Web survey data on the use of the English language in the Japanese workplace

This study sought to determine the extent to which English has spread in Japanese society. It analyses large-scale web panel-based questionnaire survey data and estimates English use frequency using a bias correction method. The results show that for most types of English use investigated, the average frequencies were less than five times a year, the proportions of English users were less than 20%, and these frequencies varied according to the type of language use and workers' attributes. These findings suggest that English use in Japan is limited to a small specific group of workers. Furthermore, the use of English productive skills was shown to be less than 10%, whereas the use of English receptive skills and other cross-linguistic behaviours were more common. Based on these findings, this study discusses the scale of the spread of English in Japan from the perspective of English use frequency.