Feature Article

Expectations and Dreams: Industry
and Student Ideas about Future
English Use

Richard J. Sampson
Gunma University
Many students around Japan study in compulsory English lessons in the first years ofuniversity. As they transition from senior-high school, how do non-English major students’ideas about a possible future using English evolve? What expectations do future employers
actually hold for English use? This article describes three parts of action research (anindustry needs survey, and two classroom activities stemming from the results of the needs
survey) designed to investigate these questions. First, a needs assessment was conducted via
survey with 450 science and technology companies. Analysis revealed a variety of English
abilities expected by employers. Based on these findings, two change-action activities wereintroduced to two English classes (n=56) of first-year science and technology students. The
activities encouraged reflection and sharing of understandings about the purpose of English
studies and ideas of an English-using future-self. Comparison of results from employers
and students uncovered a vast gap in ideas of future English use. The findings suggest theimportance of providing students with information about company expectations soon after
transition to university.
日本の多くの大学生にとって、学士課程の１・２年次において英語が必須科目となっている。大学入学後に、英語を専攻していない学生が英語を使っている将来像をどのように構築していくのか。また、将来雇用主となる企業は実際に学生にどのような英語能力を期待しているのだろうか。本稿では、これらの課題を探求するア
クション・リサーチの3つの過程（企業対象のニーズ調査とその結果を反映した2回の授業活動）を考察する。まず、450の理系企業を対象にニーズ調査が実施され、その結果によると、雇用者が要求する英語能力には様々なものがあることが示された。この結果に基づき、1年理系学生の英語の授業2クラス（n=56）を対象に、2種類の行動変化活動を導入した。活動では、学生が、英語学習の目的や英語を使っている将来像を振り返り共有した。雇用主と学生から得たデータを比較した結果、将来の英語の使用に関する考えに大きな隔たりが見られた。この結果から、学生がよ21

Sampson
り現実的な将来像が作れるよう、入学後すぐに企業側が求める英語能力についての情報提供を行っていくことが重要であるといえる。

Around the world, foreign language studies are frequently a part of secondary
education. However, for many adolescent students, experiences in the classroom
revolve less around developing the ability to express meaning, and more aroundthe attainment of satisfactory grades and achievement on tests. If these purposes
for learning are not internalized, such a situation can lead to a decrease inmotivation and negative impact on the development of second language identity(Taylor, 2014). Japan is no different, with memorization for entrance exams forthe next stage of education being linked to decreases in motivation and negative
affect related to English study (Falout et al., 2008; Kikuchi & Sakai, 2009).
Yet, for many in secondary schooling in Japan, entrance exams at least provide
a clear and proximal message of the instrumental necessity of English. With thisrequirement behind them, at what are learners to aim after they transition to
the tertiary context? Although universities in Japan increasingly draw on themindset of “globalization-as-opportunity” to promote communicative English
programs (Yamagami & Tollefson, 2011), for the average person there is little
to no use of English in day-to-day life. In point of fact, regarding one potential
outlet for students’ English after graduation from university, Kubota (2011)
has been highly critical of the discourse in Japan that advances English as an
essential language for work. Kubota (2011) contends that “no evidence supports
the exclusive need for conversational English skills in the workplace or the needfor English competence for work in general” (p. 105). That said, it has also beenargued that there are opportunities to use English occupationally in Japan,
especially in the fields of science and engineering, due to the globalizing nature of
the workforce and collaborative projects (“Engineers Must Have English,” 2009).
This need is supported by research literature. For instance, Kaneko, Rozycki andOrr (2009) asked computer science and engineering graduates about English
use in the workplace. The study found that while reading and writing were morecommonly reported than speaking and listening, there was a very real need forEnglish to handle tasks involving practical English for communicative purposes.
Similarly, Naito, Yamada, Miura, Sakabe and Yoshida (2007) report needs for22

