How to Test Speaking Skills in Japan

13 Chapter 1: The conundrum of teaching English in Japan

The importance of university entrance exams (both national and private universities) cannot be underestimated… Students feel great pressure to do well on the exams. As a result, teachers have tremendous pressure from parents to prepare their children from the exams. Thus, regardless of what strategic goals MEXT sets out in 5-year plans, the immediate needs of students to do well on the entrance exam takes precedence for teachers and schools… The Center Test, with its mandatory English compo nent, is the largest impediment to effective language education in the country. So here we come to our first key concept in understanding the importance and role that testing plays on the educational process As you can see, the entrance exams have a direct effect on how En glish is taught and learned In language testing parlance, this effect is known as washback 2 Here in Japan, the washback effect caused by the entrance exams is decidedly negative, as it forces teachers at all levels to devote large amounts of time to preparing for them, thus taking valuable time away from practicing oral communication In addition, since these tests profoundly impact students’ future social and economic advancement, they effect Japanese society on a macro level as well (Bachman & Palmer, 1996) Perhaps you have encountered some negative washback effects in your own teaching experience Personally, I see it in terms of fostering negative, self-destructive ideas about English, such as I can’t do it , I’m not interested , or I’m too shy (Talandis, Jr, 2015) Another example stems from how the teaching methodology and tests reinforce the idea that there is only one correct answer, and that students need to be grammatically perfect in order to make them 2 This term is also referred to in the literature as backwash (Hughes, 1989). Mendelson (1989) uses both: positive influence from a test is called washback , whereas negative in fluences are deemed backwash . In this book, I will only use washback , which can be either positive or negative.