The Tale That Wags

"The Tale that Wags is an engaging tale that lays bare the fundamental unfairness of the university entrance examination system in Japan. Much more than that, it takes on broader issues within the Japanese educational system: lack of gender equity, the backwardness of yakudoku, the place of foreigners in the Japanese educational system, and the passive acceptance of the system by Japanese students, their parents, and most teachers. But this is not just a book that complains. It also offers solutions by showing: the importance of using test data to make better examinations through item analysis; the benefits of providing listening tests on the English tests; the need for increasing assessment literacy among Japanese high school and university teachers; the value of using peer modeling in language teaching; and even the pallative benefits of the Japanese ofuro. Any Japanese high school or university teacher, or member of the general public, who wants to better understand the true nature of Japanese public education and the entrance examination system must read this entertaining book." JD Brown, Professor of Second language Studies, University of Hawaii at Manoa "A fascinating read!" H.Douglas Brown, San Francisco State University