Japan's education ministry said yesterday that students in their final year of high school largely fell short of government targets in English proficiency in a recent test and had particular difficulty with speaking and writing.
A related survey of the students' attitudes also found that nearly 60 per cent did not like studying English, said the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in reporting preliminary test results.
The test, carried out between July and September last year at about 480 randomly chosen public high schools across Japan, measured third-year students' English skills in the four fields of listening, speaking, reading and writing.
About 70,000 students sat the test, but the speaking section involved only 17,000.
In each skill section a majority of students scored at or below the equivalent of Grade Three in the Eiken Test in Practical English Proficiency, a widely administered English test carried out by a ministry-backed foundation. Level Three scores are 87.2 per cent for speaking, 86.5 per cent for writing, 75.9 per cent for listening and 72.7 per cent for reading. The results are significantly out of step with a government target aiming to have at least 50 per cent of high school graduates holding an English proficiency of Eiken Grade Two or pre-Two, the next two levels above Grade Three.
Of the examinees, 29.2 per cent scored zero on the writing section, and 13.3 per cent scored zero on the speaking section.