News in Easy English: Int'l testing shows Japan students don't read as quickly as before
TOKYO -- Japanese students are not as good as before at reading fast and without many mistakes. This is from the 2025 PISA results. The OECD gave the
Japanese students are struggling with reading quickly and accurately, according to the recent 2025 PISA test results. The organization that administers the test, the OECD, released the findings on September 8. Education officials in Japan noted that reading literacy, the ability to read, understand, and think about text, was the only subject area showing a significant decline compared to the 2022 test.
In one section of the reading test, students were presented with 21 to 22 short sentences and had to determine if each sentence made sense. For instance, they correctly identified that "Six birds flew over the forest" made sense, but disagreed with "Airplanes are made of dogs."
The falling score in this segment of the test contributed to Japan's lower overall reading score. The ministry is uncertain about the exact cause, but they suspect a decline in book reading could be a factor. A survey in Japan found that over 40% of junior high school students reported not reading books on weekdays in 2025. Additionally, a study by the Benesse Educational Research and Development Institute and the University of Tokyo showed a significant increase in the number of students who did not read books between 2015 and 2024, with the figures more than doubling.
While students' ability to find information and understand text remained stable, their capacity to analyze and think about the content they read improved compared to 2022. The education ministry also suggested that social media might be contributing to the decline. With students frequently encountering very short texts on these platforms, they may be more inclined to quickly "like" or share content without engaging in careful reading. Often, they only view headlines or brief notes.
To address this issue, new curriculum guidelines will be implemented starting with the 2030 school year, focusing on teaching students about social media and media literacy. The next PISA test will specifically assess reading skills in 2029, and the ministry plans to analyze the results in greater detail.
Written by urgent.news from The Mainichi's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
