WHY ORAL FLUENCY REMAINS LOW IN JAPANESE EFL CLASSROOMS: a MULTI-LEVEL FRAMEWORK FOR POLICY AND PEDAGOGICAL REFORM

The policies aimed at improving English-speaking skills from the MEXT Action Plan 2003 and more recent EMI policies have proven ineffective. This conceptual paper seeks to identify the missing elements between classroom analytics and the conceptualized policy goals. Based on a multilevel analysis, we will assess the impact of the policy (e.g., Curriculum guidelines, high-stakes exams), curriculum implementation (e.g., teacher-centered lessons, scant speaking opportunities), and learner characteristics (communication apprehension, reluctance to speak) on Japanese students’ English-speaking skills. Japan’s performance on global benchmarks has consistently been low; it is ranked 92nd out of 116 in the EF’s 2024 English Proficiency Index and has been observed to underperform in speaking. Japan is outperformed by EFL countries such as South Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, and Finland, and even performs worse. The analysis will also help reveal a significant policy gap, curriculum misalignment with the communicative objectives, and social and cultural factors that restrict classroom speech. In the end, our recommendations will include an assessment system to improve speaking, invest in teacher training for communication instruction, and integrate more communicative tasks to build fluency in Japanese classrooms. This study's framework will provide a holistic model for realigning English education to improve oral competence in Japanese classrooms.