The Japan Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) has announced reforms to the means of admission into Japan’s public and private universities. This includes revising its own entrance exam format as well as creating a more transparent and thorough recommendation and selection pathway for students to enter university based on high school performance rather than through the exam system. MEXT is also recommending that any entrance exam (its own and those implemented by private universities themselves) be expanded to include short answer questions in addition to the multiple choice format that almost exclusively make up current entrance exams. Some educators, too, are asking for an English-speaking component to be included in examinations. These changes are sure to have implications in the teaching of English at the high school level, where we may see a real demand for (rather than a cursory application of) a more communicative model of English teaching rather than having L1 English teachers simply adding padding to what is essentially teaching test-focused English. For more details, read this Japan Times article.