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PROFILEFURTHERING ELEMENTARY ENGLISHEDUCATION IN JAPANDeveloping task design and evaluation to foster students’ competence and autonomy inelementary English education in Japan: Focusing on Can-Do and Performance Assessments
In 2020, foreign languages weredevelopment and action-oriented

indicates how confident or proficient a

introduced as a subject in the upper

approaches, we refer to them as ourstudent is at achieving a specific foreign

grades of elementary school in Japan.

research frameworks. To increase

language activity. There are four levels

The main objective is to developstudents’ self-esteem, self-efficacy, andof answers including it is still difficult;communicative competence in English

metacognition, a four-level can-do

I can do with help of teachers or

education in Japan.

evaluation scale was developed topeers, etc. (scaffolding stage); and I

assist them in self-evaluating theircan do it by myself; I can do it

abilities in English.

much better (challenging or

It has consequently raised the urgent
question of how it should be assessed.

Evaluating English
education in Japan

self-actualisation stage).

The research has thefollowing features

By collecting students’ self-evaluation

Pedagogical tasks are assigned in alldata based on such developmental

Over the past decade, we have beenfour skills and five skill areas (listening,scales and becoming more aware of what

conducting research on the instruction

reading, speaking [interaction],they can do, the teacher is able to adjust

and evaluation of elementary school

speaking [production], and writing),

better and design lessons and decideforeign language activities and English

and research is conducted on how to

the most suitable flow of activities.

as a team across school types andevaluate the three perspectives

Importantly, the answers to the can-doregions. The 15 members of our teamrequired by the courses of study: (1)statements provide reflections on

include university researchers

knowledge and skills, (2) abilities tolearning and development, wherespecialising in foreign language

think, make decisions and express

students can look back and be aware ofeducation, practitioners in elementary

oneself, and (3) motivation to learn andwhat they have become or areschools, and overseas co-researchers.

humanity. Specifically, we design

becoming able to do, can gain

We have examined both the theoreticalauthentic tasks that foster thinking,confidence and prepare themselves toand practical aspects of the project.

making decisions, and expressing

overcome and achieve the required

The research is being supported by athemselves, cultivate proactive

real-world tasks in the future.

Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research.

learning, and ask students to reflect
after each task. This enables them toThe Common European Framework ofknow how far they have come,theirPerformance-based
evaluations

Reference for Languages (CEFR) hasprogress, their challenges, and how to

In addition, we are conducting

been issued by the Council of Europe,

move forward, aiming to become

performance-based evaluations using

and autonomy is in the context ofautonomous learners capable ofEnglish for tasks in accordance with theEuropean education, and autonomous

self-regulated learning.

purpose, scene and situation,

learners are being developed using
can-do statements and the European

developing rubrics, and having theA user-friendly Can-Do
evaluation scale

students self-evaluate these rubrics toThe evaluation scale is designed to beChildren are also involved in creating

They have been shown to be extremelyuser-friendly and help develop a set ofthe rubrics and work collaboratively

effective at helping teachers andperformance-related scales. We wantwith their teachers and classmates tostudents design and practice teaching,individuals to conceptualise theirdevelop them. This embodies thelearning and assessment to facilitate

personal goals so that they can beconcept of assessment with children,learning foreign languages. As indicators

motivated and their progress can beassessment as learning, andrepresent highly transparent proficiency

visualised. A can-do statement

assessment for learning.

Language Portfolio (ELP).

see the changes in their performance.

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By analysing common teachingmaterials for foreign language
activities, as well as textbooks
approved by the Ministry of Education,
Culture, Sports, Science and Technology(MEXT) for foreign language studies atelementary and junior high schools, weare developing activities designed tomeet the needs of students and thelocal community, as well as utilising
textbooks and collaborating between
elementary and junior high schools.

Furthering English educationin Japan: the importance ofreading and writing

conducted the activities, and througheasily assess and give feedback onmonitoring and reflection, they

students’ video clips. It is now possible

completed a reflection form regarding

to write, submit, and share reflection

An important element of elementary

the intervention of activities in classsheets digitally instead of on paper.

and middle school collaboration is theand assistance (scaffolding) for

teaching of reading and writing.

students. The use of the can-do scale is

The primary focus of English instruction

also effective for enhancing teachers’

in elementary school is listening andautonomy and awareness raising.

speaking, while reading and writing are

Assessments and creating
digital portfolios
Furthermore, we are engaged inresearch on ICT-based assessments for

introduced in the upper grades.

The can-do list and evaluation

students and children of the digital

We have conducted research focused

examples are compiled in the form of anative Z and Alpha generations, as wellon how to introduce and teach literacy

booklet and published every year

as developing digital portfolios.

to children, specifically developing and(8 books already), which is also

implementing a bottom-up approach,available on our website. So, anyone

To bring smiles to children and support

such as alphabet knowledge, phonemic

can refer to them and practice.

teachers, we would like to continue ourawareness, and phonics, as well as aresearch and practice on how to teachtop-down approach, such picture bookTo build networks, train teachers,

and evaluate foreign languages andreading and storytelling. As a result, weand disseminate research findings,

contribute to the development ofbelieve that balancing bottom-up andsymposiums and workshops on

foreign language education.

top-down approaches is critical. We areevaluation are held several times a year

evaluating the changes that have been

throughout Japan for elementary

observed in the children with continued

school teachers in charge of English,

can-do evaluations. In addition, apeople involved in children’s education,pre- and post-test was conducted tostudents in teacher training programs,

verify the effectiveness of the approachand supervisors of boards of

to determine whether self-assessment

education.

correlates with English proficiency.
Questionnaires were alsoadministered.

Digital textbooks to promote
English education in Japan

As part of the GIGA School Initiative of

Qualitative and quantitative
research

MEXT, one PC terminal was distributed

In this way, improvements have been

Digital textbooks for students will bemade through qualitative andintroduced in the 2024 school year.

quantitative research.

This has led to students recording andto each student starting in 2022.

reviewing their own performance many
As part of the collaboration in thistimes to improve their performance forresearch, elementary school teachers

performance evaluation. Teachers can

Emiko Izumi, Ph.D.
Professor
School of Education & Graduate
School of Education, Kwansei Gakuin
University
Tel: +81 798 52 4376
emiko@kwansei.ac.jp
http://www.izumi-lab.jp/easel.html
https://kaken.nii.ac.jp/ja/grant/KAKEN
HI-PROJECT-18H00690/
https://kaken.nii.ac.jp/grant/KAKENHI-PROJECT-22H00684/