The Online Language Learning Market is expected to exceed USD 28.5 billion by 2028, growing at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 18,8%. The market’s growth opportunities are enormous and staying abreast of trends and managing businesses in this sector has never been more exciting.

So what’s driving this growth?

As of 2022, there are 4.95 billion active internet users (DataReportal, 2022). That marks a 192 million year-over-year increase compared to 2021’s figures.

At 4%, the growth in active internet users worldwide is four times faster than the total population growth, which stands at 1%. 

We now live online for anything we need to research or learn. And it’s the primary place for course sign-ups and upskilling opportunities.

This ease of access and being able to sign up and complete courses from anywhere in the world, has elevated e-learning to the fastest growing sector of the education industry, up 900% since 2000, with 3 million students currently studying fully online. 

According to a report by Market Research Future (MRFR), Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality in the education market are anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 18.2% from the year 2022 to 2027.

Virtual and Augmented Reality in the education sector has the potential to completely revolutionize the way teachers teach and students learn. 

This revolution is being propelled by technology developments, staggering growth numbers in smart phone penetration and more personalized, customized capabilities through AI. The online learning experience is more exciting and rewarding than ever before.

Through its ability to adapt and personalize studying techniques, AI is driving new ways of experiencing information like visualization, simulation and web-based studies. A combination of teachers’ inputs and AI will be a game changer in the coming future and will be immensely beneficial in providing sustainable and quality education to students.

By helping teachers (and the companies they teach for) with the more mundane chores, these AI developments help make way for something more important: the focus on work that cannot be delegated to artificial intelligence. 

AI tools and technologies can also be helpful in grading papers swiftly, providing personalized learning to students, providing smart content to students, and helping students gain access to tutoring programs or intelligent tutoring systems (ITS) based on AI.

89% of people think multilingual workers add value to companies.

Globalization, geographic expansion, and the growing need for cross-border communication are increasing cultural diversity and patterns of communication, which necessitate linguistic programs and courses.

Not only is fluency in the local language proving essential for interacting with foreign colleagues and business contacts, but language skills are ensuring that no elements of international deals get lost in translation. When bilingualism correlates with other desirable employee traits, it’s easy to see why companies would favor employees who can speak multiple languages.

According to a recent report by CBI/Pearson Education and Skills, 41% of leading UK businesses said knowledge of a foreign language was beneficial, while 28% believed language skills would help to build relations with overseas contacts.

When international businesses can’t find qualified candidates in the workforce, teams have pragmatically decided to institute internal language training programs. Course offerings like these have the added benefit of shaping a global corporate culture, sending a powerful message to existing and future staff about the company’s international identity. 

Preparing for the unexpected and pivoting at a moment’s notice were valuable lessons many global companies learned in 2020 and 2021.

In a post-pandemic world, employee retention, work-life balance, and global team engagement are top-of-mind for company leaders. This new era of the way we work requires more diligence than ever before.

In 2023 it’s predicted that we are likely to see more companies adopting provisions for flexible hours, allowing employees to fit parenting responsibilities as well as educational opportunities around their jobs. The benefits of rethinking the conventional nine-to-five, Monday-to-Friday approach will become increasingly apparent to more bosses and employers.

With a more flexible approach to their jobs, employees have more capacity to explore online learning opportunities for themselves without it compromising their roles. And if their roles are compromised, statistics continue to indicate that employees quite simply leave their jobs.

Opportunities abound for both students and teachers. In the online teaching recruitment environment a surge of 1,367% in job interviews was reported between August and October 2021. Never before has recruitment and retention been more front and center for business owners.

With distance language learning growing in popularity for these reasons too, it’s also enhancing the e-learning market. Distance language learning has proven to be the most effective way for learners to take courses in a flexible setting.

According to Guru99, at least 60% of internet users have participated in some form of online learning in 2022. This is because they are able to do it in their own time and place. 

In 2021, there were approximately 35 million digital nomads globally. MBO Partners recorded around 15.5 million digital nomads in 2021 in the U.S. alone. This is a 112% increase from only 7.3 million in 2019. 

Travelling again is alive and well. And the trend to explore, experience and live more freely is on the rise. According to the latest UNWTO World Tourism Barometer, international tourist arrivals almost tripled in January to July 2022 (+172%) compared to the same period of 2021. 

This means that students and teachers are tapping in from anywhere in the world.

And with this extensive travelling, people want to learn the languages they’re being exposed to in new countries. Borderless education access is now a part of life.

The Online Learning Market is not showing any signs of slowing down.

Is your business keeping up?

Teacher Management as a Service businesses, such as The Really Great Teacher Company, have become an essential cog in the wheel to help accelerate your business’ growth. If you need support, here’s how we can help.