By Ryota Kagehira
Japanese English learners have the lowest speaking score of TOEFL in the world. This is shocking. TOEFL’s the speaking score of the Japanese test takers is only 17 points, which is the lowest speaking score in the world. Why are Japanese English learners cannot speak English?
Firstly, the curriculum of Japanese English education does not teach English pronunciation. The number of consonants and vowels in Japanese is far fewer than that of English, so it is necessary to teach pronunciation of English consonants and vowels. However, most Japanese people do not learn English pronunciation. So, Japanese people cannot pronounce English sounds correctly and do not have confidence when they speak English. In this situation, they are afraid of making mistakes.
Secondly, English education does not provide enough speaking time for students. According to Kenzo Tokunaga, a survey for 12 thousand public Junior highs and 38 hundred public high schools by MEXT showed data about English classes. Some schools answered that the English class is using English mostly. The first year in Junior high is 3.9%, the second year is 3.7%, the third year is 4%, and high school is only 1,1%. As you know, it is said that Japanese students do not have the opportunity to speak English in a foreign language class. Also, conversation between students and teachers is spoken in Japanese. For this reason, a lot of Japanese students cannot speak English.
There are two problems with Japanese English education lack of pronunciation instruction and speaking time. If these problems of Japanese English education are solved, Japanese people will be able to speak English better.
https://jpn01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.agulin.aoyama.ac.jp%2Fmmd%2Flibrary01%2FBD90039085%2FBody%2Flink%2Fn12u0021_036.pdf&data=05%7C01%7C%7C0daa2b8b9a654fa14e5f08db035fd40e%7Cf11434e8abcf41f48154a9b2608dcd42%7C0%7C0%7C638107484731269692%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=m6qfQ8WMMeAdKBcY6NaH1hNVwB8Y2swIuKm2lEcZ%2BM0%3D&reserved=0
https://jpn01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcore.ac.uk%2Fdownload%2Fpdf%2F267826235.pdf&data=05%7C01%7C%7C0daa2b8b9a654fa14e5f08db035fd40e%7Cf11434e8abcf41f48154a9b2608dcd42%7C0%7C0%7C638107484731269692%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=zpQeWC%2B1Y%2BZ4hK1YyDg7haxvqddkU1QQgNMSEf429SU%3D&reserved=0
https://jpn01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fkiu.repo.nii.ac.jp%2F%3Faction%3Drepository_action_common_download%26item_id%3D422%26item_no%3D1%26attribute_id%3D18%26file_no%3D1&data=05%7C01%7C%7C0daa2b8b9a654fa14e5f08db035fd40e%7Cf11434e8abcf41f48154a9b2608dcd42%7C0%7C0%7C638107484731269692%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=BNsCJx5p50lq4wNXnsT0kXY3xiW8KRMqmEyy%2FvvKVZA%3D&reserved=0
