Change the System, and the Problems Come Back Around: The "New Inequality" Created by English Education Reform

“Japanese people cannot speak English because schools teach nothing but grammar.”

Japan’s English education system, criticized in this way for many years, has changed significantly over the past decade or so.

Schools now place greater emphasis on listening and practical English skills, and English education begins in elementary school. University entrance examinations also require students to read and understand spoken English quickly.

However, the reforms appear to have created a different problem.

More students are reportedly falling behind in English classes, while disparities based on family income are also widening.

More Students Have Strong English Skills. But the Average Score Has Fallen

There is some interesting data.

According to a 2025 government survey, 54.6% of students finishing junior high school—usually at age 14 or 15—had reached a recognized basic level of English proficiency. The figure was up from 52.4% the previous year and was the highest ever recorded.

Meanwhile, a longitudinal analysis from the National Assessment of Academic Ability found that the average junior high school English score fell from 501.1 in fiscal 2021 to 478.2 in fiscal 2024.

The proportion of students who can use English at or above a certain level is rising, yet the overall average score is falling.

In other words, English proficiency is becoming increasingly polarized.

Students who are already good at English keep improving, while those who cannot keep up are left behind.

The achievements and the problems of English education reform are appearing at the same time.

Did Reducing Grammar Instruction Make English Harder to Understand?

English education in the past centered on explanations of grammar and translating English sentences into Japanese.

After being criticized for failing to teach students to speak English, schools now place more emphasis on lessons in which students actually use the language.

However, if students lack a foundation in English, having them suddenly read large amounts of English or listen to spoken English does not necessarily mean they will understand it.

Furthermore, junior high schools now assume that students have already studied English in elementary school.

Unfortunately, however, the standard of English education varies considerably from one elementary school to another.

Some schools have a solid teaching structure and offer substantial lessons, while others are not yet able to provide sufficient instruction.

English has not been a formal elementary school subject for very long, so differences in teachers’ experience and in schools’ instructional systems are probably part of the reason.

In other words, the divide between “children who can use English” and “children who cannot” has already emerged by elementary school.

When they enter junior high school in that state, it is only natural that students will understand the same lessons to different degrees.

By starting English education earlier, Japan has also made the English proficiency gap appear earlier.

Cram Schools Teach What Regular Schools Cannot Cover

This is where private cram schools come in.

They teach the grammar that students cannot understand from regular school lessons, build a foundation in English while children are still in elementary school, and prepare them for English proficiency exams.

Families with enough financial resources can use these options to make up for gaps in school education.

Children who cannot attend cram school, however, move on to the next lesson while still carrying things they do not understand.

As a result, even though the school system was supposedly reformed, how much a family can spend on education outside school becomes increasingly important.

Cram schools make up for what regular schools cannot fully teach. Is this really education reform, or has the cost of education simply been shifted onto families?

Learning a Foreign Language Takes Time in the First Place

This brings us to a more fundamental question: how much time does it take to learn a language such as English?

Understanding grammar. Memorizing vocabulary. Reading English. Understanding what someone says. And expressing your own thoughts in English.

Acquiring all these skills takes an enormous amount of time.

I feel this keenly in my own English studies. Understanding grammar does not mean that you can immediately understand spoken English. Even when a sentence contains only words you know, it can still be difficult to understand in conversation.

In the end, after acquiring the knowledge, there is no alternative but to use it repeatedly until you become accustomed to it.

The very goal of teaching someone to use a foreign language freely within school class time alone is unrealistic.

If schools emphasize grammar, there is less time to practice conversation. If they emphasize conversation, there is less time to explain grammar.

Whichever approach they choose, the fundamental problem of insufficient time remains unresolved.

What Should We Expect from English Education?

Ultimately, we need to reconsider how much we expect from English education in schools.

Should schools make everyone master English? Or should they give students enough of a foundation to continue learning on their own if they need English in the future?

I believe the latter is enough.

Schools should teach basic grammar and vocabulary and give students a foundation for learning English. Beyond that, they can study according to their own needs and interests.

Some people will use English at work, while others will barely use it throughout their lives. There is no need to demand that everyone reach the same level.

Yet because schools try to provide practical English proficiency through school education alone, lessons become overloaded and more students fall behind.

Cram schools then become necessary to fill the gaps.

Perhaps the part of English education reform that most needs reconsideration is not the teaching method, but our own excessive expectations of school education.

After all, it took us more than a decade to acquire Japanese. Expecting school lessons alone to somehow take care of English is asking an awful lot.