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© KYODOTokyo students take oral English test in high school entrance exam
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Thomas Twatt
Really? In that case, if I were that teenaged girl detained by police earlier this year for receiving test answers on a concealed cellphone, I might have something to say about that.
https://japantoday.com/category/crime/Student-turns-herself-in-to-police-over-alleged-university-exam-cheating
TT
Elvis is here
Mr Twatt
Two quite different situations. Planning to cheat and over- hearing an answer in a test are not related.
It's like comparing Antarctica with Tokyo university don't you think?
Yubaru
I'll bet EIKEN was pissed off that "their" speaking test wasn't selected! It's idiotic to think that being able to answer 8 questions is a measure of one's "speaking" ability!
kurisupisu
A private company (with poor data management) employing cheap labor with staff speaking a different dialect of English to that which is being graded.
What could go wrong?
Michael Machida
The year is 2022 almost 2023 and Japan has just approved this? It's no wonder the rate of English in Japan is the lowest in Asia.
Elvis is here
Yubaru-san sounds the most peeved. You need some PMA (positive mental attitude)
mb96768
The Japanese education system is entirely test-oriented, and tests are not a measure of ability, but to separate winners from losers. In that respect, they are highly efficient. The Japanese like one correct answer and the thought of scoring rubrics terrifies them and smacks of uncertainty despite the fact that rubrics have been used by the ETS in the United States for decades. That said, the following is still considered to be correct English, "Tomorrow I will go shopping."
The JET programme has cost the government billions with no improvement in speaking proficiency because ATs are used for "fun and games" rather than improving proficiency. And since speaking isn't graded, why would students care?
Cricky
My meetings, conversation with biLingual Japanese….have never happened. People from other countries many times. Japanese people no.
Thomas Twatt
No. For if my English was as hopeless as most Japanese high schoolers’, I’d find someone whose English was good and ask/bribe her (it would be a girl because Japanese boys’ English is really appalling) to sit near me in the test and bellow out her answers loudly and clearly so I could copy them. Job done.
TT
shogun36
3 whole mock tests?!?
wow, Thats a lot of work to prepare…..
Old Sausage
At the exam the student says in clear voice and perfect pronunciation, this is a pen, those here are fingers, and this is my nose....
TokyoLiving
Japan is not the best in English but it is not the worst either, among Asian countries it is between 10 - 20 place, it can improve, but it is too dramatic to ensure that it is the last ..
proxy
Give the kids a break and toss high school entrance exams into the trash bin of history.
Every kid who graduates junior high should be guaranteed a seat at their nearest public high school. Offering more than one academic stream at the same high school is not rocket science.
shogun36
horrible idea.
Those worthless tests make the following invalid in Japanese high schools.
volunteer work
common sense
useable skills
social skills
sexual education
socializing with others (not that school club crap)
mixed classrooms by skill level, not by homeroom or age (which leads to bullying)
let the students move classrooms, not the teachers
enough with the 12 tests in 3 days nonsense, spread it out
segregated pe classes.
etc etc, the list can go on and on.
The problem here isn't whether there is a speaking test or not. the REAL issue is how obsolete and one sided the testing system is in high schools.
Sven Asai
Well, that depends on those eight questions. It’s surely sufficient for a first or basic measurement of general speaking ability. Btw. there’s even an only 3 questions IQ test out there and that one is sufficient too (although its third question is showing that the developer might not have himself such a very high IQ required for creating such a short test)
funkymofo
Priceless.
Rodney
not the two NHK translators at 7 and 9pm though.
AramaTaihenNoYouDidnt
It begs the question...what Speaking proficiency level descriptor is being used for a (Mock) Test of 8 Qs in 15 minutes?
I can see it now:
Q1. What is your name?
Q2. Where are you from?
Q3. Where do you live?
Q4. When is your birthday?
Q5. Do you have any brothers or sisters?
Q6. What do you like?
Q7. What can you do?
Q8. Which do you like, (cats) or (dogs) [selective category]? Why?
Then Level:
Scale score 6 - 8...Level 3 Typically, test taker have limited vocabulary and grammar.
Scale score 4-5...Level 2 Typically, test taker is difficult to understand.
Scale score 0-3...Level 1 Typically, test taker may not have the proficiency skills (L/R) necessary to understand.
TokyoOldMan
English Oral tests being marked by non-native English speaking people. I have even observed, a correct answer being given, and being marked incorrect simply because it did not meet the predetermined answer .. which itself was wrong!!!!