Class, mobility, and global English testing: a Japanese female student navigating a neoliberal world

This study explores the test-taking journey of Kimiko, an international student from Japan, who was deeply affected by repeated attempts at the International English Language Testing System (IELTS), a globally recognized English proficiency test. Through her narrative, the study examines how standardized tests, widely framed as neutral and impartial tools, interact with neoliberal pressures to shape test-takers’ testing behaviors and lived experiences. Drawing on Critical Language Testing (CLT), the study argues that such interplay places intense pressure on individuals to continuously strive for higher scores. The findings also highlight how the one-size-fits-all assessment framework can oversimplify complex language abilities and reinforce social inequalities. Ultimately, Kimiko’s experience illustrates the human cost of standardized testing. The study foregrounds the lived consequences of score-based decision-making, highlighting how numerical thresholds come to function as powerful markers of legitimacy and opportunity in test-takers’ lives in a neoliberal environment.