Japanese as a Foreign Language: Reading, Listening, and Writing
What the domain tests
The Japanese as a Foreign Language section checks whether you can use Japanese to function in a Japanese university, not whether you can recite grammar labels. It has reading, listening, listening-reading, and writing components. Reading, listening, and listening-reading are scored together on a 0–400 scale; writing is scored separately on 0–50. Reading passages are short academic or campus texts. Listening tasks include conversations, announcements, and short lectures. Listening-reading combines both channels.
Core rules
- Reading: identify the claim, the supporting reason, and the referent of こ/そ/あ/そんな. Wrong options often repeat a word from the passage but reverse the logic.
- Listening: note the task first. In “what will the woman do next?” questions, the final decision often comes after a rejected suggestion.
- Writing: answer the prompt directly in 400–500 characters, state a position, give two reasons or examples, and close. Cohesion markers such as まず、さらに、しかし、したがって carry marks.
- Register: campus notices use polite forms; do not rewrite them into casual Japanese.
Worked example
Prompt: 「大学の図書館は長時間開館すべきか」. Choose one side: yes. Reason 1: students with part-time jobs need evening access. Reason 2: exam periods create concentrated demand. Add a limit: shorten hours during holidays to control cost. This satisfies task response and organization. A response that lists advantages and disadvantages without a position loses clarity marks.
Traps
- Choosing an option because it contains a repeated noun rather than because it matches the paragraph’s function.
- Answering from the first proposal in a listening task rather than the corrected final plan.
- Exceeding the character range or copying prompt wording as content in writing.
- Missing negatives and conditionals such as ない限り and 場合によっては in listening-reading.