Expectations and Dreams, OnCUE Journal, 10(1), pages 21-38

general office tasks such as writing email and producing routine documents. In
another study, Hill (2013) collected data from both students and employers in arange of science and engineering fields. In congruence with Kaneko et al. (2009)
and Naito et al. (2007), he found that needs for general English abilities such as
email and telephone communication and reading and writing office documents
outweighed any need for technical English knowledge. However, although the
majority of student participants were near the end of their studies, the researchalso revealed that almost half did not have any clear idea of whether they wished
for a possible future using English in the workplace (Hill, 2013). Discrepancies
between the expectations of students about English use and actual reported use
in Japanese engineering companies were also found by Miura (2006, 2007).
The current paper also brings together perspectives from these two vitalgroups of stakeholders in undergraduate education – potential employers andthe students themselves. What occupational need for English is likely awaiting
learners in their possible futures? How do students understand the meaningof their English learning as they transition to study in required English lessons
in the first year of university? Extending Hill’s (2013) work, the current study
explores the ways in which a comparison of the understandings of these groupsof stakeholders might facilitate more meaningful, motivating English lessons.
This study describes the initial stages of an ongoing research project investigatingideas of future English use for science and technology students at the university
at which the author is employed.
Motivation Towards a Possible Future with English
Theories of language learner motivation abound in the research literature. The“classic” model placed an emphasis on learners’ instrumental motives (theirunderstandings of practical advantages from being able to use the language) andintegrative motives (a desire “to come closer to the other language community”)(Gardner, 2001, p. 5). However, with the spread of English as a lingua franca,
in which there appears to be no one “other language community”, some havequestioned the idea of an integrative motive in all situations (Ushioda &Dörnyei, 2009). Such a contention is supported by research from Japan, in
23

Sampsonwhich Yashima (2000) found that while learners hoped to interact with native
speakers of English, they had little interest in identifying with native speakers.
Rather than an integrative motive, Yashima proposed the notion of international
posture, which she later defined as “a tendency to see oneself as connected to theinternational community…and possess a readiness to interact with people otherthan Japanese” (Yashima, 2009, p. 146).
The importance of students’ ideas of themselves as future users of theadditional language is also evident in Dörnyei’s (2009a) L2 Motivational Self
System (L2MSS). Based on possible selves theory (Markus & Nurius, 1986),
Dörnyei (2009a) proposed that motivation emerges as an attempt to draw closer
to our images of our possible future. To summarize, the L2MSS is composed ofthree elements. Firstly, the Ideal L2 Self is our image of who we wish to become.
Secondly, the Ought-to L2 Self is an imposed image about perceived expectations
from significant others or society and fears of failure. Lastly, the L2 Learning
Experience concerns the motives generated through the learning environment –such as the teacher, curriculum, lesson style, and so on. Dörnyei (2009b) argues
that these subsystems interact to form language learners’ motivational dynamics.
The L2MSS holds potential for classroom application due to its
phenomenological basis. Dörnyei (2009b) contends that “the imagery andsensual components of possible selves approximate what people actuallyexperience when they are engaged in motivated or goal-directed behavior” (p.
213). Indeed, there has been a great deal of work done in the area of educational
intervention with possible selves (e.g., Oyserman, Terry, & Bybee, 2002;
Sampson, 2012). This body of research suggests that encouraging students toreflect on and share ideas about the elements of the L2MSS might provide amore accessible and concrete way for learners to think about the purpose of theirEnglish studies.
Possible selves develop in interaction with social context (Markus, 2006). It
seems natural, then, that different elements of the L2MSS will be more influential
in different contexts and at different times of a student’s language learning
history. Of importance for the context of the current research, a number of paststudies from Japan have found the Ought-to L2 Self to exert more of an influence24

