Team English Needs Questionnaire
A useful needs questionnaire asks where an employee uses English, what they need to do, how often the task occurs and what currently gets in the way. Broad categories such as "meetings" help with context, but a specialised programme needs a concrete recurring task. The questionnaire should remain separate from the placement test: one describes the work, while the other provides language evidence.
Author: Ksenia Izotova
Public sample
- What is your role, and where do you use English in your work?Ask for the general picture first. The employee will describe specific tasks later.
- What do you need to do in English?Choose one route:
- I have specific work tasks or situations I regularly do in English.
- I mainly want to improve my English in general, including for work.
- Which work situations matter now or in the next 6−12 months?Let the employee choose up to three: meetings, emails and chat, presentations, phone and video calls, international colleagues, customers or clients, interviews, negotiations, reading or writing documents.
- What gets in the way when you use English at work now?Ask for an example: an unexpected question, slow word retrieval, a missed detail on a call or too much time spent writing a short message.
How to interpret the answers
Use the selected situations for context and grouping. Treat the route as specialised only when the employee selects a specific work need and describes a concrete recurring task. Otherwise, start with a general English route. Determine level separately through placement assessment.
Full editable template content
The downloadable version must include the exact questions, examples and routing below.
- What is your role, and where do you use English in your work?
Long answer, required. - What do you need to do in English?
Single choice, required. Routes to specific work needs or general development. - Which work situations matter for you now or in the next 6–12 months?
Multiple selection, maximum three, optional, shown to all. Include an Other text field. - What exactly do you need to do, and how often?
Long answer, required only for the specific-work route. - What gets in the way when you use English at work now?
Long answer, required and shown to all.
The specific-work example should ask for task plus frequency, such as run weekly stand-ups twice a week or write handover notes daily.
Author: Ksenia Izotova