Half of Japanese junior high students can converse in English: survey

A total of 54.6 percent of third-year junior high students in Japanese public schools had an English proficiency level equivalent to Eiken Grade 3 or higher that enables them to understand and speak about everyday topics, the education ministry said Thursday.The figure rose 2.2 percentage points from the previous year, while 52.4 percent had proficiency equivalent to at least Eiken Grade Pre-2, up 0.8 point from last year.Eiken Grade 3 corresponds to A1 and Pre-2 to A2 under the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, or CEFR, an international standard that measures language p…READ FULL ARTICLE