College graduates foreign language needs in employment

English, as a lingua franca, is the common language of science, education, industry, business, and many other fields, and has become a prominent research interest. In Türkiye, English is taught as a foreign language, including K12 and tertiary levels to prepare individuals for international work life. However, the English First English Proficiency Index (2023) ranks show that Türkiye is the 33rd with “low proficiency” among 34 European countries, which suggests questioning the efficiency of English language teaching, and the degree to which the needs of the graduates could be met. Therefore, this qualitative research, within a research project conducted at a Turkish state university, has been designed to obtain data from college graduate employees regarding their English needs at the workplace. Firstly, people working in the industry and commerce sectors in Düzce were asked to fill out a 16-item open-ended questionnaire, and 48 of them responded. 6 of them were interviewed to triangulate the data. The questions focused on the use of language skills and the role of English proficiency in business life. Research findings revealed that employees use their writing skills mainly to write e-mails and reports, their reading skills to read e-mails, software program messages and instructions, and their listening and speaking skills to participate and present in multinational meetings and negotiate with foreign clients. Being a proficient English user is reported to be important in employment and being promoted in work life. The study is expected to contribute to identifying the English language needs at the workplace in Türkiye and suggestions for further research.