Declaration: I declare that I wrote this thesis by myself and that I used only the sources listed in the bibliography section. Brno, April 2012 Adela Pilátová Acknowledgements

6.2The Questionnaire

First five questions were intended as warm-up questions to receive general information about respondents and their background. Apart from gender and age were included questions about job position and industry category of company they work in and whether the company use English as a “company” (communicative) language. One of the aims of the questionnaire survey was to give an overview of the importance of English at work. Respondents were asked to mark on scale level of English language, importance of English language to their work performance and how often they encounter with English language. Furthermore, to see how they assess themselves the level of their English and what are the requirements of the company for their job. Respondents indicated the language performance on a scale with the alternatives none, basic (general), basic (limited to my work), Intermediate (general), Intermediate (specialized to my field of work), Upper-intermediate (general), Upper-intermediate (specialized to my field of work), Advanced at the level of native speakers.

The study primary deals with the real use of English at their work, three questions aimed at obtaining this information through different types, if they understand all expressions that are used at work, respondents were also asked about form of English language they usually encounter with and in what kind of communication English is used. Another question of interest was the ability to speak English. In an attempt to get a picture of this, one question was about ability to communicate outside their work. In the hope of getting more detailed information about particular expressions the last question was to write as many expressions as possible they hear or use at their work most often. The expectations were to obtain any valid expressions that are used in so called “corporate speak”, however the result was a little bit different. The results will be explained in more details further in the thesis.

6.3Obtained data

Chart – Gender division

To get a picture about level of English language of people working in multinational corporations, respondents were supposed evaluate their knowledge themselves (Chart ). I tried to follow levels according to Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. However, I added further division if the knowledge is general or rather specialized to their field of work. On the given scale they were supposed mark their level. Majority, 37 percent, of respondents evaluate themselves as upper-intermediate with specialization to their field of work. Equal number of people 18 percent considered themselves as intermediate and upper-intermediate with general knowledge of English rather than specialized. Surprisingly, equal number (18 percent) came out also from those who thought that their level of English is at the level of native speakers. 9 percent of respondents evaluated themselves as intermediate rather specialized to their field of work. None of the respondents considered himself/herself to have none or basic level of English. When designing the questionnaire I did not expect anyone who is working in multinational corporations where English language is, as further confirmed, presented on regular basis to have lower knowledge than intermediate and this was confirmed.

Chart – Self-evaluation of English language skills

Apart from the self-evaluation of English language knowledge respondents were supposed to indicate the required knowledge for their job position from the side of their employers (Chart ). According to this survey employers require either intermediate or upper-intermediate knowledge. Mostly 30 percent of employers have the requirement of specialization to particular field of work, 30 percent are satisfied with the general knowledge. However, none of the employers require knowledge at the level of native speakers but also would not be satisfied with someone who would have none or only basic knowledge even though limited to the field of work.

Chart – Requirements of companies

Apparently, respondents considered their English language skills to be better than it is required from their employers. The figures gained from this survey are different from those mentioned above in chapter 5 where employers mostly complained about knowledge of English language. A probable explanation for this difference can be that surveys in chapter 5 were mostly about applicants for job positions. However, this survey deals with employees who are on the job positions already, which can mean that they were selected out of the applicants and therefore met criteria given by employers. Moreover, self-evaluation need to be interpreted with caution as this was only matter of respondents’ personal feeling, there was not given any test which would test the real knowledge therefore people could have underestimate or overestimate themselves.

The importance of knowledge of English language was previously mentioned when dealing with research conducted by different institutions. The survey confirmed earlier indications of importance of good knowledge of English language that were required from employers. More than half of the respondents, 73 percent, stated the knowledge of English language is essential for their work, 27 percent claimed that it is important and none of the respondents said that English is not important (Chart ). These numbers may support previously mentioned statement that once the company requires the knowledge of English language it is very probable that in the job the knowledge will be essential or at least important to conduct the work.

The importance of knowledge goes together with frequency that respondents encounter with English language at their work. Not unexpectedly, the results show that the vast majority, 82 percent, encounter with English on everyday basis, while just few respondents, 9 percent, either several times a week or several times a month (Chart ). That English is the language commonly used at work can be supported when considered that 0 percent of the respondents indicated that they do not encounter with English at all or on irregular basis.

