In 1999, scholars from diverse fields began a controversy over the decline of national standards of academic achievements. In order to determine whether the decline is really occurring, we first need to look into the nature of academic achievements. This paper intends to examine the changing definitions of academic achievements during the postwar period. Through this paper, three points are made. First, Katsuta Shuichi made important suggestions in 1962. He viewed academic achievements as being comprised of educational objectives and assessment. Second, through the Basic Academic Achievements Controversy, "educational objectives" came to be seen as possessing two dimensions: contents (i.e. the objective aspect) and abilities (i.e. the subjective aspect) . Academic achievements and educational objectives came to be recognized to be synonymous. The researches on the models of academic achievements have been conducted to clarify the structure of the abilities called academic achievements. The most well-known models are the one developed by Hirooka Ryozo and the one created by Nakauchi Toshio. Nakauchi's model is a reversed version of Hirooka's. After their arguments, those themes have been identified: how to broaden the definitions of academic achievements so that their structures become more dynamic, and who should set the educational objectives. Third, now that relative assessment is abolished and criterion-referenced assessment is introduced, academic achievements have started to be conceptualized, being based on the relationships between objectives and assessment. Because children's participation in assessment is essential, criterion-referenced assessment must be unified with intra-individual assessment. Thus, the development of rubrics is urgently needed in portfolio assessment.

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The aim of this paper is to investigate the components of new literacy on the paradigm of current research in literacy. Identifying the most important components in literacy education is also one of the main issues. Literacy education in post-modern time needs to shape the learner's consciousness of language criticism with learner-centered approach. This paper consists of three main points. Firstly, the problems in Japanese language education as a mother tongue are clarified. They are as follows : 1) The concept of functional literacy has not yet been accepted in Japan, so the concept of literacy is usually defined as minimal literacy. 2) The research results on the learning processes of literacy are few. 3) The concept of literacy based on the 'ideology model' of Brian Street was lacking in literacy research until now. 4) There is no idea of literacy learning as a social practice in learner-centered classrooms. Secondly, for resolving the problems so far, literacy learning needs to be re-structured, requiring learners to be conscious of language as an identity-maker. Thirdly, the controversial points are put in order by reviewing the arguments related to making language consciousness in the UK and Australia. To sum up, the 'Language awareness movement' in the UK since about 1980 has the problem that the practical methods and the content are made by applied linguistic approach. 'Critical literacy education' in Australia since about 1990 also has the same problem ; the methods and the content are made by applied sociological approach. These applied scientific approaches are apt to pay no attention to learning processes concerned with learner's self-consciousness. Finally, I propose introducing the original term 'consciousness of language criticism' for new literacy education, giving some examples of classroom practices. Language criticism is for everyone to criticize their own languages openly and make them better for their own good. Every learner should study their own languages through activating their existing knowledge about language. It cannot be emphasized too strongly that the way of making individuals conscious of their languages is to form a connection with their own experiences.

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The history of modern education has been the history of nationalization of people by teaching them the national language and its letters. The level of national literacy has been regarded as the criterion of the level of the modernization. It must be noticed that this process of invention of literate people was also the process that made deaf people abandon their natural language=sign language and accept the national language=language of voice. Deaf people were forced to learn the language of voice, as well as its letters. In other words, the hypothesis of the general development from orality to literacy, which has been supported by some anthropologists, has no meanings for the deaf people. There used to be, however, various ideas of languages, including the gestures as well as the speech, especially in the 17th and 18th centuries Europe. It is remarkable that both of them were regarded as "natural language" and thought to have their own writings, alphabet letters for the former and some kind of characters for the latter. In this paper, we will examine these two types of writings, and the different meanings or possibilities of literacy.

