Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis
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Business Professionals

ESP (English for Specific Purposes) training is English instruction for specific workplace needs. It helps companies and their non-native English speaking employees improve job productivity and job satisfaction as well as reduce job turnover and prepare employees for internal promotion.

ESP Workforce Training is customized for the unique needs and circumstances of each company. Employees, supervisors, and top-level management are included in a needs analysis in order to identify key objectives for the training. Below are descriptions of some of the kinds of training ICIC does.  For more information, download a one-page flyer or  contact ICIC.



Language instruction for professionals

Language instruction is provided one‐on‐one or in small groups for non-native English speaking professionals in local businesses to successfully adapt to Indianapolis and be effective in their work.

Clients have included:



Workforce English language training for immigrant workers

ICIC’s English program for McDonald’s restaurants in the city in 1998 was the first such functional language program offered in the area. Other contracts have included language courses in manufacturing and laundry service facilities in Indianapolis and in towns in the Central Indiana area.

Clients have included:



Intercultural Communication Training

Language and culture impact business communication in a variety of ways.  Training workshops begin with an assessment of your needs, and include specific training in areas such as: 



International Communication Workshops

ICIC has offered intercultural communication workshops for a variety of businesses starting to do work internationally. Sometimes the training has focused on specific cultural and linguistic aspects of the new international business partners, e.g., a Swedish insurance company taking over an insurance company in Indianapolis, or a company learning to understand their new offshore call center workers in India. Other times, the training has dealt with communication with a number of different constituents. For example, when Formula One came to Indianapolis for the first year, ICIC was hired by the Indianapolis Tourist Bureau to offer a workshop for 800 food service professionals and taxi drivers on how to speak and deal with international tourists. In 45‐minute blocks, ICIC taught hundreds of service workers to interact smoothly with international visitors, using tips such as "smile, don’t shout, repeat and ask for repetition, don’t expect tips as you would from U.S. customers."

For its intercultural communication training, ICIC has developed a model of accommodation, in which both parties - native and nonnative speakers alike - learn to adjust their ways of speaking for mutual understanding. This unique model is gaining attention all around the world. In 2006 for example, the ICIC Director was invited by the Government of Iceland to consult with the President and the Ministry of Education about the model and how it can be used in immigrant-Icelander relations.



Training for workforce trainers

ICIC and the Department of English at IUPUI have offered an intensive summer institute for the past seven years for teachers and have certified dozens of teachers for language teaching in the workforce. ICIC designed the award-winning program "English works in Indiana" for the Indiana Department of Workforce Development, which educated language teachers for the specific demands of workforce English language teaching.



For individuals

ESP training is English instruction for professionals in all disciplines including medicine, business, law, the sciences, and the humanities. On campus, this training helps medical residents, post-doctoral researchers, faculty, and other non-native speakers of English. Training is based on the needs of each person for interacting with English speakers in the field or practice.