12 February 2026
From one-word answers to full sentences: lessons learnt from a 10-week program in Rochdale
For the first few weeks, Lingly adoption in Rochdale ELP was low. Here's how native language explanations & hands-on onboarding helped jobseekers make the breakthrough.
Hours learning per participant
Words per message — Week 1
Words per message — Week 8
The challenge: 6 jobseekers unemployable due to their English level
- Oversubscribed local classes meant that waitlists stretch for months
- Advisers managing participants they cannot meaningfully help progress
"DWP won't say, oh well, you had some people with language barriers. Their expectation is that we fix it. We get rid of the barriers and put them in work. Pure and simple."
Ryan Clayton, Operations Manager, Rochdale Employment Links Partnership
The program: A 10-week tailored program, powered by AI.
- The 6 learners spoke 4 different languages (Arabic, Farsi, Oromo, Urdu)
- They each followed a tailored curriculum on Lingly to help them prepare for job interviews in their relevant field
- Lingly gave them access to unlimited roleplay practice, vocabulary & personalised lessons to help them learn from mistakes
The keys to adoption: Hand-holding during onboarding & a native-language user interface
Initial engagement was modest, with participants averaging under one hour of practice per week. The turning point occurred when an adviser, Scarlett, adopted a hands-on onboarding approach: sitting with participants in the office to set them up on the platform during their first appointment.
"Scarlett was more hands-on with them from the off — setting them up on it in the office. So her starters were a little bit further along than everyone else. That was why, when I got involved a bit more halfway through, I just sort of said: right, we're going to do that with everyone now." — Ryan Clayton
Average weekly learning hours per participant
Hours per learner per week, October 2025 – January 2026
Quantifying the shift to job-readiness
Because every conversation on Lingly is logged, participant progress is measured through the complexity of their actual responses. We do not rely on self-reported confidence scores. Instead, we measure the actual language output of every learner.
Average words per learner message by cohort week
Measures actual response complexity during practice conversations
In week one, participants averaged 5.1 words per message. These were typically short phrases, "yes or no" answers or fragments. By week eight, the average had grown to 19.1 words per message. This includes full sentences, explanations and questions.
This nearly fourfold increase in message complexity represents the transition from basic fragments to the functional communication required for a workplace environment. It is the difference between a participant who can only give one-word answers and one who can handle a phone call with a manager or a job interview.
"To a lesser or greater extent, everyone moved forwards with their English." — Ryan Clayton
What advisers saw
Independent validation
One of the most significant indicators of progress occurred unprompted. Ryan asked a new adviser, Dan, who had no prior involvement with the programme, to assess a participant who originally joined with virtually no English.
"I said to Dan: what's he like? 'No problems. English fine.' That was it. I didn't ask anything else. A bit later I went back to him and said, that was one of Scarlett's people that were doing the Lingly — he had virtually no English to start with. He's actually quite conversational now." — Ryan Clayton
Solving the accessibility gap
For participants with health conditions or caring responsibilities, traditional ESOL is often inaccessible. Tafe, a Syrian participant, was unable to attend in-person classes at Hopwood Hall College due to her health. Lingly allowed her to practise from home with an interface translated into her native Arabic.
"This came along at the right time for her. She could do it in her own time and she did not have to leave the house. It has improved her confidence and prepared her for real life situations. She has a good CV and she will have no problems finding work." — Shahida Iqbal, Adviser
Sustained engagement without mandation
A key concern for providers is whether participants only engage because they are forced to. During the pilot, one participant was moved to a "no-work-related-activity" status. This meant she was no longer obliged to engage with the Job Centre or the employment programme. Despite this, she continued to use the platform voluntarily throughout the Christmas period.
"She was then no longer obliged to come to Employment Links, do anything with the Job Centre — nothing at all. And she carried on using it." — Ryan Clayton
The return on a single placement
On a Restart contract, one sustained job outcome is worth £5,100 to the provider. A Lingly licence costs £99 per participant.
Return on investment
"Advisers are already asking when the next intake starts. We are seeing demand from staff across the entire office."
Ryan Clayton