Expectations and Dreams, OnCUE Journal, 10(1), pages 21-38

on motivated action. In one such study, Pigott (2011) found that Japanesehigh school learners’ perceptions of influences from pressures and expectations
regarding their English studies (i.e., the Ought-to L2 Self ) far outweighed thosefrom an Ideal L2 Self (p. 544). Many students in this context feel pressure to
study English in high school through the expectation of university entrance.
The strong influence of the Ought-to L2 Self has also been observed for scienceand engineering students at the university level in Japan. Hill, Falout and Apple(2013) found that students with a stronger sense of Ideal L2 Selves had a higher
degree of English ability (Study 1, p. 214). However, across the three studies
they also uncovered that the Ought-to L2 Self, as a kind of dictated social value,
was perceived as having a far greater influence on students’ motivation. Findings
led these authors to propose that science and engineering students “may not bereceiving an education that helps them to connect the social values of English
with their professional and personal identities as users of the language” (p. 216).
In summary, past research has found occupational needs for English in Japanfor scientists and engineers (Hill, 2013; Kaneko et al., 2009), while studies related
to the L2MSS imply that ideas of expectations about English study may play animportant role in student motivation in the classroom. As a beginning point for
determining potential career-related expectations for my students, I wanted togain more specific information about English use at companies at which theymight find employment. Such information could suggest likely content for
the future English-using selves of students. Furthermore, at the university inquestion, learners majoring in science and technology are required to undertake
English studies in their first and second year. The move from senior high school
to university seemed to provide an ideal time window to gain valuable learnerperceptions of a possible future with English. At this point they would still haveclassroom English study before them. I employed an action research design,
through which the following research questions emerged:
1. What are the expectations of occupational English use held byrepresentatives from companies at which my science and technology
students may be employed?
2. In what ways do students understand the meaning of their English study
25Sampsonas they transition to the first year of university study?
3. In what ways does a comparison of industry and student ideas of future
English use offer suggestions for more motivating English study?

Methods

Action research aims to understand social phenomena through the deliberate
introduction of change (Burns, 2010). It commonly involves a series of research
cycles (Lewin, 1948). Typically, a cycle begins with the recognition of somechallenging, localized issue or area about which an individual or group would liketo deepen their knowledge. Those inside this social group then develop changeaction, intervention above and beyond regular practice directed to further theseunderstandings. This change-action does not however merely give insight tothe challenging issue but is also intended to foster outcomes perceived as more
beneficial to participants in the social group (Herr & Anderson, 2005). These
understandings are then reflected upon to develop additional change-action.
Each consecutive cycle works to deepen understandings about the originalquestions as well as suggesting new, connected areas for exploration.
The current, ongoing study used a sequentially-timed mixed-methods action
research approach (Ivankova, 2015), in which quantitative and qualitative data
were collected in sequence. Decisions about what qualitative data to collect weremade based on the insights from initial quantitative data. A description of thecycles follows.
Cycle 1: In order to gain a greater understanding of what awaits students
upon graduation, the first cycle focused on potential employers. Data werecollected via an anonymous 8-item closed and open-ended survey. The survey
was included in the document package for each company attending a week-longjob fair at the university in question. Items asked about company profiles andneeds for English. A total of 450 companies were represented.
Responses were input to a spreadsheet and imported to NVivo 10 as a dataset.
Numerical responses were coded in an overlapping fashion to allow later matrix
queries (a type of Boolean search). These matrix queries drew out relationships
and connections across survey items. For example, overlapping coding allowed26

Expectations and Dreams, OnCUE Journal, 10(1), pages 21-38

comparison of what size companies perceived English as important. Open-ended
responses were content coded, and where pertinent, related to numerical data.
Cycle 2: Analysis from Cycle 1 provided concrete information about activities
that students may be required to perform with English after employment. My
interest was therefore piqued to also introduce change-action encouraging
freshmen to reflect on the meaning of their English studies. Data were collectedfrom 56 science and technology students in two first-year, compulsory English
classes. As action research is located in a social group of which the researcher
is also part, these classes were selected out of convenience. Student scores uponentry to the university equated to 400 to 800 points on the TOEIC.
An open-ended writing exercise prompted learners to write about their pastexperience of English lessons (PEEL) (Appendix). The activity furthermore
asked their perceptions of the purpose of English study. Given past findingsthat English motivation for Japanese secondary learners is heavily connected to
exams (Kikuchi & Sakai, 2009), I wanted to see if my students’ perceptions of
the purpose of English study connected with entrance exams (something now
in their past) or had a future-oriented perspective. These student data werecollected and coded by searching for repetitions and regularities across theparticipant group (Ryan & Bernard, 2003).
Cycle 3: Emergent from my understandings at this point, I was concerned bya great number of students who connected the purpose of English study to their
newly-completed entrance exams. In addition, due to the vague nature of otherstudents’ attestations that English study was for “the future”, I was also eager topush learners to explore more concrete images of using English in the future.
I introduced a classroom activity which I entitled “Opening Doors” (adaptedfrom Gregersen & MacIntyre, 2014). The activity asked students to write up to
three ideas to finish the sentence “With English I can…” Learners then mingled
and shared ideas with classmates. I again explored prevalent themes acrossthe student group. Furthermore, matrix queries were used to examine ways inwhich the content of individual students’ ideas varied across data-collection
points. In order to develop further change-action which might facilitate more
purposeful and motivating English lessons, I also compared student ideas with27