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"East Asia" in a title is the "Chinese character cultural sphere, " which include China, Korea, and Japan. The Chinese character is the ideography character different from the alphabet character of a phonogram. This paper discusses the historical process how people of China, Korea, and Japan in this area had escaped from rule by the Chinese character and acquired the reading-and-writing capability, respectively. The Chinese character was born to China as a sacred ecriture which records the communication with a king and God before B.C. 1300, at least. Under such a situation, the Chinese ecriture became a means by which an emperor governed the public in the history of China. It was asked for the public to study the scriptures of Confucianism through these characters in China. A far target of this study was taking and passing the classical examination system for the government service " ?? ?? ". The study for which it depends on memorization intently troubled the children as a student. A Chinese character reform in China was begun from the end of the 19th century. Roman-alphabet-izing and simplification of a Chinese character were tried. However, the non-literacy in 1949 was 80%, and 20% in 1988. The process of Chinese modernization was a curse and the process of reform to a Chinese character, and the process of "usurpation" of the Chinese character from the emperor by the public. Korea which was close to China and under the overwhelming influence was not easily released from rule of a Chinese character. In Korea artificial ecriture " ?? ?? ?? ?? " was originated by the emperor " ?? ?? " about the middle of the 15th century Although this was scorned with " ?? ?? " under overwhelming Chinese character rule, " ?? ?? ?? ?? " which was produced by studying the complicated syllable structure of Korean parole thoroughly continues being firmly useful for the public, because of easy phonetic ecriture. At the beginning of the 20th century, " ?? ?? ?? ?? " was called "Han-guel" (great character), and after the release from the colony in Japan in 1945 it serves as the character of a positive Korean type, and has resulted at present. In Korea the Chinese character was abandoned at last as an external foreign substance. In East Asia governed with the Chinese character, Japan occupies the very unique position. A design of the Japanese syllabary " ?? ?? " is it. The Japanese syllabary, both hiragana and katakana, was made out of man'yo-kana which was formed by the Chinese character. Japan succeeded in writing his parole with a Chinese character. Japan domesticated it. Why was Japan able to do what Korea could not? It may be the contrastive reason why Korea could not. It is the comparatively simple syllable structure of Japanese parole and separating from China by the sea that Japan was comparatively easy to escape from the cultural rule by China.

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How many people could read and write in Tokugawa Japan? This is the main topic for this paper. Actually it's very difficult to calculate the number of people who could read and write in Tokugawa Japan. Because there are no documents like marriage certificates with signatures, as most research on popular literacy in western society usually include. But we can glean fragmentary information about popular literacy by following historical sources: (1) the surveys on the rate of people who could write their own names in the Meiji period, (2) the "Monjincho", attendance books of "Terakoya", and (3) the historical materials with "Kao", special signature in medieval and early Tokugawa Japan. (1) There were several surveys on the rate of people who were above six years old and could write their own names during 1877-1889. Results of those surveys of Shiga, Gunma, Aomori, Kagoshima and Okayama prefectures were listed on "Monbusho Nenpo", annual report of Japanese Ministry of Education. Those surveys show that about 90% of men in Shiga could write their names, but on the other hand 33% of men and only 4% of women in Kagoshima could write their own names. The 1879 survey of Kuga County, one of the counties of Yamaguchi Prefecture, on the rate of people who could write their names is important. It covered 122 villages and towns, 88 school districts and a population of approximately 135, 000. The literacy rate, the rate of people who could write their own names for the total population, was 36.3%(men 55%, women 16.5%). The literacy of men of every district ranged from 19.3% to 98.3% and women from 0% to 68.5%. Literacy rate has minus correlation with the rate of agriculture population (r= -0.66), and has plus correlation with the rate of commerce and manufacture population (r=0.65). (2) The "Monjincho" of "Jishuusai juku" in Omi and "Isobe Juku" m Echigo show how many people of those regions were enrolled for Terakoya. According to Jun Shibata, 91% of Kitanosho village people were enrolled for "Jishusai juku" in 19 Century. Through the case of "Isobe juku" we can see the situation in the 18th Century In Komachi one of the towns of Murakami city, 64% of the households had their children, at least one child, enroll for "Isobe juku" in the middle of the 18th Century. (3) In medieval and early Tokugawa period there were some documents with "Kao", special signature. To sign "Kao" practice in writing was required. Those who could not sign "Kao" marked a circle by stem of the brush. Therefore we can know the literacy through these documents. According to Masanobu Kimura, about 80% of the present head of the family could sign "Kao" in the first half of the 17th Century. We can conclude that partial literacy has already been considerably high even in early Tokugawa period, and a major difference of literacy between men and women existed, which deeply depended on the region even in early Meiji era.

