Presentation 2011-11-26
Longitudinal Survey of Listening/Speaking Fluency of Students Entering a Japanese College
Masanori SUZUKI, Yasunari HARADA,
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Abstract(in Japanese) (See Japanese page)
Abstract(in English) Due to internationalization of the Japanese society, an urgent need to cultivate Japanese with proficient English skills has emerged and is being recognized as a critical goal of English education. Because National syllabus for junior and senior high schools from Japan's Ministry of Education has emphasized communicative approach since the 1990's and a listening test has been incorporated into the College Entrance Examination Center test, it may seem reasonable to see improvement in oral English skills among high school students. On the other hand, college English teachers express that the traditional grammar-translation method is still dominant in Japanese junior and senior high schools because it still prepares students best for most entrance examinations. To better serve students in college English classes, it is critical to understand what level of spoken English skills freshman students possess when they enter universities. The authors have been surveying spoken English proficiency levels of university freshmen at a private university at the time of entrance. In this paper, we report on freshmen's spoken English levels as measured by a standardized spoken English test, Versant English Test, which was administered every year in April from 2006 to 2011. An attempt is made to interpret the test scores with respect to CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference), as it incorporates functional and situational aspects of language use.
Keyword(in Japanese) (See Japanese page)
Keyword(in English) fixed time point survey / university freshmen / English proficiency / spoken English test
Paper # TL2011-45
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Conference Information
Committee TL
Conference Date 2011/11/19(1days)
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Paper Information
Registration To Thought and Language (TL)
Language JPN
Title (in Japanese) (See Japanese page)
Sub Title (in Japanese) (See Japanese page)
Title (in English) Longitudinal Survey of Listening/Speaking Fluency of Students Entering a Japanese College
Sub Title (in English)
Keyword(1) fixed time point survey
Keyword(2) university freshmen
Keyword(3) English proficiency
Keyword(4) spoken English test
1st Author's Name Masanori SUZUKI
1st Author's Affiliation Pearson Knowledge Technologies()
2nd Author's Name Yasunari HARADA
2nd Author's Affiliation Faculty of Law, Waseda University
Date 2011-11-26
Paper # TL2011-45
Volume (vol) vol.111
Number (no) 320
Page pp.pp.-
#Pages 6
Date of Issue