Sampsonthe expectations of company representatives elicited in Cycle 1.
In the data extracts that follow, Japanese versus English responses are notedwith J or E; all student names are pseudonyms.

Results
Industry Expectations of Occupational English Use (Cycle 1)
Of the 450 represented companies, 380 (84%) returned valid survey responses.
The majority of companies (233) had over 501 employees (Table 1). Companies
had an overlapping mix of specializations: 143 companies identified as having
a mechanical engineering focus, 127 as electrical and electronic engineering,
125 as information technology focused, 70 as chemical industry related, and55 as construction and civil technology based (companies could select multiple
specializations, so the numbers do not add up to 380).
Considering the apparent lack of English use in general occupationalsettings inside Japan (Kubota, 2011), one item asked representatives about theircompany’s international connections. Table 2 displays the number of companies
that chose each response, as well as the number of companies that chosemultiple responses. Forty-eight companies responded that they had no overseas
connection. The majority of these (31) were smaller companies of fewer than
500 employees. The remaining companies noted a mix of ways in which theircompany has connections outside Japan. These relations increased with the sizeof the company; for example, of the 217 companies that had an overseas factoryor office, 167 of these (77%) were companies of over 501 employees.
There was an increasing recognition of the importance of English for the
workplace as companies grew in size (Table 3). Of the 69 companies that claimed
English was not so important, 35 of these were companies that also had nooverseas connections. This means that around half of the companies that claimed
Table 1
Number of Employees at Surveyed Companies< 10

11 – 50

51 – 100

101 – 500

> 501

Unspecified

1

5

23

117

233

1

28

Expectations and Dreams, OnCUE Journal, 10(1), pages 21-38

Overseas office / factory

Contacting overseas company

Collaborative research /development with overseas company

No relation

Other

Unspecified

Table 2
Number of Companies With a Particular Overseas Relationship

217 (1)

64

37

0

3

0

Contacting overseas company

64

125 (2)

31

0

2

0

Collaborative research / developmentwith overseas company

37

31

63 (3)

02

0

No relation

0

0

0

48 (4)

0

0

Other

3

2

2

0

35

0

Unspecified

0

0

0

0

0

2

Overseas office / factory

English was not important did have such a connection. It is important to keep inmind that they may have relations with companies in countries in which English
is not useful as a communication tool.
Of particular relevance for the introduced change-action was anotheritem which inquired about employee English use. Figure 1 shows the numberof companies that selected each type of activity, with companies again able tochoose multiple responses. Practical English was most necessary, for working
overseas, communication via email and fax, and document and information
Table 3
Number of Companies Noting Importance of English
Important for all
employees

Important for specificsections

Not so important

Unspecified

69

236

69

6

29

SampsonUnspecified

19

Other

20

Conference attendance / presentation

61

Communication between employees

63

Use of English

Reading / writing research articles

80

Making English manuals

118

Meetings

126

Negotiations

129
162

Telephone calls

188

Technical discussions

214

Document / information gathering

222

Reading / writing email & faxes
Working overseas

244
0

50

100

150

200

250

Number of Companies

Figure 1. Number of companies noting particular uses of English.

