Paper short abstract:

The purpose of this study is to clarify how the emphasis on JLPT by Japanese companies and university career education personnel works for foreign students who are planning to develop their careers in Japan and to reconsider the role of Japanese language educators to support them.

Paper long abstract:

The number of foreign students who wish to continue working in Japan after graduating from Japanese higher education institutions is increasing. In this study, we focused on the opinions of foreign students seeking employment in Japan about the "incomprehensibility" of their job hunting and employment in Japan and examined the social discourse behind these opinions. As one such discourse, we focused on the problem the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT), which is required for career development in Japanese society. The purpose of this study is to clarify how the emphasis on JLPT works for foreign students who are planning to develop their careers in Japan and to reconsider the role of Japanese language educators to support them.

In this research, which centers on lifelong careers, we adopted a life-story interview method in which each person's narrative is read deeply from a social context. In particular, we analyzed the situation of two students from China and Vietnam, which are the countries that send the most foreign students in Japan, and conducted an integrated analysis of their impressions of JLPT regarding "contradiction" and "incomprehensibility" from the interview data. As a result, it was found that while Japanese companies and university career education personnel require foreign students to obtain JLPT, they face a dilemma of not being able to take advantage of the language and culture of their own country, which they want to utilize, in addition to the Japanese language ability and experience that they have accumulated through their life in Japanese society and student life; in other words, they are unable to use their plurilingual and pluricultural competences.

This study clarified that the use of the JLPT as an indicator by Japanese companies and society, which gives it authority, inhibits the will of foreign students toward career development. Conscious of this, Japanese language educators should support the students in developing their careers so that they can utilize their own language and culture as resources alongside their Japanese language ability. This issue is not unique to Japan, and all societies with foreign-born workers should be considering these problems.

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