Yoyogi Seminar Selects TCS iON PAPER to Transform Spoken English Tests in Japan

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), a leading global IT services, consulting and business solutions organization, announced that Sapix Yozemi Group (Yoyogi Seminar), a Japanese cram school chain, has selected TCS iON PAPER to transform the conduct of its spoken English tests and evaluation of candidate responses.

Spoken English tests are increasingly becoming part of entrance exams for many universities and high schools in Japan. The University Admission Common Test, which will replace the current National Center Test in 2021, is expected to include spoken English. To prepare students ahead of time, Yoyogi Seminar has included speaking assessments in all its future tests.

The TCS iON PAPER device will equip the preparatory school operator with the capabilities necessary to conduct these tests, including the test environment, test data delivery, and scoring environment. In addition, it will enable location-independent assessment with the help of experienced English teachers based in India. TCS will on-board qualified and certified English teachers, who will be rigorously trained on evaluating the audio responses, in a proctored environment.

TCS iON PAPER can securely distribute question papers as well as capture students’ audio responses without the need for internet connections in classrooms. This will enable Yoyogi Seminar to conduct country-wide English language tests at centers that do not have access to the internet. The scoring of the audio responses will be powered by TCS iON Digital Marking platform to deliver test results at speed.

The device was first used this month, for Yoyogi Seminar’s Mock Test for first-year high school students.

Toshiro Takamiya, Co-chairman, Sapix Yozemi Group, said, "We have been making efforts to support our students to acquire four key capabilities – listening, speaking, reading, and writing – in English proficiency as is required in this globalized society. By employing TCS' services, we hope that we will be able to introduce better services to our students nationwide."

Venguswamy Ramaswamy, Global Head, TCS iON, said,  “TCS iON is focused on continuous innovations and the integration of digital technology to drive transformational change in all aspects of the education ecosystem. We are very happy that Yoyogi Seminar has been an early adopter of TCS iON PAPER along with our path breaking location-independent marking platform – TCS iON Digital Marking. This will drive exponential value to the domain of education across stakeholders.”

“We are very honored to partner with Yoyogi Seminar, a leading Japanese college preparatory school that has been devoted to enhancing educational services for test takers for over half a century. TCS, leveraging its global expertise on digital to the fullest, strives to be the partner of choice for education customers in their digital transformation journeys at a time of major industry-wide change, and contribute to the enhancement of educational services in the country,” said Masayuki Nakayama, Senior Vice President, TCS Japan.

TCS iON’s Education platforms have been adopted by institutions worldwide, to benefit from the enhanced security, scale, reduced logistical costs, and shorter processing time. The TCS iON PAPER device was launched in 2018 to introduce digital technology in place of traditional paper-based tests.

About Yoyogi Seminar

Yoyogi Seminar, operated by Takamiya Gakuen founded in 1957 by Yukio Takamiya, is one of the leading college preparatory schools in Japan for students aiming to advance to higher education. It is known for the large pool of prominent lecturers that it consistently boasts since its foundation. With the addition of SAPIX for elementary school and junior high school students to the group in 2009, and operation of Y-SAPIX nationwide, SAPIX YOZEMI GROUP is dedicated to providing integrated educaional services through to college admission. For more information, please visit www.yozemi.ac.jp.