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In schools for the deaf, sign language has been banned for a long time because using sign language causes difficulty in acquiring the Japanese language. The subject of sign language has been taboo, but, sign language has become socially recognized and the more achievements in education in Europe and the United States that are reported, the more schools for the deaf have positively adopted sign language in Japan. Naturally, schools for the deaf that have introduced sign language have set their goal "to increase literacy of Japanese" in deaf education. Along with the popularization of fax, email, Internet, closed caption broadcasting service, etc. the deaf have come to obtain much more information than ever, but, Japanese language ability is needed for this. This study reviewed the concept of literacy from the viewpoint of sign language literacy, and then positioned sign language in deaf education. Generally, literacy is considered as the ability to read and write. Based on this, there is no literacy in sign language. Paul pointed out that there are two frameworks in literacy, a reading-comprehension framework and a literary critical framework. In deaf education, teachers have placed emphasis on the reading-comprehension framework in literacy and gave their students guidance in meanings of words, grammar and drill-like sentence construction. In order to develop Japanese ability by sign language, the author considers that it is important to raise the literacy of sign language itself and to improve the critical reading ability. That is, lay the groundwork to acquire Japanese as a second language and enhance the capacity to use sign language to discuss, infer and correct through interactions with friends and teachers. Advanced sign language use ability, however, is indispensable in the approach to learn Japanese from sign language. Many of deaf children have hearing parents, and cannot acquire sign language at their homes. Most deaf children acquire sign language at schools for the deaf where education is provided as part of public education. Whether schools for the deaf positively use sign language or not, the first deaf community where deaf children encounter deaf children, is a school for the deaf. Sign language literacy cannot be raised which leads to Japanese language ability, without schools for the deaf where the group of deaf children is secure.

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In Australia, literacy education has been emphasized particularly since the 1990's. Before then, literacy education had been implemented in the context of bilingual and ESL (English as a second language) education for indigenous peoples and immigrants. But the national survey for literacy in 1996 revealed that one third of Australian students didn't achieve the minimum standards of literacy. It is noteworthy that about 20% of indigenous students achieved the benchmark. These results led to a reconsideration of the basic skills of all Australian students. Accordingly the Commonwealth government took the initiative in policy-making for improving the standards of literacy. In the context of multicultural education, the Commonwealth and State governments have implemented a range of language programmes, including LOTE (Languages other than English) and indigenous languages. But after 1996, the English literacy program has overtaken other language programmes. It means that there is a limitation to the multilingual education system in this multicultural society which is based on English. It must be noted that English speakers and people with a NESB (non-English speaking Background) have different views of English literacy. Several articles have already been devoted to the study of language education policy in Australia. Most of them have positive conclusions on English as the vehicle for achieving social equity in a multicultural society. But different views of literacy for indigenous and NESB people have only been examined in a few articles. Therefore the main purpose of this paper is to reconsider literacy education from the dual viewpoints of the mainstream and minority people in Australia. Firstly, making clear the role and meaning of English literacy in Australia provides a starting point. According to the policy of multiculturalism, English as well as the democratic ethos are the essential foundations of Australia. It must be easier to accept these conditions for immigrants who are willing to come to Australia. For indigenous people, English is the important vehicle for schooling and obtaining a job. It is used for communication between indigenous people who speak different languages. One point of disagreement is over whether the range of English should include only standard Australian English or a broader English like aboriginal English. Secondly, by analyzing the literacy education policy and its implementation, this paper attempts to clarify the dilemma of teaching English literacy for NESB people. On the Commonwealth level, the benchmark setting is the fundamental factor for assessing the improvement of literacy. But it also contributes to reducing the range of English. On the state level, by examining the case of the NT (Northern Territory), it attempts to clarify the role of English in the education system. The NT government indicates English Literacy Is not only a subject but also a necessary skill for the student. Finally, this paper reaffirms that language tolerance is the fundamental factor in multicultural Australia. Both education providers and minority peoples must limit their linguistics demand. But these limitations for both, based on tolerance, form the foundation for constructing a multicultural society.

