Chiba Pref. high school entrance exams to include Japanese listening test
The Yomiuri Shimbun
Beginning next year, the Chiba Prefectural Board of Education plans to adopt a Japanese-language listening test as part of the entrance examination for prefectural high schools. The move is a first in the Kanto area, but this kind of listening comprehension test has been already adopted in seven other prefectures, mainly in the Kyushu and Shikoku regions.
Japanese-language lessons at middle schools cover "speaking and listening" in addition to "writing and reading." Schools have addressed "speaking and listening" by having students make speeches and participate in discussions, but the skills have not been reflected in the achievement tests of high school entrance examinations.
The board of education aims to eval!uate students' Japanese-language ability more precisely by putting more weight on speaking and listening. A member of the board of education said the introduction of the new test would be effective in improving students' communicative ability through listening to other people speak and understanding their meaning.
In its implementation, no trial period is set. The board plans to immediately incorporate the results of each student's listening test into their total Japanese-language test score from the first year.
Aomori Prefecture pioneered in adopting the listening test in 1979, followed by Okinawa, Saga and Yamaguchi prefectures. Since the implementation of the current official curriculum in April 2002, listening tests have also been adopted by Shimane, Kagoshima and Okayama prefectures.
Concerning the expansion of the listening test, an official of the Education, Science and Technology Ministry said the boards of education would want to eval!uate how students could listen and express themselves because students' communicative ability has been called into question in recent years.
The listening topics have expanded from a brief story read by one voice to a dialogue acted by two voices.
Common questions for the test gauge students' understanding of the content and point of the story or call for them to write down their opinions on it. Generally, it takes 10 minutes or less. Chiba Prefecture's test will account for about 10 minutes of the 50-minute Japanese-language test. It is the same length as the listening test in English.
In response to the news, middle schools in the prefecture have started to include listening tests in their regular examinations. Some cram schools have students try the past listening tests that other prefectures have offered.
Aoba Gakuin, a cram school in Wakaba Ward, Chiba, started listening practice from its summer seminar. From September, they have given listening practice a few times a month in their practice tests. Students tried a listening test in a class on Oct. 3. First they listened to an essay (about two minutes and 30 seconds) concerning volunteer activities. Then test papers were delivered. The questions were read by a teacher and students took notes while listening to the questions. It seemed they were accustomed to this kind of test.
They were given about five minutes to write answers to four questions, including a dictation exercise and a multiple-choice question about the essay's theme. Some students seemed to have some difficulty writing a summary within the time allotted.
Masakazu Sakuta, 37, head of the cram school, said: "Students who are accustomed to hearing other people's speech scored well on the test. I think adopting a listening test is a good way to get students to listen to other people."
(Nov. 15, 2007)
The Yomiuri Shimbun
Beginning next year, the Chiba Prefectural Board of Education plans to adopt a Japanese-language listening test as part of the entrance examination for prefectural high schools. The move is a first in the Kanto area, but this kind of listening comprehension test has been already adopted in seven other prefectures, mainly in the Kyushu and Shikoku regions.
Japanese-language lessons at middle schools cover "speaking and listening" in addition to "writing and reading." Schools have addressed "speaking and listening" by having students make speeches and participate in discussions, but the skills have not been reflected in the achievement tests of high school entrance examinations.
The board of education aims to eval!uate students' Japanese-language ability more precisely by putting more weight on speaking and listening. A member of the board of education said the introduction of the new test would be effective in improving students' communicative ability through listening to other people speak and understanding their meaning.
In its implementation, no trial period is set. The board plans to immediately incorporate the results of each student's listening test into their total Japanese-language test score from the first year.
Aomori Prefecture pioneered in adopting the listening test in 1979, followed by Okinawa, Saga and Yamaguchi prefectures. Since the implementation of the current official curriculum in April 2002, listening tests have also been adopted by Shimane, Kagoshima and Okayama prefectures.
Concerning the expansion of the listening test, an official of the Education, Science and Technology Ministry said the boards of education would want to eval!uate how students could listen and express themselves because students' communicative ability has been called into question in recent years.
The listening topics have expanded from a brief story read by one voice to a dialogue acted by two voices.
Common questions for the test gauge students' understanding of the content and point of the story or call for them to write down their opinions on it. Generally, it takes 10 minutes or less. Chiba Prefecture's test will account for about 10 minutes of the 50-minute Japanese-language test. It is the same length as the listening test in English.
In response to the news, middle schools in the prefecture have started to include listening tests in their regular examinations. Some cram schools have students try the past listening tests that other prefectures have offered.
Aoba Gakuin, a cram school in Wakaba Ward, Chiba, started listening practice from its summer seminar. From September, they have given listening practice a few times a month in their practice tests. Students tried a listening test in a class on Oct. 3. First they listened to an essay (about two minutes and 30 seconds) concerning volunteer activities. Then test papers were delivered. The questions were read by a teacher and students took notes while listening to the questions. It seemed they were accustomed to this kind of test.
They were given about five minutes to write answers to four questions, including a dictation exercise and a multiple-choice question about the essay's theme. Some students seemed to have some difficulty writing a summary within the time allotted.
Masakazu Sakuta, 37, head of the cram school, said: "Students who are accustomed to hearing other people's speech scored well on the test. I think adopting a listening test is a good way to get students to listen to other people."
(Nov. 15, 2007)