The roles of NS/NNS in the creation and assessment of a Japanese university English entrance exam

What is it about?

The Native Speaker (NS) is often assumed to hold a dominant position over the Non-Native Speaker (NNS) in language education. In this study, I considered one real-world situation in which NS and NNS teachers work alongside each other: The creation and assessment of a university entrance exam in Japan. My findings indicate that the roles of members of these two groups are more complex than simple NS dominance and that each group exercises forms of power/expertise in this task that are highly dependent upon the beliefs of those in charge. Furthermore, this case study of exam creation and assessment suggests some shortcomings of university-created entrance exams in Japan.

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Why is it important?

This article is important given scholarly attention to the roles of NS and NNS teachers in English education. Also, given the role of university-created entrance exams in the life chances of students in Japan, understanding the creation and assessment of these exams is important from a social justice perspective.