gathering. In contrast to past findings for the need for more general English
abilities (Hill, 2013; Kaneko et al., 2009), 188 companies (around 50% of
responses) also asserted the need to conduct technical discussions in English.
Student Ideas of Future English Use (Cycles 2 and 3)
To no surprise, the vast majority of students did connect the purpose of theirEnglish studies to university entrance exams, as evident in the following extracts:
English is to pass the exam. Not to speak English. So I can’t speak English
well. (Atsuhito, PEEL, E)
English study at senior-high school was all for entrance to university, so it wasgood that I had a lot of chances to solve problems… But because the purpose
was to solve problems, I became able to do that, but not to talk at all. (Shiho,
PEEL, J).
Aligning strongly with an instrumental motive, such students wrote
extremely clearly of their recognition that past English study had been primarily
in order to gain a high score on entrance exams. However, in a handful of cases
there were students who did project past entrance exams (see below). What was
puzzling, nevertheless, was that these references to “the future” were frequently
exceedingly vague and lacked specific detail:30

Expectations and Dreams, OnCUE Journal, 10(1), pages 21-38

My junior high school teacher said to me, ‘English will need in the future!’ so
I studied English. (Kazue, PEEL, E)
Was I studying for the future? (Rie, PEEL, J)
In a few cases, slightly more concrete references to the future revolved
around interaction with an imagined community of English speakers. Thesestudents invariably had a higher level of English ability. Their understandingsof the purpose of English study reminded me of Yashima’s (2009) notionof international posture, an idea that one is connected to the international
community:
I’m studying English because I want to talk many people who live in all over
the world. (Sena, PEEL, E)
I studied because English is the main language that is used by people from theentire world. ( Junji, PEEL, E)
Of the 56 students, only two mentioned work at all in the PEEL:
I was studying English for getting a job. (Mamoru, PEEL, J)
I studied because I want to work in another country someday. (Yoichiro,
PEEL, E)
Table 4Student Ideas of Possible Future English Use Coded by Type of Projected Activity
Activity code (n)With English I can…

For travel (21)…enjoy Walt Disney World.
…travel in America.
…go to London because I like Sherlock Holmes.

Communication in general (15)…talk to people who come from abroad in English.
…help trouble foreign people in the station.

Pastimes & hobbies (13)…read Harry Potter written in English.
…understand movies of English.

Friendship (7)…make friends with a person from abroad.

Occupational (6)…communicate with foreign scientist.
…be scientist.
…work around the world.

31

Sampson

My understandings of the data at the end of Cycle 2 led me to introduce
the Opening Doors activity. I hoped to encourage students to construct anew
a revised image of a future English-using self. A sample of the emergent student
ideas coded by activity is presented in Table 4 (all responses were in English).
Due perhaps to the focused prompt of this activity, analysis revealed more
concrete detail of what students imagined a possible future-self doing withEnglish. Once again there was little connection with future occupation. This
lack of connection was puzzling - as students had entered majors leading topotential employment in the science and technology fields, and English is theaccepted lingua franca for such jobs (“Engineers Must Have English”, 2009).
Consequently, I had expected more cognizance of the possibility of occupational
English use in their future. An additional surprise was that the only two students
who had connected English studies to future occupation in the PEEL activity
did not write about using English for work in the Opening Doors activity.
While perhaps not altogether clear from the examples in Table 4, analysis
revealed that students more often considered a possible future-self in an
overseas context, in particular the U.S. As I have argued previously (Sampson,
2015, 2016), English remains very much a foreign language for young Japanese.
Moreover, there was a considerable inclination to imagine the future self speaking
English. Listening and reading were mentioned to some degree, but writing
English was not mentioned explicitly by any student. Through cross-referencewith the PEEL data, a great many learners positioned past English study foruniversity entrance exams in direct opposition to developing speaking ability.
The analysis implies that these students feel particularly drawn to the possibilityof a future-self speaking English and not using it in any other way.
Comparison of Industry and Student Ideas
The current study reveals a vast gap between employers’ and students’ ideas of
future English use. The lack of a connection by students between English andoccupation may broadly imply little attachment to any kind of occupational
possible-self. Considering their age, this might be considered par for the course.
However, in light of the importance and needs for English expressed by many32

