Digital Language Tutor: Enhancing language learning through AI-powered conversation partners

Mateusz Jekiel
A business woman on her phone smiling, sat in a office with a laptop on her lap
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With an ever-growing range of learning tools and applications being launched, choosing the right solution can feel overwhelming. However, the Digital Language Tutor for Mondly by ɫèAV distinguishes itself as an innovative solution aimed at helping corporate clients enhance their listening and speaking abilities in relevant business contexts.

The Digital Language Tutor is targeted at professionals who speak at least a B1 level of English (43-50 on the Global Scale of English). It employs AI-powered Conversation Partners to simulate corporate scenarios, providing users with an immersive and interactive learning experience.

In this post we outline the strategic design process behind these Conversation Partners, highlighting the importance of diverse representation, compelling and authentic personality trait development, and integrating level-appropriate language skills alongside essential corporate soft skills to create a comprehensive language learning solution.

Mondly by ɫèAV - Digital language tutor
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The need to speak in language learning

Mastering listening and speaking skills is paramount for professionals, as fluency and confidence in spoken English can significantly impact career progression, networking opportunities, and overall workplace effectiveness.

According to ɫèAV research, 85% of respondents said English is important for their work life, and 88% believe its importance will continue to grow in the next years1.

Traditional language learning methods often fall short in providing real-life conversational practice, especially in specialized contexts like corporate settings. The Digital Language Tutor bridges this gap by offering personalized, scenario-based interactions with AI-powered Conversation Partners.

1ɫèAV, 2024,ÌýHow English empowers your tomorrow: The life-changing impact of learning English on your career and beyond.

Designing conversation partners for the Digital Language Tutor

The primary objectives in crafting the Conversation Partners were to:

  • Create an authentic and immersive learning environment that reflects modern workplaces,
  • Represent a diverse range of characters to reflect the global nature of modern working environments, foster inclusivity and cultural awareness,
  • Develop compelling and authentic personalities for those characters to create immersive, interactive and engaging experiences that reflect real life,
  • Embed essential corporate soft skills into the creation of each character's personality traits to enhance the relevance of the conversations.

To achieve these goals, we customized ten unique Conversation Partners and designed their distinct personality traits that lend authenticity to each character and align with essential corporate soft skills like active listening, conflict resolution and teamwork.

Interacting with this diverse cast of characters exposes users to a variety of communication styles, enhancing their ability to adapt and respond effectively in real-life professional situations.

Fostering authenticity and engagement

The diverse backgrounds and personalities of the Conversation Partners contribute to an authentic and engaging learning experience. Our clients can practice speaking with characters who simulate the behaviors and communication styles of real coworkers, making the practice sessions more relevant, practical and beneficial for their professional growth.

Developing soft business skills

By embedding essential corporate soft skills into the creation of the character's personalities, our corporate clients can apply and transfer their business skills into an immersive English-only environment. This approach not only improves language proficiency but aids in the transfer of existing skills and provides further exposure to culturally relevant practices related to conducting business in our increasingly globalized workplace.

Promoting inclusivity and representation

The inclusion of characters from various ethnicities and backgrounds ensures that the Digital Language Tutor is inclusive and representative of today's workplaces. This allows us to foster a sense of belonging and cultural awareness, which is crucial for effective cross-cultural communication and collaboration in modern professional environments.

Empowering for success in the workplace

The Digital Language Tutor for Mondly by ɫèAV shows the innovative use of AI in language learning, particularly in enhancing speaking and listening skills through authentic and engaging interactions.

By designing Conversation Partners from diverse cultural backgrounds with embedded soft business skills, we have created a tool that not only improves language proficiency but also provides valuable skills practice in realistic and relevant professional contexts. This approach sets a new standard for language learning applications, emphasizing the importance of diversity, authenticity and practical skill integration.

As we continue to expand our educational solutions, we remain committed to providing our clients, customers and learners with the most effective and inclusive tools to achieve their language learning goals and thrive in their professional lives.

Explore Digital Language Tutor

Want to learn more about Mondly by ɫèAV and the Digital Language Tutor? Register for our webinar now, exclusively for HR and Talent Development professionals.

Register for the webinar here

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    6 tips for planning your first English classes

    By Nicole Kyriacou

    You are nervous, yet excited. You want to appear relaxed and fun, but still be taken seriously. Most of all, you are keen to make an excellent first impression.

    With all that in mind - planning your first English classes of the year can be a daunting experience.

    Here are six things to consider when planning your first classes:

    1. Set clear aims

    Whether you are teaching young learners, teenagers or adults, it’s important you discuss the aims and objectives of the course from day one. You’ll need to learn more about your students' needs to do this. Why are they learning English? Do they want to prepare for an official exam? What activities do they enjoy? What things do they need to improve the most?

    The way you do this will depend on the age of your learners. For example, with adults and teens, you could get them to interview each other and write a report about what they found out. With younger children, do a survey they can complete using smiley faces.

    2. Find out students’ interests

    Although you should understand your students' needs and why they want to learn English - to help make your classes relevant and engaging - you should also discover what they enjoy doing outside of class.

    To do this, get students to write mini bios you can stick around the classroom. Or have them prepare presentations where they share something they are passionate about with the rest of the class - using coursebooks. As a class, go through the contents page, vote on which topics students find most interesting, and start with those.

    3. Break the ice

    You want your first class to be fun so that students are motivated, and associate English language learning with something they can enjoy. Ice-breakers can also be an excellent way to get to know each other and learn about your students' current level of English.

    Activities where students have to ask each other questions work well.

    4. Provide a comfortable environment

    Young learners and teenagers tend to be shy at the start of a course - especially if they don’t know each other. Develop a rapport and break down boundaries by including team-building activities in your first class.ÌýYour aim is to have all the students feeling more comfortable with each other before the end of the lesson so that there are no awkward silences in future lessons.

    5. Manage expectations

    Managing expectations is an essential part of a teacher's job. Make sure in the first class you are clear about what you expect from your students and what they can expect from you.

    Have students brainstorm the rules for the class and then make a big poster or ‘class contract’ which all students have to sign. Display the poster on the wall so you can always refer to it if someone misbehaves.

    Try to keep the rules as positive as possible. Instead of writing: 'Don’t speak your first language', write: 'Try to always speak English and ask if you don’t know a word'. If you are feeling really brave, you can even get your students to devise a list of rules for you which you can display on the wall next to theirs.

    6. Make it challenging

    It’s great making your first lesson fun - but there’s nothing more motivating than leaving a new class and feeling like you’ve made a good decision and you are going to learn lots (and you aren’t wasting your time or money). This is especially important for adult learners.

    So, as well as getting to know each other and finding out their needs, teach them something new. This could be 10 new pieces of vocabulary, how to structure a letter or report, or a list of resources they can use at home to practice their English.