Does the pandemic hamper or boost the necessity for an international language? A survey on English use frequency among Japanese workers

IF 1.1 0 LANGUAGE & LINGUISTICS
Takunori Terasawa
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Abstract

Abstract This study aims to reveal the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the necessity of using English as an international language. For this purpose, this study conducted a web survey of Japanese workers, and statistically examined the extent to which the use of English increased or decreased after the outbreak. The findings are as follows. First, although some types of use decreased or increased, the majority did not show substantial changes. Second, the changes in English use were largely influenced by worker factors, such as types of occupation and employment (e.g. it declined typically among sales workers but not among the self-employed and freelancers), the degree of remote working (e.g. not being allowed to work remotely reduced it), and industry (e.g. it declined among workers in accommodation and real estate sectors but increased among public servants). These findings suggest the following implications: (1) non-decline in English use would suggest its resilience as an international language, the necessity of which could endure even in such a global upheaval; and (2) the frequency of using English (and other modes of international communication) is relatively independent of reduced human mobility, but it is largely affected by the economic climate.
大流行是阻碍还是促进了对国际语言的需求?日本工人英语使用频率调查
本研究旨在揭示COVID-19大流行对英语作为国际语言使用必要性的影响。为此,本研究对日本工人进行了一项网络调查,并统计调查了疫情爆发后英语使用增加或减少的程度。研究结果如下。首先,虽然某些类型的使用减少或增加,但大多数没有显示出实质性的变化。其次,英语使用的变化在很大程度上受到工人因素的影响,例如职业和就业类型(例如,销售人员的英语使用减少,但自营职业者和自由职业者的英语使用减少),远程工作的程度(例如,不允许远程工作减少了远程工作),以及行业(例如,住宿和房地产行业工人的英语使用减少,但公务员的英语使用增加)。这些发现表明了以下含义:(1)英语使用的不下降表明它作为一种国际语言的弹性,即使在这样的全球动荡中,它的必要性也可以持续下去;(2)使用英语(和其他国际交流方式)的频率相对独立于人类流动性的减少,但它在很大程度上受到经济气候的影响。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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来源期刊
International Journal of the Sociology of Language
International Journal of the Sociology of Language Arts and Humanities-Language and Linguistics
CiteScore
2.30
自引率
0.00%
发文量
66
期刊介绍: The International Journal of the Sociology of Language (IJSL) is dedicated to the development of the sociology of language as a truly international and interdisciplinary field in which various approaches – theoretical and empirical – supplement and complement each other, contributing thereby to the growth of language-related knowledge, applications, values and sensitivities. Five of the journal''s annual issues are topically focused, all of the articles in such issues being commissioned in advance, after acceptance of proposals. One annual issue is reserved for single articles on the sociology of language. Selected issues throughout the year also feature a contribution on small languages and small language communities.
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