A Study of the Necessary Kanji Knowledge for the State Examination for Certified Care Workers

Abstract

The care worker trainees under current Economic Partnership Agreements must pass a State Examination for Certified Care Workers within four years to continue working in Japan, but they have only one opportunity to take the examination because applicants are required to have at least three years of nursing-care experience in Japan. Additionally, as often mentioned, the Japanese language, especially kanji, used in the examinations is a huge barrier for the trainees and there is a need for Japanese language learning support designed to focus on kanji used in the examinations. This paper examines necessary kanji knowledge for the examinations by analyzing the frequency and trends of kanji used in the examination over the last eight years and the kanji introduced in kanji textbooks specialized for nursing care. The results indicate that with a knowledge of 550-600 kanji from the textbooks and the list of the kanji most frequently used in the examination, one can cover approximately 90% of the kanji used in the examination.