Japan Times
Third-year junior high students in Japan were on average only able to answer 12.4% of questions correctly in an English-speaking test for national assessments conducted in April, the education ministry said Monday, marking an 18.4 percentage points fall from when they were previously assessed in 2019.
More than 60% of the students evaluated could not answer a single speaking question correctly, the education ministry results showed.
Although national assessments are conducted annually, it was the first time in four years that third-year junior high schoolers' English was evaluated.
The drop comes after changes were introduced to the English teaching curriculum in the 2021 academic year, which put more focus on students' ability to convey their thoughts and understand those of others in the language.
One of the reasons why many Japanese students are not adequate in speaking English is the insufficiency of qualified English teachers. Due to the luck of budget, good teachers don’t teach English at schools. Nonetheless, the level of speaking assessment is quite high. Students don’t have enough time to practice speaking in English. Unless the government addresses this issue, students’ speaking skills won’t be improved.
🛑Do you think Japanese students’ proficiency in speaking abilities is insufficient compared to other developed countries?
🛑How do Japanese government address this issue to boost students’ speaking skills?