Expectations and Dreams, OnCUE Journal, 10(1), pages 21-38

company representatives, and given the fact that students only study English asa required subject at the university in question in their first and second years,
this disconnect could have negative consequences for learning. If left unattended,these learners may well replicate those in Hill’s (2013) study, unconfident or
undecided about the potential to use English in an occupational setting evennear the end of their studies. This gap suggests that activities in English lessons
that overtly connect to potential future occupational English use—based on thefindings from the industry survey—may prove useful in assisting students torevise their future English-using self perceptions.
Far removed from the kinds of activities in which company representatives
noted English use, students drew on their own interests in the Opening Doors
activity: travel, Disney, Sherlock Holmes, Harry Potter, movies, friendship, andso on. There were also other apparent mismatches. While students frequently
imagined a future-self using English in the U.S., analysis from the open-ended
section of the company survey more often placed overseas English use indeveloping countries. No student imagined a future-self writing English either,
yet a range of activities that company representatives noted require writing ability.
Various researchers (e.g., Taylor, 2014; Ushioda, 2011) argue for the benefits
to language learning motivation and identity development of students being able
to make a connection between personal interests and their language studies. Yet,
many students’ ideas seemed far more like inconsequential dreams rather thanmore pragmatic projections of a likely future. Although they might pursue thesedreams, at some point a working-self is waiting in their life to come.
Transitions, such as the move from senior-high school to the first year ofundergraduate study, are a key time of dynamicity in self-concept (Oyserman& James, 2012). Especially considering that required English study occurs in
the first and second years of university in this context, it seems there could bea vital informative role for the Ought-to L2 Self. Language learners’ access to
information regarding future expectations may be crucial in their developmentof any possible self. One possibility for classroom intervention would be to
ask students to discuss together to make guesses about the rank-order of ways
in which English is used by technologists in their major field. By then showing
33

Sampsonstudents the actual company results from this research, they could then compare
a summary of their own data (from the Opening Doors activity) with company
needs. Another potentially beneficial activity would be to introduce near peerrole models (Murphey & Arao, 2001) of older students or graduates. These rolemodels could be either invited to the classroom or introduced through a videoof interviews. While findings from Hill et al. (2013) imply that an overemphasison the Ought-to L2 Self can be detrimental to language development, results todate of this ongoing action research suggest that such explicit input regarding
one aspect of learners’ likely future could assist them to leave their fantasies
behind, and instead develop more grounded ideas of future English use.

Conclusion

The current research is ongoing, and therefore this paper offers only a work-inprogress glimpse of the potential benefits of gathering and comparing industry
and student ideas. Moreover, while the expectations of industry were collectedfrom a large sample, the study is also limited in its focus on only two small groupsof students. Nevertheless, analysis to date has uncovered a large discrepancy
between the understandings of future English use held by industry and students
transitioning to undergraduate studies. Continued exploration through action
research change-action will hopefully reveal the motivational benefits toattempting to foster in students more balanced ideas of the Ought-to and Ideal
L2 Selves. It will also potentially offer insights into the usefulness (or not) of the
L2MSS as a way to both theorize motivation and assist students to reflect on themeaning of English learning for their own future.

Acknowledgments

This research was supported in part by JSPS Grant Number 15K16790.

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Author bio

Richard Sampson, MAppL (University of Southern Queensland), PhD (Griffith
University), is a Lecturer at Gunma University, Japan. He has been working in
the Japanese educational context since 1999. His research interests include language
learner and teacher motivation as a complex system and possible identities.
sampson@gunma-u.ac.jp
Received: June 30, 2016
Accepted: May 10, 201737

Sampson

Appendix
Past Experience of English Lessons Activity
You

Other student

1

What was a usual lesson like? What did theteacher / students do? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Name: _______________________
Similarity: ____________________

2

What was a good point about lessons?
Why? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Name: _______________________
Similarity: ____________________

3

What was a bad point about lessons? Why?
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Name: _______________________
Similarity: ____________________

4

Why were you studying English? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Name: _______________________
Similarity: ____________________

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