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Table 4. EIKEN Results 2001
Level* |
Number of candidates |
Number of passes |
Corresponding
TOEFL grade |
Corresponding
TOEIC grade |
1 |
30,423 |
2,147 |
610 |
908 |
Pre-1 |
126,387 |
12,960 |
542 |
751 |
2 |
419,126 |
88,644 |
456 |
519 |
Pre-2 |
592,962 |
212,965 |
N/A |
N/A |
3 |
819,520 |
411,541 |
N/A |
N/A |
4 |
604,773 |
432,430 |
N/A |
N/A |
5 |
375,370 |
303,488 |
N/A |
N/A |
TOTAL |
2,968,561 |
1,464,135 |
|
|
Source: Own work based on
data taken from the official website of The Society for Testing Englisch Proficiency (5)
(*) As the table
indicates, Level 1 is the highest.
These three
sets of results are lacking in statistical basis and cannot therefore be used to find out
directly the proficiency of the Japanese in English. Here, we will limit ourselves to
confirming the high number of candidates sitting the tests and to pointing out that the
English skills of the Japanese in general cannot be very high.
2.2. Learning
In the main,
English is learned in three environments: at school, in private language schools and in
the home (private tutor and self-teaching).
2.2.1. The
school system
At lower secondary level (12 - 15 years), all students must learn a foreign language.
The subject is called "foreign language" but, in practice, this is English,
because most schools do not offer any other option. The situation repeats itself at upper
secondary level (15 -18 years). For example, in 1995, there were 5,501 upper secondary
schools (6) and only 160 offered foreign
language subjects other than English (Okado, 1998). In other words, only 3% of schools
offered foreign languages other than English as a subject. However, this does not mean
that, in these cases, English was incompatible with other language subjects.
In the year
2000, a total of 4,103,717 pupils enrolled in lower secondary education and 4,165,434 in
upper secondary school. (7) This adds up to a total of
8,269,151 students, almost all of whom learn English in some form or another. Moreover,
the educational guidance norms of the Ministry of Science and Education, allocate 87.5
hours a year to "foreign language" at lower secondary level, and 204 hours a
year at upper secondary schools (these hours are standard and may vary).
English is
also taught at university. Generally-speaking, students have to learn two foreign
languages, regardless of their main subject. One of these is usually English. In 2000,
university students totalled 2,471,755. (8)
2.2.2.
Private schools
In 1997, 1,333 private foreign language schools were surveyed. Overall, they numbered
6,152 schools and 715,051 students. (9) It is likely that the vast majority
of these offered, at the very least, English as a subject. Revenue from the sector for the
same year totalled 992,220,000 euros. (10)
2.2.3.
Private (private tutor and self-teaching)
Quantitative data on private tutors cannot be found. For the self-teaching aspect, we can
use as a reference the data on the courses broadcast on television and radio. The
semi-state channel NHK (Nihon Hôsô Kyôkai) broadcasts language courses. We will now
consider the variety of languages and the broadcasting time allocated to each language per
week.
Table
5. Televised Course: Languages and Weekly Broadcasting Time (April 2002-March 2003)*
Language |
Weekly Language Broadcasting Time
(minutes)** |
Italian |
30 |
Russian |
30 |
Spanish |
30 |
French |
30 |
Chinese |
30 |
Korean |
30 |
German |
30 |
English |
100 |
Japanese |
25 |
Source: Own
work based on data taken from the course textbook "English Conversation".
(*) This table does not include childrens programmes in English.
(* *) The weekly broadcasting time for English is the sum of five different courses. |