First-year university students often find it challenging to envision the bridge between their studies and future careers. This ‘bridging’ process is an important scaffold, as it can cultivate a greater sense of agency, direction, and motivation. In addition, bridging enables students to foresee future scenarios in their field.  Given this, they are less likely to become passive consumers of their education and often experience greater empowerment. As such, ‘bridging’ reframes student studies: rather than experiencing a series of disconnected courses, they are introduced to the foundational knowledge underpinning their discipline. 

In this study, two higher education English language teachers invited a guest speaker into their classrooms. The aim was to support students with the bridging process and provide ‘real life’ knowledge and information about future directions. Previous research into the pedagogical implications of guest speakers has found that students often regard them as motivating and key to meaning making. 

This study sought to demonstrate to students the role and importance of language and communication skills in their future academic research or careers.  Using qualitative methods from students using three tools: a collaborative task; an assignment task, comprising a lecture summary and critical response; and post-course feedback. These three tools were then analysed to answer the following research questions i) to what extent did the guest speaker help students bridge their university studies with future career scenarios and (ii) what were students’ perceptions of the guest speaker? Positive elements and some surprising findings emerged for all participants, including powerful student perceptions of the speaker, and valuable insights into what should be considered when selecting and inviting a guest speaker.