Baito vs. Benkyō: Part-Time Employment and EFL Academic Performance at a Japanese University

Abstract

Many university students in Japan have part-time jobs and must balance this employment with their studies. The relationship between part-time employment and academic performance at the tertiary level has long been of interest to researchers and educators, yet findings remain mixed. This cross-sectional quantitative study investigated the relationship between part-time employment and EFL academic performance at a mid-sized private university in Tokyo over the 2022–23, 2023–24, and 2024–25 academic years (n = 337). Descriptive statistics, Welch’s independent-samples t-tests, Welch’s one-way ANOVAs, and nonparametric tests were conducted. No statistically significant relationships were found between part-time employment and final grades in either the Freshman English or Sophomore English cohorts. However, different patterns were observed: Freshman English students who worked part-time tended to have slightly higher average grades than nonworkers, whereas the opposite pattern was observed with Sophomore English students. Similarly, the more hours Freshman English students worked, the higher their average grades tended to be, whereas Sophomore English students who worked the most hours received, on average, the lowest grades. These findings are consistent with the wider literature, which has reported mixed results, suggesting that the relationship between part-time employment and academic performance may be more complex than is often assumed. The findings also suggest that educators, university administrators, and policymakers should avoid assuming that part-time employment affects all students uniformly and instead find ways to support students whose work commitments may be affecting their studies.