An Analysis of the Purposes, Scenes, and Situations of the English Composition Tasks for the 2023 University Entrance Examination

Abstract

pdfThis study analyzes the task settings in the English composition section of the 2023 Japanese university entrance examinations, focusing on the purpose, scene, and situation settings. Despite the increasing emphasis on communicative language teaching, only a small percentage （3.0％） of the 152 free composition tasks from 782 entrance exams incorporated clear settings for purposes, scenes, and situations. The majority of tasks （94.7％） were opinion essays without specified contexts, reflecting a tendency to assess the logical expression of personal opinions rather than situational language use. The findings suggest that while current exams predominantly feature opinion-based essays, future examinations aligned with the new course of study might incorporate more diverse genres and contextual settings to better evaluate practical language skills.departmental bulletin pape