世論 What Japan Thinks

goo Research recently published the highlights of a survey they performed in conjunction with President magazine (hmm, I could very well buy that issue!) into the English-language ability of professional people.

Demographics

Detailed demographics were not given, but the sample consisted of 1,031 members of the goo Research online monitor group who were not necessarily readers of President. The sample was also limited to those between the ages of 30 and 59 who had not lived overseas but had taken a TOEIC exam. Note that a TOEIC score of 470 corresponds to reasonable ability with conversation and 730 to the beginning of decent proficiency in English.

It’s a bit difficult to draw many conclusions from this survey as having to use English in the workplace is going to naturally improve your English level, and with a number of companies having regulations that require a certain level of English to get promotion, and in an international business the higher-ups are going to have to need English to negotiate, so I think this survey is illustrating correlation, not causation.

Research results

Q1: Where do you have opportunities to use English? (Sample size=1,031)

	All	730 points or more N=332	470 to 729 points N=359	Under 470 points N=340
At work only	34.5%	44.9%	35.7%	23.2%
Private only	7.5%	8.7%	7.0%	6.8%
Both work and private	10.0%	17.2%	9.5%	3.5%
Basically neither	48.0%	29.2%	47.9%	66.5%

Q2: Which most closely describes your current position at work? (Sample size=901)

	730 points or more N=269	470 to 729 points N=323	Under 470 points N=309
President, chairman	3.7%	2.5%	1.2%
Board member	3.3%	2.2%	1.0%
Divisional director, vice-director	16.0%	15.2%	9.1%
Section manager	24.2%	21.4%	17.5%
Assistant manager, senior staff member	25.7%	23.8%	31.1%
Ordinary staff member	27.1%	35.0%	40.1%

I’m not sure why the sample for Q2 is smaller – perhaps self-employed were excluded?

Q3: How are you currently studying English? (Sample size=562, multiple answer)

	730 points or more N=237	470 to 729 points N=211	Under 470 points N=114
Studying text books	39.7%	38.9%	52.6%
Using set resources (book plus CD, etc)	26.2%	32.7%	40.4%
Studying with dictionary	23.2%	11.4%	14.0%
Watching TV, listening to radio English course	27.8%	22.7%	15.8%
Reading English-language books, newspapers, etc	38.0%	19.9%	9.6%
Watching English-language movies, dramas, news, etc	47.7%	34.6%	18.4%
Taking English language, conversation lessons	14.8%	9.5%	5.3%
Participating in Eglish-language SNS such as Twitter, MySpace, etc	8.9%	1.4%	2.6%
Writing an English-language diary	3.8%	1.4%	4.4%
Participating in English-language study abroad	2.5%	0.0%	3.5%
Using mobile phone, games machine	6.3%	9.5%	9.6%
Other	9.7%	4.3%	10.5%

Those not currently actively studying were excluded from the figures reported.