Poster Presentation
Comparing Student and Corporate
Perceptions of the Need for English inthe Workplace
Glen Hill
Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine
Introduction
Many Japanese students will say they “don’t like English”, and it is commonplace
to see them trying to complete language requirements in university as soon as
they can. This leaves them with an ability that lessens over time. They begin
job hunting typically in their third or fourth year of studies, and some willencounter a need to provide TOEIC scores as part of the recruiting process.
Science and engineering graduates have a recognizable need for using English in
the workplace due to its function as a lingua franca. However, are these students
aware of the need, even for jobs inside Japan? And, just what do companies
announce about English language requirements during recruitment fairs?
Reports and newsletters from the Institute for International BusinessCommunication (IIBC, the distributor of TOEIC in Japan) describe details
on the numbers of companies that employ TOEIC for hiring, promotions, andoverseas transfers. One has to look carefully at the data, however. For example,in their FY2011 statistics (IIBC, 2011b), they reported that 954 companies“used” TOEIC for “new recruits” (the full meaning of both expressions isunclear), and they showed various breakdowns of the data. Helpful information
included numbers of test takers and scores by industry type. But, later in thesame report, survey data are shown from a third or less of them (n=278-329),
without qualifying differences from the original set (IIBC, 2011a). Another110

Perceptions of the Need for English in the Workplace, OnCUE Journal, 7(2), pages 110-116

report (IIBC, 2013) stated that 756 organizations used TOEIC and “roughly 70percent of companies take TOEIC scores into consideration during the hiringprocess” (p. 1). The number of “provisional recruits” who take TOEIC is recently
on the rise (7,746 in 2011, and 10,268 in 2013), so IIBC (2013) interpreted thisas meaning “that students are better aware now, at the job-hunting phase, of theneed for job-related [sic] and are making an enhanced effort to improve theirEnglish ability” (p. 1).
But is this really true? The vast majority of first-year students in my language
courses indicate that they do not even know what TOEIC is. By their thirdyear of studies, fewer than 10 students attend the TOEIC prep course offeredat the university. In addition, the fact that most students complete theirlanguage requirements before the end of their second year, coupled with teacher
obvervations from then to graduation showing a decline in their communicativeabilities, strongly suggest otherwise to the IIBC statement. As added support forthis contrasting situation, students at my university who opt for advancement tograduate school also demonstrate a significant drop in English fluency.
A survey was therefore conducted to determine the extent of science andengineering (S&E) university students` awareness of the requirements forEnglish in the workplace. To get a picture from the company side, employers
were also polled on their employees` workplace English language needs pre- andpost-hiring, and on the various uses of English in the workplace. It was felt that if
companies knew their employees needed English as an important component of
their duties, they would announce that during recruitment.

Methods
In December 2012 recruiters from 89 Japanese companies visited Obihiro
University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine for a job fair which 200students attended to gather information about prospective jobs. In separate
surveys in Japanese, students were asked how prepared they felt about using
English before and after they met with employers, and company representatives
were asked to provide information on company profiles and the types andfrequency of uses for English on the job.
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Results
The response rate was 97/200 (48%) for students and 63/89 (71%) for
employers. The student population consisted of 77% third-year students, 14%second-year students, and 6% from other years. Their majors are shown in Table
1. Employers representing six main economic sectors participated (Table 2),
with manufacturing and retail being the two most common, selected from 18
categories (Naito et al., 2007). Not all did business in the S&E field, but a listof their names (kept anonymous from the survey itself ) showed that more thanhalf were in agricultural, medical, food-related, or similar fields. Companies
without overseas offices (n=39) outnumbered those that have them (n=24).
As for company size, the number of employees were >1000 (n=19), 101-1000(n=34, with 18 in the 101-300 range), and <100 (n=9). One company did notreport any number.
Before talking to recruiters, the majority of students reported that they feltthat employers would say they needed English for work. On a 5-point Likert
scale (90/97 students responded), the results comprised “all employers” (n=4),“most employers” (n=40), “some employers” (n=30), “few employers” (n=12),
and “none” (n=3). However, despite an average of 4.6 interviews per student,
no company verbally stated to students the need for TOEIC scores, and only
an average of 1.16 employers were reported as providing information in writing
Table 1Student Majors
Food ScienceLifeScience

