The role of academic language in understanding subject matters

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This study investigated the effect of the language used to describe problems in exams that test students' understanding of a curriculum's contents. First, with the cooperation of Toshobunka(a publisher of educational assessment tools), problems with a low rate of correct answers were selected using two standardized tests commonly used in Japan. the Kyoken norm-referenced test(NRT) and Kyoken criterion-referenced test(CRT). Subsequently, two versions of a test were created : Test A with original Japanese text and Test B with revised Japanese text that is easier to understand. These tests were conducted among first-to sixth-graders in two elementary schools, and the results were quantitatively analyzed. In addition, problems that had different rates of correct answers were qualitatively analyzed.