U Hrvatskoj se engleski uči kao strani jezik, a osim u formalnom obrazovanju, prisutan je i u svakodnevnom životu od najranije dobi. Dnevna izloženost engleskome jeziku mjeri se u satima, a istraživanja su pokazala da mnoge neformalne aktivnosti omogućuju nenamjerno usvajanje jezika. Cilj ovog rada je utvrditi u kojim aktivnostima studentska populacija u Hrvatskoj provodi najviše vremena služeći se engleskim jezikom, te postoji li povezanost između izloženosti engleskome jeziku i njegove uporabe s jezičnim znanjem. U istraživanju je sudjelovalo 93 ispitanika, studenata Filozofskog fakulteta Sveučilišta u Rijeci. Za utvrđivanje razine jezičnog znanja korišten je Oxford Placement Test , a na temelju rezultata ispitanici su podijeljeni u tri grupe. Izloženost engleskome jeziku i njegova uporaba ispitani su upitnikom u kojemu su ispitanici procjenjivali koliko vremena provode u ponuđenim aktivnostima služeći se engleskim jezikom. Rezultati su pokazali da ispitanici najviše vremena provode na internetu, a najmanje u usmenoj komunikaciji. Razlike između grupa s najvišom i najnižom razinom znanja bile su značajne u svim kategorijama osim čitanja za zabavu, pisane i usmene komunikacije. Rezultati istraživanja upućuju na povezanost između uporabe jezika i jezičnog znanja, kao i na činjenicu da se status engleskog kao stranoga jezika mijenja. The English language is studied as a foreign language in Croatia, and, apart from being included in formal education, it is also present in everyday life. Daily exposure to English is measured in hours and research has shown that many informal activities allow for incidental language acquisition. This paper is aimed at identifying the activities in which the Croatian student population spends most of their time using English as well as at investigating whether a connection between exposure to English, its use and prior knowledge of language can be established. Ninety-three participants were included in the study, all students of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Rijeka. The level of English knowledge was determined by administering the Oxford Placement Test. Three groups were formed based on the results obtained in the testing. Exposure to English and the students’ use of the language were tested by means of a questionnaire in which the participants were asked to approximate how much time they spent using English in the activities listed in the questionnaire. The results showed that the participants spent most of their time online and least in spoken communication. The differences between groups with the lowest and the highest levels of knowledge were found to be significant across all activities apart from reading for leisure, written, and spoken communication. On the one hand, this study has managed to corroborate the connection between language use and the level of language proficiency, and on the other, it has indicated that the status of English is slowly changing on both the global and individual level.