Sessions

The use of four-skills English exams for university entrance admission in Japan

This TEVAL SIG Forum will consist of three 20-minute presentations and a 30-minute open-floor discussion which will address the proposed adoption of four-skills tests for university admissions in Japan. The main purpose is to overview the selection and use of tests and the potential impact that their use will have on English education in Japan. Firstly, David Allen will briefly discuss why MEXT is recommending the use of external tests for admissions purposes and present various reactions to the proposal. He will describe key features of the recommended tests (i.e., Cambridge Assessment exams, EIKEN, GTEC, IELTS, TEAP and TOEFL) and discuss the main issues facing key test stakeholders (i.e., test takers, parents, teachers, university administrators) when determining which test(s) to adopt. Secondly, Kingo Shiratori will discuss the various factors involved in selecting four skills tests for university entrance purposes. By referring to his recent study (Shiratori, 2019), which investigated the use of the Cambridge Preliminary B1 exam at his own institution, he will illustrate how researchers and other stakeholders can evaluate the appropriateness of using specific tests in specific contexts. Thirdly, Tatsuro Tahara will discuss future research directions into the engineering of washback from test use in the Japanese context with reference to contemporary washback theories. He will focus specifically on two specific aspects of Japanese education that have been under-researched yet are likely to play an important role in test washback in this context: shadow education (i.e., juku and yobiko) and Japanese test culture.

Loanwords and Word Guessing: The Impact of a Training Intervention

When reading in a second language (L2), we often come across words that we do not know. At such times, we may guess word meaning by using available information, such as sentence context. We may also notice similarities in form (i.e., spelling and/or the expected pronunciation) with words that we know in our first language (L1). Cognates and loanwords, which typically share some degree of form and meaning across languages, may be particularly helpful for guessing unknown L2 word meanings. However, it has been reported that learners often fail to notice cross-linguistic similarities and thus fail to take advantage of them during inferencing. The present study investigated whether a brief training intervention, which raises awareness of Japanese loanwords derived from English (e.g., イルミネーション / irumineeshon/ ‘illumination’), can improve word guessing accuracy. Initial findings from a study with Japanese learners of English reveal small but significant increases in guessing accuracy for unknown English words that have loanwords in Japanese. This presentation will describe the research design, preliminary findings, and implications of the ongoing study.