703/694633 )




The research - commissioned by Pearson English, the English language learning division
of Pearson - surveyed over 6,000 English language learners from 12 countries to understand
more about why and how they choose to learn English as a second language. Whilst the key
driver for many was to make travelling abroad easier (56%), over 50% are motivated to
learn English to improve their career prospects, and with 82% of respondents stating that
English should be the official language of business it is easy to see why. The results
reflect a recent LinkedIn[2] survey in which 80% of global businesses agreed that
individuals who are able to speak good English are more likely to succeed in their
business.



There is a clear demand to master the English language for both personal and
professional reasons; and to help individuals understand their proficiency, Pearson
English has developed the Global Scale of English (GSE) - the world's first truly global
standard for recognising and quantifying the level of an individual's English. The GSE
will allow people across the world to clearly benchmark their English ability, whether
they are learning the language to understand the lyrics to a Lady Gaga track or trying to
secure their next big career move.



Perhaps not surprisingly the research showed that those surveyed believe that William
Shakespeare (42%) has demonstrated the best mastery of the English language. Perhaps more
surprising is their choice of celebrity English teacher - whilst you might think the
majority might like to take lessons with royals, William and Kate, it is in fact the
billionaire Microsoft boss, Bill Gates, who wins out with 19% of the vote, narrowly
beating his fellow countryman Barack Obama (14%). And who is it that these learners are
looking to for inspiration? Well it seems that Canadian songstress, Celine Dion, is the
non-native English speaker who has gone on to achieve most success through learning
English, according to 27% of respondents, just ahead of Colombian diva, Shakira (25%).



'Thank you' is the most useful English word cited by respondents, and showing that we
are all romantics at heart 'love' is the favourite English word.



Visit http://www.english.com for more information on the Global Scale of English
or http://www.linkedin.com/company/pearson-english.



About the Global Scale of English:



The Global Scale of English means English language proficiency no longer needs to be
measured in vague terms like basic, intermediate or advanced. It enables English learners
to accurately score and communicate their English language skills and progress on a
granular, numeric scale from 10-90 providing a far more precise measurement of the
learner's ability than any existing methods which tend to categorise in broad bands. It is
rooted in real life so that learners can clearly see what they can achieve at every level,
for example, if you score 29 on the scale, you are able to identify and order very common
food and drink from a menu; at 62, you can write a structured review of a film, book or
play; at 74 you can extract the main points from news items with opinions, arguments and
discussion.



About Pearson:



Pearson is the world's leading learning company, with 40,000 employees in more than 80
countries working to help people of all ages to make measurable progress in their lives
through learning.



Pearson English is a division of Pearson and more than 1.5 million teachers and 35
million students use our English language learning resources and tools each year. We offer
dynamic and effective learning solutions to individuals, institutions and corporations in
over 150 countries.



Our key businesses include: Wall Street English (centre based learning for consumers);
Pearson English Business Solutions (online business English learning solutions formerly
known as GlobalEnglish) and ELT (institutional English language publications including
brands such as Longman). In 2013, Pearson announced a strategic investment in English
language learning platform Voxy and acquired Grupo Multi, the leading adult English
Language Training company in Brazil.



In 2014 Pearson English released the Global Scale of English, the world's first
common, global benchmark of English language learning. It measures English language
progress on a numeric scale in a way that is consistent, granular and actionable for
governments, corporates, academics, institutions and learners. The Scale has been created
as an Open Standard for English that meets a global need.



--------------------------------------------------



1. Best female artist to help you learn English - top four: Adele (23%), Madonna
(22%), Katy Perry (13%) and Beyonce (12%)



Best male artist to help you learn English - top four: Justin Timberlake (28%), Bono
(18%), Justin Bieber (15%) and David Guetta (11%)



Best band to help you learn English - top four: The Beatles (48%), U2 (12%), One
Direction (10%) and Nirvana (10%)



Best movie to help you learn English - top four: Harry Potter (36%), The Lord of the
Rings (20%), Star Wars (14%) and X Men (14%)



Best TV programme to help you learn English - top four: House of Cards (24%), Breaking
Bad (19%), Downton Abbey (16%) and Mad Men (14%)



2. LinkedIn research for Pearson English, May 2014






Photo:
http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150108/724024-INFO



http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140703/694633


Photo:http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150108/724024-INFO
http://photoarchive.ap.org/
Photo:http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140703/694633
http://photoarchive.ap.org/
PEARSON English

CONTACT: For more information please contact: Liz Tudball, +44-(0)207-873-3002, liz.tudball@pearson.com


-------
Profile: intent