English language skills: 9-way classification
Definition
A classification of a persons skills in the English Language.
Classification
Total number of categories 10
| Code | Name |
|---|---|
| 1 | Understands spoken English only |
| 2 | Speaks, reads and writes English |
| 3 | Speaks but does not read or write English |
| 4 | Speaks and reads but does not write English |
| 5 | Reads but does not speak or write English |
| 6 | Writes but does not speak or read English |
| 7 | Reads and writes but does not speak English |
| 8 | Other Combinations of skills in English |
| 9 | No skills in English |
| -5 | No code required - comprises children under the age of 3 and schoolchildren and full-time students living away from home during term time. |
Source question or variables
How well can you understand, speak, read
and write English?
- Understand (spoken)
- Very well
- Well
- Not well
- Not at all
- Speak
- Very well
- Well
- Not well
- Not at all
- Read
- Very well
- Well
- Not well
- Not at all
- Write
- Very well
- Well
- Not well
- Not at all
Reason for asking
Information on English language skills is required to meet a number of different needs, including equality monitoring, service planning and provision, resource allocation, and to meet legislative requirements.
England & Wales and Scotland (2011) comparisons
The Scotland's Census 2022 census English language skills (understand/speak/read/write) question included a proficiency matrix (very well/well/not very well/not at all), rather than skill/no skill as in Census 2011. In the published data we consider individuals who ticked very well or well to have the skill. We have created an additional category of ‘Limited English skills’ if an individual has ticked ‘not very well’ in at least one skill and ‘not at all’ in all the other skills. A final category ‘no skills’ refers to individuals that ticked ‘not at all’ for all four skills. When comparing to the previous census please note the change in question when drawing conclusions.
In England and Wales (2022), the English language skills question asked:
"How well can you speak English?
- Very well
- Well
- Not well
- Not at all"
Definition
A person aged three and over is classified with skills in English if they can do one or more of the following:
- Understand spoken English
- Speak English
- Read English, or
- Write English
Classification
Total number of categories 10
| Code | Name |
|---|---|
| 0 | Understands spoken English only |
| 1 | Speaks, reads and writes English |
| 2 | Speaks but does not read or write English |
| 3 | Speaks and reads but does not write English |
| 4 | Reads but does not speak or write English |
| 5 | Writes but does not speak or read English |
| 6 | Reads and writes but does not speak English |
| 7 | Other combination of skills in English |
| 8 | No skills in English |
| X | No code required - comprises schoolchildren and full-time students living away from home during term time. |
Source question or variables
LANGSKILLS (Primary variable)
Known Quality Issues
There is evidence that the census data is not accurate for English Language skills. This was identified as there were a considerable number of people who had no skills in English but at the same time were fully proficient in Scots. This was confirmed whilst looking at cross tabulations of English language skills (ENG2PS11) by results of the next question in the census: Spoken English proficiency (LANGPRF). There were a large number of people who had not ticked the box indicating that they were able to speak English but in the next question had answered that they spoke English very well or well.
The possible reasons for this will be investigated and published as part of the Census evaluation.
The decision was made to combine the tick box responses for English and Scots. Published tables on English language skills are actually English and / or Scots language skills to account for this issue.