I would like to comment on the opinion piece by Hugo Tseng (曾泰元) ("Exams reveal nation's bad English," page 8, July 15). It is both sad and amusing to watch the yearly hand-wringing that occurs when the deplorable state of Taiwanese students' English writing ability becomes evident in the results of their written university entrance exams.
No one seems to be able to offer a clear explanation, let alone intelligent solutions.
As a Canadian professor (and professional proofreader) who has taught English for 25 years, with the last eight in Taiwan, I would like to shed some light on this problem.
First, to be honest, many students simply do not care and make minimal, if any, effort to improve their writing skills. Perhaps this is partly due to the plethora of public and private tertiary institutions in Taiwan.
These constitute a powerful economic force that the government will not properly regulate. As a result, virtually every student in Taiwan can expect entry into some college or university, whatever their abilities. If one-third of the students writing these tests were denied access to these institutions because of the low levels of their abilities, the students would take the exams and skills required much more seriously.
Second, I question the ability of most Taiwanese teachers to teach proper English writing themselves. How would these teachers do in a written test? If their writing skills are low, as all evidence seems to indicate, how can they be expected to teach others?
Third, the Ministry of Education has no plan for alleviating the situation, even though the public school system continues to fail the students when it comes to providing the very skills that students are asked to master.
The ministry will not even admit that they don't know how to ameliorate the situation, let alone provide intelligent plans for turning things around. A proposal to the ministry about helping rural teachers upgrade their English teaching materials in conjunction with certified foreign teachers, did not even rate an answer.
Fourth, an entire infrastructure of private language schools have sprung up like mushrooms to make up for the educational systems failures, and to allow parents to enjoy the illusion that they are helping their children by paying for these bushiban classes. Sadly, these bushibans also fail to provide the necessary speaking and writing skills.
Fifth, the problem is exacerbated by the fact that students do not read English books, and by the small amount of relevant English actually spoken in English classes.
Sixth, the need is in Taiwan, but the necessary expertise is abroad. Certified and qualified teachers will simply not come to Taiwan for many reasons, but primarily because of relatively low salaries and red tape in getting permission to teach here, such as endless visa requirements.
I personally have advised many people not to come here, because of these problems. I have seen too many friends having to run to Hong Kong to satisfy idiotic regulations.
Seventh, since the system doesn't work and nothing changes, I advise the parents who can afford to do so, to send their children abroad, to schools that do know how to teach English and who have the required, qualified personnel. For those who are less wealthy, I advise that they stop wasting their money on bushibans and join the growing trend toward e-learning and proofreading companies.
This appears to be the only way to link students' needs in Taiwan with foreign expertise. In this way, students can get proper correction of their written work and suggestions for improvement, as well as guidance in regard to problems such as those with grammar and test preparation.
Chaim Melamed
National Pingtung University of Education
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