O n f e r e n c e

Short paper 
Introduction
As a developer of online e-learning content, Rosetta Stone produces engaging products 
that enable learners to achieve their language-learning goals at a self-driven pace. To 
ensure learner success, the company relies on the results of research into the efficacy of 
its products, using that data to improve future efforts.
Companies like Rosetta Stone must first attract customers with promises of a pleasant, 
time-efficient, and cost-effective learning experience, then retain them by meeting (or 
better, exceeding) the learners’ expectations. The market provides a wide variety of 
products at different price points and relying on different technologies and teaching 
methodologies. The product must meet the expectations that it sets, or lose learners to a 
competitor.
Rosetta Stone employs a team of linguists, language pedagogy specialists, and subject 
matter experts who consult existing research and use that information to design new 
products. But the company goes a step further by conducting studies to validate these 
experts’ suggestions, and use the results to improve future versions of each product.
Rosetta Stone enjoys the benefits of a large customer base, and therefore access to a 
number of different learners in many different environments. This allows researchers to 
conduct studies involving a large number of participants while controlling for variables 
such as native language, age, previous language study, and so on. However, research 
can also be challenging when production schedules and release dates limit the amount of 
time that can be spent on research. This paper will examine the evidence from one 
representative beta research study in light of such challenges. 
Description
In the current study, adult intermediate and advanced learners of English as a second 
language used a business English program, called Advanced English for Business, for a 
total of eight weeks to develop and improve their workplace English skills
2
. Advanced 
English for Business includes both a self-study, e-learning component and regular 
opportunities to interact with a professional tutor. 
All learners recruited for participation in this study were full-time, working professionals 
who had current or future needs for using English in the workplace on a daily basis. The 
learner participant pool was composed of ninety-five learners residing in thirty-one 
countries, with nineteen first languages represented.
The Advanced English for Business product is designed for learners at the B1, B2, and C1 
levels of the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR). Prior to enrolling in the 
study, learners completed an English proficiency assessment in order to determine their 
CEFR level. The CEFR level is used to create the learner’s profile and set the curriculum 
for the self-study and the live tutoring sessions.
For this study, learners were instructed to complete at least one e-learning lesson as well 
as one live session with one of Rosetta Stone’s tutors each week. 
2
Rosetta Stone Advanced English for Business is currently available with both American English and British 
English content. At the time of the study, only American English content was available.

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2014 CALL Conference 
LINGUAPOLIS
www.antwerpcall.be 
Prior to beginning any online lessons, learners examined a list of topics and chose three 
different courses that best matched their goals for improving their business English.
Exa
mples of courses include “Improving Business Communication Skills,” “Understanding 
and Giving Presentations,” and “Managing and Being Managed.” Once learners chose the 
courses that best matched their interests, lesson content was unlocked.
Each course is built from a number of lessons, which are intended to be completed in 
approximately 30-45 minutes. Each lesson in the self-study portion of the curriculum is 
built according to the Whole-Part-
Whole methodology, an online application of Long’s 
Interaction Hypothesis (Long, 1996). In this application of Whole-Part-Whole, learners 
are exposed to language content in a real-life context (the whole), followed by 
explanations and examples that allow the learner to break down and more closely 
examine that content (the parts), and concluding with exercises and materials that allow 
the learner to create new output and utterances (the final whole). The final activity in 
every lesson is a comprehensive test that assesses a learner’s understanding of all of the 
material covered in the lesson. Learners must score of 80% or higher on the test in order 
to pass the lesson.
The following provides a closer look at the structure of a lesson: 
Whole:
