Attitudes of students and workers toward Business English
Graduation Thesis
Presented to
the Faculty of Department of
English Language and literature
Notre Dame Seishin University
In Partial fulfillment
of the Requirement for the Degree
Bachelor of Arts
by
Saki Akagi
2017
Contents
Abstract
Chapter One: Introduction1
1.1 Introduction1
1.2 English in Japanese companies2
1.2.1 Using English in Japanese companies2
1.2.2 Case studies4
1.3 Attitude toward using English in Japanese companies7
1.3.1 Public attitude toward business English8
1.3.2 Previous research (by Tomomi Ohashi)9
1.4 Research Questions10
1.5 Summary10
Chapter Two: Questionnaire11
2.1 Introduction11
2.2 The questionnaire11
2.2.1 Introduction to the questionnaire11
2.2.2 Method11
2.3 Results12
2.3.1 Questionnaire for the students (Type A)13
2.3.2 Questionnaire for the workers (Type B)19
2.4 Summary27
Chapter Three: Discussion28
3.1 Introduction28
3.2 Summary of the results28
3.3 Discussion of the results29
3.4 Research questions33
3.5 Limitations of the questionnaire34
3.6 Further research35
3.7 Conclusion35
References37
Appendices38
Abstract
In recent years, the world has become global, and English is used as a common language all over the world. In Japan, English is often used in business. Some Japanese companies use English in their companies as their official language. However, people have various opinions about business English. How do workers feel about business English? How about university students? Are there any different attitudes between workers and students? This thesis revealed the differences.
In Chapter One, we looked at globalization in Japanese companies. Some companies used English in their companies, and they required new workers to have some English skills. The attitudes of people toward business English were both approval and disapproval.
Chapter Two introduced two questionnaires, one was for university students, and the other was for workers which asked 23 students and 10 workers about business English. The data were shown in this chapter.
In Chapter Three, we looked at the results of two questionnaires and discussed it in detail. The results of two questionnaires were compared each other, and we found some differences between students and workers toward business English. Students wanted to use English in business, but workers said there are limited situations to use English in business. Students thought high English skill was needed in business, but workers said it isn’t needed so much. However, despite these differences, both students and workers realized the importance of using English in the future business world.
Chapter One: Introduction
1.1 Introduction
In recent years, Japan has globalized quickly. The whole world has become more global socially, culturally, and economically, so nowadays it is necessary for us to live in global environment.
Because of globalization, the number of people who are speaking and studying English is increasing all over the world.
Figure 1-1: Three categories of English
Kachru (1985) said that English can be divided into three categories. The three circles show how wide English spread all over the world. Inner circle includes the countries where English is spoken as a native language, such as the USA, the UK, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. Next comes the Outer circle - the countries where English is spoken not as a native tongue but as an official language or second language are included in this circle, for example, Singapore, India, Philippine, and Malaysia. The final is expanding circle. Japan belongs to this circle. It includes countries where English is not used or spoken very much in the normal daily life, but used as an international communication language in the specific situation like in business. Expanding circle includes China, Russia, Korea, most of Europe, and keep spreading all over the world. It is obvious that English is spoken in almost all countries.
1.2 English in Japanese companies
1.2.1 Using English in Japanese companies
Nowadays English has become the world’s common language, so we can see and hear English all over in our life. In Japan, English is often used in business place. As the world become more global, Japanese companies become more global too, in order to grow their business.
Figure 1-2: The rate of Japanese companieswhich use business English
According to the research by IIBC (IIBC: The Institute for International Business Communication), 75% of Japanese companies in their study use English in their work. They require of their workers to have balanced four English skills of listening, reading, speaking, and writing.
Figure 1-3. The rate of companies which requires English skills
(©Intelligence,Ltd.
This graph shows the rate of the companies which demand recruits to have some English skills. From 2005 to 2012, the ratio rose rapidly.
When Japanese companies evaluate their workers’ English skills, 63% of them use the TOEIC test. This figure is overwhelming compared with other English tests like Eiken or TOEFL. 69% of Japanese companies refer to TOEIC score when they employee recruits. The TOEIC score expected from new recruits is 565, and expected to midway recruits is 710 on average. Moreover, 15% of Japanese companies uses TOEIC score as the company’s condition to personnel changes and promotion. In this way, the use of English in business in Japan has become greatly prevalent in recent years.
1.2.2 Case studies
Some Japanese companies adopt using English in their business positively. They are struggling to use English in their company in various ways. Here are some case studies.
A)Rakuten, Inc.
Rakuten, Inc. started to use English as their official company language in 2010. There are four reasons why Rakuten, Inc. started “Englishnization” in their company. First, they wanted to run the company as one all over the world. Second, they had to have ability to compete with global companies. Third, it is necessary to communicate smoothly with their coworkers in both domestic and foreign. Finally, they tried to select talented people all over the world in order to make their company a global organization.
Figure 1-4: The change of TOE IC score
Rakuten, Inc. tried various “Englishnization” projects to achieve these aims. For example, workers only speak English in their meeting when there are non-Japanese speaking people present. Therefore, they have to study English hard in order to catch and understand the contents of their meeting. Rakuten, Inc. offers English lesson and TOEIC tests to their workers for free. As a result, the average TOEIC score of workers went up from 526 to 819 over 5 years.
B)Fast Retailing co., ltd.
In 2012, Fast Retailing started to use English as their official company language followed Rakuten, Inc. UNIQLO, one of the biggest businesses of Fast Retailing, has opened many stores around the world in recent years, and it is famous for the top of casual clothes. In order to make their business more global, UNIQLO forces their workers to have more than 700 points on the TOEIC test. Recently, UNIQLO employs foreign recruits positively.
C)Softbank Group Corp.
Softbank Group Corp.puts a great deal of effort into learning English in the company, because they voted to buy an American company so it is necessary to communicate in English with each worker.
In 2013, Softbank established a system that the company will give their workers a million yen as a reward if workers could get more than 900 points on the TOEIC test. Moreover, workers can get three hundred thousand yen if they could not get 900 points but more than 800 points. Workers can receive subsidy from the company for English education although they only get 600 points. In this way, Softbank motivates their workers to study English and compete with other companies in the global market.
D)English requirements of some companies
In addition, many Japanese companies set English requirements in their employment. This is the list of companies.
Figure 1-5: English requirements of some Japanese companies
Score / Employment / Promotion / Working Overseas860- / Nomura Holdings / Fujitsu
850- / NTT Communications
800- / Sumitomo real estate
Nomura real estate / Mitsui Sumitomo
KDDI / Macdonald Japan
750- / Rakuten
730- / Softbank / Marubeni
700- / Fast Retailing
Mitsubishi / Itochu
Sharp / Shiseido
650- / Asahi beer / Sony
600- / Daiwa House / Toyota Car / Canon
(Source:
It is obvious that many Japanese companies force their workers to have high English skills. In this way, the globalization has great effect on Japanese company.
1.3 Attitudes toward business English in Companies
This section will present the attitudes of people toward business English in Japanese companies.
1.3.1 Public attitudes toward business English (Nikkei Company)
Figure 1-6: The public attitude toward business English
(
In 2011, Nikkei Inc. conducted a questionnaire about using English in Japanese companies for the public. The result was 45.5% for and 54.5% against, so the disapproval opinions exceeded the approval one slightly. The ratio of approval or disapproval toward Business English differed by generation. The following is typical opinions by each supporter.
Reasons for using English in companies in Japan
In business, English is common language all over the world. It is necessary to use English to compete with global businesses.
In order to learn English, it is more effective to be forced to learn English by the company than by self-education.
Reasons not to use English in companies in Japan
It is difficult to have joint information among the workers, and it will be connected with errors of transmissions.
The companies will be capable of employing people who only have high English skills. They cannot select talented people.
In this way, the public opinions toward business English vary. It looks difficult to force workers to use English in their company completely.
1.3.2 Previous research (by Ohashi)
Ohashi (2014) researched the differences in attitudes toward business English between students and workers in her thesis. She made questionnaires for students and workers, and asked their attitudes toward business English. She concluded subjects’ attitudes in these two points. First, students think the business English is important because they consider their future in the global world. However, students think that required English skill is not so high as workers’ thought. Second, workers think it needs high English skills to use English in actual business place. Workers think higher English skill is needed than required by companies. Thus, Ohashi concluded that there are some different attitudes between students and workers toward business English.
1.4 Research Questions
We can understand the importance of using English in Japanese company in this global generation. Some Japanese companies have already used English in their business. However, the opinions toward business English are approving or disapproving. So, how do students who will work at such companies in the future and workers who actually work at a company which uses English in their business feel about Business English? This thesis will answer the following research questions.
1. What attitudes toward business English in companies do university students have?
2. What attitudes toward business English in companies do business workers have?
1.5 Summary
Chapter One introduced globalization in the world. Now English has become world common language, so using English may be often required in our daily life. In Japan, English is often used in business place. Some Japanese companies use English in their business in various ways to make their company global. Therefore, the companies force their workers to have high English skills. The public opinion toward business Englishare approving or disapproving almost equally. However, how do workers and students feel about business English in Japanese company? Chapter Two will research about their opinion using a questionnaire.
Chapter Two: Questionnaire
2.1 Introduction
Chapter One introduced the globalization of Japanese companies. The importance of using and learning English in Japanese company has become clear. However, the opinions toward business English vary by individual.
Chapter Two will clarify how workers and students feel about business English in Japanese companies. Thus, this questionnaire will find out whether there are any differences toward business English between workers and students or not.
2.2 The questionnaire
2.2.1 Introduction to the questionnaire
The aim of this questionnaire is to find out actual opinions of workers and students toward business English.
2.2.2 Method
1) Subjects
The subjects of this questionnaire were 23 students and 10 workers. The 23 students were 20-22 years-old, and in the English department of Notre Dame Seishin University. The 10 workers work at each company, for example, trading companies, airlines, hotels, clothing industry, medical institutions and so on.
2) Test Design
In order to find out the actual situation of both workers and students, I made two types of questionnaire for them. One was for workers, and the other was for students.
Type A questionnaire asked students 17 questions. This questionnaire includes both choice questions and essay questions. All of questions were required of subjects.
Type B questionnaire asked workers 20 questions. This questionnaire includes both choice questions and essay questions. All of questions were required of subjects.
3) Procedure
The questionnaire was made by using Google Docs and were sent to subjects by online. They could answer the questions anytime, and they didn’t have the time limit for answering the questions. They could answer the questions in English or Japanese.
2.3 Results
In this section, we look at the results of the questionnaire. First, we will look at the students’ attitude toward business English. Second, we will look at the workers’ one.
2.3.1 Questionnaire for the students (Type A)
This section will present students’ attitude toward business English.
Figure 2-1: The data for thequestion. Do you like English?
This table shows that almost 87% of the students like English. University students don’t have a negative image toward using English.
Figure 2-2: The data for the question.
Do you want to use Englishin your company in the future?
This table shows that almost 56% of the students want to use English in their company in the future. 26% of them don’t use English in their business so much. The rest of them don’t care if they need English.
The students who answered Yes said that they wanted to use English in their business because they had learned English for long time and they wanted to demonstrate their English skills. The students who answered No said that they don’t have confidence in their English skills.
Figure 2-3: The data for the question.
What kind of Englishdo you want to use in your future company?
87% of the students want to use speaking skills in their future company. It is overwhelming figure. There are no students who chose reading skills in these four skills.
Figure 2-4: The data for the question.
Which forms of Englishdo you want to use in your future company?
The forms of English which most of the students chose was E-mail, Meeting, and Phone.
Figure 2-5: The data for the question.
What kind of English is importantin business?
Many students think that speaking and listening is important in business.
Figure 2-6: The data for the question.
Do you think English is neededin the future business world?
This table shows that almost all of the students think that English is needed in the future business world. Students said that the world is becoming global more and more, and English is the official language in the world.
Figure 2-7: The data for the question.
WhatEnglish skill will bemore important than now?
Many students chose speaking and listening. The opinion most of the students had was that communication of personal relations would be more important because of the globalization, so speaking and listening was necessary.
Figure 2-8: The data for the question. When you were doing job hunting,
what TOEIC score were needed for new recruits?
43% of the students said that they thought 700-800 TOEIC points is needed when they were doing job hunting. 30% of them thought that 600-700 is needed.
Figure 2-9: The data for the question.
What TOEIC scoredo listed companies’ workers have on average?
Almost half of the students thought that workers who were working in the listed company had 600-700 TOEIC points. No one thought that workers had under 500.
The data for the question. What kind of business need high English skills?
Many students answered trading company, airlines, and tourist industry needed high English skills.
Figure 2-10: The data for the question.
Is business Englishimportant for you?
The most common answer was Strongly Yes. The majority of the students chose business English was important for them. They said that it would be necessary to communicate with foreigners in English in their business. However, some of the students said that business English isn’t important for them because they would not have opportunity to use English in their business.
2.3.2 Questionnaire for the workers (Type B)
This section will present workers’ attitude toward business English.
Figure 2-11: The data for the question. Do you like English?
This shows that 80% of workers like English. However, some of them said Definitely No.
Figure 2-12: The data for the question.
Do you usually use English in your work?