Livestock
Production

Agro-Environment

Agronomy

Other

29

25

16

1571

Other
<5%

N = 97; some students did not specify a major
Table 2
Industrial Profile of Companies

Manufacturing

RetailService

Agriculture

Banking
andInsurance

36%

22%

9.5%

6%

6%

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Perceptions of the Need for English in the Workplace, OnCUE Journal, 7(2), pages 110-116

about TOEIC requirements.
The company surveys agreed with this. No English language test scores of any
kind were needed by 43 (68%) employers for hiring, promotions, and overseas
transfers. Twelve more (19%) did not reply about transfers but said language testscores were not used for hiring and promotions.
Employers were asked to rank the most common uses for English in theworkplace (Table 3). General English outweighed technical English in all four
categories. Students responded similarly based on what employers told them.
Although only 32% of employers stated a need for an English test, and theactual workplace English needed was for general English situations, students
reported feeling less prepared to use English in the workplace after theyinterviewed. Moreover, 19 companies (30%) had branch offices overseas—
mostly in SE Asian countries, the U.S., or Australia—and only 14% of students
said they wanted to work there (Table 4).
Table 3
Top 3 Uses for English in the Workplace
#1

#2

#3

Reading

EmailOffice documents

Journals

Writing

EmailOffice documents

Journals

Speaking

Meetings & phone

Client talks

Conferences

ListeningMeetings

Phone calls

Client talks

No answer was given by 17 (27%)

Table 4Student Desires to Work in or Outside Japan vs. Use English on the Job
Where would you like to work?

yesnounsure

Japanese company using English in Japan

20 (21%)27 (28%)45 (46%)

Japanese company using English outside of Japan

14 (14%)40 (41%)38 (39%)

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Discussion and Conclusions
Reports on English in the workplace often state that many Japanese companies
require TOEIC scores for hiring, promotions, and overseas transfers (Gilfert,
1996: Hamada, 2008; Rebuck, 2003; Saegusa, 1989; Seki, 2004; Shankar &Tokimatsu, 2006; Tokunaga, 2008; Tukahara, 2002), but just how many is“many”? This study shows almost none in a sampling of mostly S&E companies
use TOEIC for these purposes. Moreover, tests such as TOEIC may beoverused anyway and do not provide more than an example of passive language
skills, which are not necessarily desirable in the S&E business (Hirai, 2009).
Also, recent studies by Cowling (2007), Okada (2010) and Yamazaki (2008,2009) suggest that teaching technical English should focus more on active
communication skills such as writing emails and handling negotiations andtelephone calls instead. Following intensive English courses in a corporate settingin Japan, feedback from company workers living abroad supports this (Tyndall,2013), as well.
Student uncertainty in wanting to work for domestic vs. foreign branchesof companies that use English (Table 5, “unsure” values of 46% domestic and
39% overseas) suggests that even at the middle of their third year of university,
they have either not decided what they want for a career, or are hesitant to ruleout either type of opportunity. It is also possible that they are not focused ona particular job from the onset, but rather would simply prefer to work for acompany because of its image or reputation, much like the process employers
themselves use to choose recruits based on their university’s status.

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Author’s bio
Glen Hill has been teaching in Japan since 1998. He has taught in eikaiwa, private
high school, and university. His research interests are extensive reading, ESP forscience students, and technical writing. He currently shares a MEXT research grant
to study motivation in science and engineering students in Japan. hill@obihiro.ac.jp
Received: October 1, 2013
Accepted: February 18, 2014116