Empower is having a positive impact on student motivation and is helping teachers to increase their confidence when using technology, according to a series of impact studies.
The impact study was designed by experts in Cambridge and carried out on institutions from several countries that have been using Empower since 2015. This included participation from schools, colleges, and universities around the world from countries including Brazil, Russia, Türkiye, and the UK. The study found that students taking the Empower English language course have positive attitudes to learning English with 96% saying that they felt Empower improved their performance. Eighty-one percent also said they felt they could learn English well with Empower.
Positive impact on motivation
The study also found that Empower had a positive impact on student motivation and confidence with 25% more students saying they were studying every day outside the class by the end of their course. The report also showed that 95% of teachers said they were confident in using technology in their teaching after the course, compared to 74% before the course.
The study included contributions from institutions ranging from large universities to private language schools. This included participation from ITMO University, Saint Petersburg, Russia, Moscow Pedagogical State University, University of Sheffield, UK, and the Instituo da Lingua inglesa Cuiaba, Brazil.
The study was carried out using a combination of language tests throughout the course and at the start, middle, and end of the programme. Hundreds of students and teachers took part in the study by completing questionnaires. The study also looked at data from around 1500 Empower students with the aim of finding out the impact Empower has on attitudes, engagement, and English language ability.
The team in Cambridge behind the study say the data can also be used to continue to improve their English language learning products in the future and inform teaching practices across the world. The study can also be used to help the schools and colleges that took part to get a good understanding of how effective their English language programmes really are and what they can do to improve them.