The Test of English as a Foreign Language will be required both to enter public universities and to graduate from them if the policy recommendations adopted Monday by the ruling Liberal Democratic Partyfs education reform panel are formalized.
BY REIJI YOSHIDA
STAFF WRITER
The Japan Times
APR 8, 2013
The Test of English as a Foreign Language will be required both to enter public universities and to graduate from them if the policy recommendations adopted Monday by the ruling Liberal Democratic Partyfs education reform panel are formalized.
Introduction of the TOEFL in this manner is expected to drastically change the public English-language education system at junior high and high schools, which currently focus more on writing and grammar proficiency.
The TOEFL and other recommendations, amounting to four pages, were submitted to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the LDP president, later in the day.
Also proposed were measures to double the number of students earning science and mathematics doctorates to 35,000 a year and a \500 billion outlay to provide tablet computers to all public elementary, junior high and high schools.
The panel also called on the government to set up gspecial high schoolsh that focus on high level science and math for advanced students.
The proposals call for a \1 trillion investment, including the \500 billion tablet computer outlay and \400 billion for English education reforms.
Toshiaki Endo, head of the panel, said the group will push to have some of those proposals included in the LDPfs campaign pledges for the July Upper House election.
According to Endo, the panelfs proposals are part of LDP efforts to enhance the abilities of younger generations to adapt to the global environment.
The proposals, including introduction of the TOEFL, are also designed to correct the gexcessive egalitarianismh at schools and to nurture the abilities of top-level students, Endo said.
gJapanese education has sought for equality in (student academic achievements). Because of this, it has failed to offer education that capitalizes on (their individual) characteristics,h Endo told reporters.
Endo said Abe met with the panel the same day and generally agreed on the importance of practical English education, but otherwise offered little commitment to the other proposals. Thus it remains to be seen how many of the proposals will be adopted by the LDP-New Komeito ruling coalition.
The TOEFL proposals call for all high school students to score 45 points or higher on the test and for teachers of English to score 80 or higher.
Students will be exposed to English for longer hours through Saturday lessons, English-language camps and studies via tablet computers under the proposals.
The government would meanwhile designate about 30 universities to provide special English-language education, including student exchange programs with overseas colleges. More than half of the lectures at those universities should be conducted in English, according to the proposals, and the government will give financial support to another 100 universities to develop special education programs for practical English.
The panel argued that the government should invest as much in public education as do other member nations of the Organization for Economic and Cooperation Development.
Japan spends 3.6 percent of its gross domestic product on public education, while the United States spends 5.3 percent, Britain 5.3 percent, France 5.8 percent, Germany 4.5 percent and South Korea 4.9 percent.