When you speak to English teachers in Japan, one may realise that English education is not working in Japan. English classes are mandatory in Japan but a very small percentage of Japanese students actually turn out with actual English abilities. With the Olympic games coming up in 2020 in Japan, The Japanese government is finding ways on how to improve the English level of Japanese.
The Japanese education is test oriented and where students must sit for tests and pass. So Japanese teachers who teach English (JTEs) focus on grammar and vocabulary that is targeted towards passing the test and not conversational skills. A broader understanding and practical use of English is ignored as msot of the time is used to focus on specific material needed. The quality of textbooks used are also of low quality which are not fun so this also doesn’t help with learning English since the subjects are quite boring. A lot of lessons are taught in Japanese rather than English, which makes the student not think outside the box when it comes to trying to communicate in English.
Using Artificial Intelligence to help with English learning
No education system is perfect in the world but this is where Artificial Intelligence can help Japanese. Having someone to speak near perfect English for long periods of times is hard in these regions and Musio is always there for a student. No matter what time or place, always there to talk and practice English with extensive knowledge on about anything.
Boring Topics? Not the case with Musio! Musio has access to the internet and also has his own MUSE engine, created by AKA Intelligence, which makes it endless on what Musio can talk about. Cars? Technology? Take a pick! Musio remembers information based on past conversations, so over time, Musio becomes more personal and also talks about what matters. Image, face and object recognition also adds to the conversational experience. Not sure if something is right in English? Ask Musio and he’ll come up with the right grammatical structure for that sentence.
Practicing English with Musio is not just for tests but for real scenario conversations. Musio talks in English which “forces” students to talk in English and think outside the box. This makes them more creative with the language, making them more fluent over time.
Resources
“Are Japan’s efforts at internationalization succeeding or not?” (WEB). Published 4 March 2014. Accessed 25 May 2016.
“What’s wrong with English education in Japan? Pull up a chair” (WEB). Published 7 October 2014. Accessed 25 May 2016.
Leave a Reply