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The purpose of this paper is to consider the establishment and influences of the "Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System(= MCAS test)", which has been used state-wide in Massachusetts public schools since 1998. In Massachusetts, there are still many unresolved arguments about the state examination administration beyond the issue of the MCAS test itself. This article will study the actual conditions of educational assessment administration in Massachusetts, and will verify how the MCAS is not only used as a competency test, but as also an instrument of educational reform. The Massachusetts Education Reform Act of 1993 promised improved schools that would fully develop the talents and skills of every child in the commonwealth. The MCAS test that has been in use since 1998 was to measure student understanding of the learning under the state standard curriculum framework and was to measure the achievement of students, schools and districts at grades four, eight, and ten in the core subjects of mathematics, science & technology, history and social science, English / language arts and eventually a foreign language. The MCAS test is evaluated as a just tool of new reforms of assessment and evaluation in Massachusetts. After all, the aim of the Massachusetts Education Reform Act is to evaluate not only on students' learning abilities and teachers' teaching skills, but also on a clear ranking of schools and school districts by a high - stakes test. Most important point in the Massachusetts educational reform was how to combine such a highly individualized assessment test with the state curriculum standards that have been under development since 1993. In conclusion, an assessment of individual student, school and district is considered as an important tool of educational reform in Massachusetts. Many politicians and educators are thinking the MCAS test as a panacea for educational reform. However, we should understand that there are many serious problems in the MCAS test. The educational assessment administration in Massachusetts is now a typical example of educational reform in the United States.

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The purpose of this paper is to re-examine the historical significance that the frame of "Kokugo-ka (a subject of Japanese) " has, by paying attention to the time before "Kokugo-ka" was established in elementary school. The author dealt with the book "Syogaku-Kokugo-ka-no-setsu (The opinion about the establishment of "Kokugo ka" in the elementary school)" for the analysis This book was written by Senjiro Tuboi and published by Fukui-seiho-do in 1889(Meiji 22). It is the leading book that had a clear and systematical argument about the necessity of "Kokugo-ka" in elementary school more than ten years before "Kokugo-ka" was established in 1900(Meiji 33). However, as for this book, even its existence was hardly known until the present. The other purpose of this paper is to introduce its contents and the significance of this book. By analyzing it, the following became clear. The 1st point is the height of consciousness for the language education in the beginning of the Meiji 20's. Senjiro Tuboi was arguing about the necessity and the significance of "Kokugo-ka" in elementary school systematically more than 10 years before it was established. The reason why Tsuboi emphasized this point is because he believed that there was a need for the education of the spoken language. However, it was difficult to add a new subject in a situation where the children are already overloaded.. Therefore, he dismantled the frames that hold the traditional "Dokushyo (a subject of reading)", "Sakubun (a subject of composition)" and "Shuji (a subject of calligraphy)" in those days and he re-organized the whole language education. He suggested a systematical language education based on the education of the spoken language It was an epoch making proposal when "Dokusyo", "Sakubun" and "Shuji" were done independently. The existence of this proposal proves the height of his consciousness of language education. The 2nd point is about the influence, which the discovery of "Kokugo-ka" gave the contents of the language education. Tsuboi clearly distinguished "Kokugo-ka" from the subjects of which its main purpose is conveying knowledge. Because he assumed that "Kokugo-ka" is the subject in which they teach only about language. In those days such a view of language education was peculiar to him because other people thought of language education as the education only for literacy. As a result, in "Dokusyo" and "Sakubun", they usually taught the knowledge of geography, history, science and so on. In other words, significance that is peculiar to language education wasn't sufficiently found. On the other hand, Tsuboi insisted that they must teach only about language in "Kokugo ka" and pointed out the ability of "silent reading" and "dictation" as the linguistic ability to train. Such abilities were beyond so-called literacy. It is possible to say that a frame of "Kokugo-ka" deepened Tsuboi's view on language education and that it made him discover the original significance of "Kokugo-ka".

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