The Statistics of English across Asia

Abstract

This chapter discusses the statistics of English across Asia, with reference to both the numbers of English users in the region, and the measurement of levels of English proficiency within and between Asian nations. It reviews relevant studies of the spread of English in societies throughout South Asia, Southeast Asia, and East Asia. The chapter begins with a review of census and other data relating to the numbers of speakers in both Outer Circle and Expanding Circle Asian societies, before moving on to discuss the issue of proficiency, and various ways of calculating and calibrating proficiency scores for particular Asian societies. It presents suggestions based on authors own research in the Hong Kong context on how language surveys might be able to supplement self‐report data by using innovative information technology to sample both spoken and written languages online as part of language survey methodology.