THE LANGUAGE BAROMETER OF LODZ
Employees, Employers, Students and Universities in Modern Business Services Sector
GENESIS
In addition to the traditional tasks for universities, such as research and education, there has been for many years a discussion about their third mission, i. e., about relations with the social and economic environment. In the existing dialogue between the aforementioned partners, the necessity to create standards and dimensions of academic orientation towards the needs of the labor market is frequently underlined. More and more often initiatives in this field include activities such as creation of new fields of study, education programs, subjects and workshops in consultation with the surrounding business environment.
„Wer fremde Sprachen nicht kennt, weiß nichts von seiner eigenen“
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
The Philology Department of the University of Łódź has been running The Language Barometer of Lodz since 2014. As a long term study it provides a response to the challenges of the Third Mission of Universities.
The aim of the study is to collect, analyze, compare and exchange data concerning foreign and specialist languages on three levels.
The first involves the labor market and related assessment of current employment needs and future demand from employers for candidates with foreign language skills. Furthermore it focuses on desired knowledge of foreign and specialist languages in the workplace, areas of application and most often required language skills, soft competence requirements, future skills etc.
The second level is made up of higher education institutions, the evaluation of the state of research on foreign and specialist languages in academic teaching, the offer of universities in the fields of
neophilological studies created for needs and or in cooperation with the labor market, etc
The third area of research concerns students and candidates for higher education, in particular
the identification of linguistic resources among secondary school students and students in the
context of the local labor market demand, external factors shaping foreign language skills of
candidates for higher education etc
EDITIONS
1/2014: The Language Barometer of Lodz 2014
Publication of first results [DE]
2/2015: Evaluation of company needs in the field of candidates with foreign language skills. Survey results [FSS/2014/HEI/W/0110]
Publication of first results [PL]
3/2015: Focus test results: Students in the “Linguistics for Business (BA)”
4/2017: Foreign and specialist languages in professional communication. The Language Barometer of Lodz 2017
Publication of first results [PL]
5/2018: Foreign and special languages in professional communication. Students questionnaire.
The Language Barometer of Lodz 2018
6/2019: Foreign and special languages in professional communication. Students questionnaire.
The Language Barometer of Lodz 2019
7/2020: Foreign and special languages in professional communication.
The Language Barometer of Lodz 2020 [pilot study, employers]
8/2020: Foreign and special languages in professional communication.
The Language Barometer of Lodz 2020 [pilot study, employees]
9/2021: Employees of the modernbusiness services sector. The Language Barometer of Lodz 2021.
Publication of first results [EN / DE]
10/2022: Students in the Linguistics for Business (BA). The Language Barometer of Lodz 2022
11/2022: Students in the German Philology (BA). The Language Barometer of Lodz 2022
12/2023: The Language Barometer of Lodz 2023 | Germanistik 2.0
Presentation of first results [DE / PL]
A. Stawikowska-Marcinkowska, J. Makowski (2025): Berufskommunikative und fachsprachendidaktische Spezifik der Outsourcing-Branche in Polen (= Speclang. Beiträge zur Berufs- und Fachkommunikation). Göttingen: V&R unipress
RESEARCH TEAM
dr hab. prof. UŁ Jacek Makowski – founder, head of research team, team member
dr Agnieszka Stawikowska-Marcinkowska – secretary of the research team, scientific and business advisor, team member
mgr Kamil Łuczak – business advisor, team member
dr Magda Grzybowska – business advisor, team member
dr Agnieszka Pietrzak – team member
dr Maria Migodzińska – team member
University of Lodz - Faculty of Philology
90-236 Łódź, ul. Pomorska 171/173
+48 733 343 045