Identifying language needs at the workplace: aligning the needs of language learners with the language needs of companies

This chapter focuses on language needs (i.e. needs of language learners and language needs of companies) in order to identify the most crucial language skills in an occupational context. We take up the concept of "domain experts" (employees as language learners as well as experts on workplace communication) and utilise these as the principal sources of information on companies" language needs. The paper further investigates whether these language needs can be partly met by using the pedagogical concept of third language (L3) learning via eTandems. In our empirical study we chose the field of multinational companies. Within it, we examined expectations and experiences from two perspectives - those of the employee and the employer - in order to gain insights enabling the development of realistic tasks, that is, appropriate communicative scenarios, for eTandems. The paper concludes with a list of recommended measures when planning, designing and implementing eTandems.