Distinctive Features of the Katakana Words Used in State Examination for Certified Care Workers

Abstract

The care worker trainees under the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) cannot understand the content of the state examination for the certified care workers without knowledge related to the terms used. Two-thirds of all questions on the state examination use katakana characters, suggesting that katakana words have an impact on trainees' understanding of the examination content. For this reason, this study investigated the frequency and trends in use of katakana words in the 14th to 25th state examination, with the objective of identifying cautionary measures for katakana word instruction for the examination. The study found that, while the majority of the katakana words used come from English, many medical terms and lifestyle-related terms have roots in other languages. Furthermore, not only care industry terminology identified in prior studies, but also terms related to peripheral areas of care work were frequently used in the examinations. The study concluded that instructors should conduct lessons focusing on such difficult-to-understand vocabulary in order to improve learning outcomes for trainees.