Chart – Encounter with English language

Since previous figures were primarily focused on importance of English language, a set of following questions dealt mostly with the real use of English at workplace. First question whether respondents understand expressions that are used at their work, 100 percent of them answered that they understand entirely (Chart ). This result can be very gratifying as it may show that the employees are very good and do not have any problem to understand regardless their level of English language. However, since the question of not-understanding is a sensitive issue, the result should be considered with caution. To admit that you have a problem to understand something in English could also mean that you are partly not competent to your work. The interpretation of this question could also vary. One could mean it as understanding of each word whilst others, and I would think this was the case of all the respondents, could interpret it as a general understanding.

Chart – Understanding of expressions used in communication

When considering the real use of English language it is important to know what form the respondents mostly encounter with (Chart ). In this question I focused on productive skills (speaking and writing) and omit receptive skills (reading and listing) because I wanted to specify it to active usage. Spoken and written form was further divided to formal and informal as closer specification. Most of the respondents indicated all four forms written formal, written informal, spoken formal, spoken informal. However, when considering each form individually, is not surprising that they encounter mostly with written formal, 28 percent. Considering that this research was conducted in business world this figure was expected. Further, and this is surprising, respondents said that the least often form they encounter with is spoken formal, 22 percent. This could be interpreted that the business is mostly dealt in written form and when speaking with business partners the spoken form is not so strictly given. It may be the result of above figures dealing with level of English language skills. Spoken formal form can be considered as more difficult as respondents usually do not have time to think what they say at meetings same way as they have time to think about form when writing. Taken on account another thing that the business can be done in English even when none of the sides comes from English speaking country, usage of formality of language is disputable. As nobody can be aware what the formal spoken form should be like, therefore it may be easier to use rather informal spoken form with certain politeness. Moreover, spoken informal form will be most likely used among colleagues and in internal communication.

Chart – Form of English language people mostly encounter with

Abovementioned internal communication hinted to another field the questionnaire focused on when considering usage of English language. Whether English language is used by respondents exclusively for internal communication, only within company or it is used also for communication with customers (external communication) or both for internal as well as external communication (Chart ). This particular question should help understanding the previous one about forms. According to my findings most of the respondents, 64 percent, use English for internal as well as external communication. Not surprisingly, 27 percent of respondents claimed that they use English only for internal communication. Interesting point is that 9 percent of respondents said that they use the language only in communication with customers although at the beginning they admitted that English is communicative language of their company. This can be explained that communication was considered only as a productive skill (speaking, writing) and listening and reading was not thought out. The consequence of such consideration can be the result of order of questions. As the preceding question was about productive skills, so people could misinterpret this one as focused on productive skills as well.

Chart - Use of English in communication

To complete findings of the survey and further explore understanding of English by people who encounter with English on regular basis in the workplace, the last but one question was the one about ability to communicate in general, even outside their working environment. The respondents were once more asked to evaluate the skill by themselves. They were supposed to assess whether they are able to speak outside their work fluently, partially or if they are not able to communicate at all or with difficulties. 61 percent of respondents considered themselves fluent speakers, even outside their work. 36 percent said that they were able to communicate partially and only 3 percent admitted that having difficulties speaking about other things than working issues (Chart ).

These findings can be compared to the chart of self-evaluation (Chart ). According to me, people that considered their level of English Upper-Intermediate and higher, regardless of their specialization should be able to communicate fluently even outside their working environment. Therefore this number should be as high as 73 percent. However, few respondents could underestimate themselves, as they feel more comfortable speaking about work and as a result they could consider themselves as only partial speakers with ability to communicate only to certain level. These people are mainly from the group that level of English is at intermediate level plus few people from upper-intermediate level. The person who consider himself/herself to have difficulties when speaking about other things than work would be found in the group of people, whose English is at intermediate level but specialized to the field of work and they probably do not feel comfortable speaking about other issues those related to their work. As indicated in the previous self-evaluation chart there should be no one who is not able to communicate at all, although the topic of conversation would not be related to their work, this finding was proved as no one, 0 percent, indicated the not-at-all.
Chart – Ability to communicate outside the work environment