Tobias Kopp
Author directory2026
Making Jobs Accessible through AI-supported Easy Language Translation
Fabian Merkel | Marco Baumgartner | Athanasios Breskas | Lea Gierke | Silke Gutermuth | Silvia Hansen-Schirra | Elena Kick | Vanessa König | Tobias Kopp | Natalie Martin | Miriam Spieß
Proceedings of the 26th Annual Conference of the European Association for Machine Translation (Volume 2)
Fabian Merkel | Marco Baumgartner | Athanasios Breskas | Lea Gierke | Silke Gutermuth | Silvia Hansen-Schirra | Elena Kick | Vanessa König | Tobias Kopp | Natalie Martin | Miriam Spieß
Proceedings of the 26th Annual Conference of the European Association for Machine Translation (Volume 2)
Access to the primary labor market for people with cognitive impairments is hampered by barriers, notably the lack of workplace information in Easy Language (EL). Producing such texts is time- and cost-intensive and requires specialized translators. The project STARK-LS (Strengthening participation in the primary labor market through AI-generated Easy Language) addresses this gap by implementing an AI-translation tool to translate workplace materials into EL and embedding the approach in internships for people with cognitive impairments. An interdisciplinary project team conducts mixed-methods evaluations by testing the EL translations for applicability, comprehensibility, and acceptance using lab-based eye-tracking and questionnaire studies, qualitative interviews with interns with cognitive impairments and experts for EL, and a quantitative online survey with company representatives. The findings will lead to process models and best-practice recommendations for companies and rehabilitation agencies. The project advances scientific understanding of the perceived usefulness and potential barriers of EL in organizational contexts, while critically evaluating AI’s influence on the diffusion of high-quality EL texts in companies. Funded by the German Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, the project aims to scale high-quality accessible communication and promote sustainable inclusion in the German labor market.