Mon, Apr 02, 2007 page8

• Letters: Improving English writing

  • By Jim Walsh and Andrew Crosthwaite
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  I read the letters on English writing in Taiwan by Eileen Han (Letters, March 27, page 8) and Chaim Melamed (Letters, March 29, page 8) and feel obliged to add a touch of reality to the discussion.

  First, the nation's test pressure is a logical, albeit undesirable, side effect of the wise policy of subsidizing education.

  The nation provides free public education up to and including graduate school. However, because funds are limited, all levels of subsidized education are not provided to everyone.

  Generally speaking, in order to get a free high school education, a student has to get high test scores; in order to get a free university education, one has to get high test scores; and the higher the scores, the better the high school or university.

  Nobody knows of a better way to fairly place students.

  Because tests are used as a reasonable and fair method of allocating subsidized education, parents, students and teachers often focus on better test scores.

  The pressure to score higher on tests is a natural consequence of the benefit of free education. The only way to eliminate this "test pressure" is to stop providing free education to those who get high test scores.

  If the nation's testing methodology were changed to de-emphasize "memorization and dull grammar rules," test pressure would change to something like "You must learn to be creative," but the pressure would not necessarily decrease.

  Furthermore, no matter how good the public primary and junior high schools are, parents will still send their children to bushibans in the hope of increasing their test scores.

  In other words, the existence of bushibans is not evidence that the public schools are bad.

  Moreover, bushiban teachers are just as likely to be bad as public school teachers.

  Finally, native speakers of English do not do a better job teaching English than Taiwanese teachers. Many native English teachers have no clue about how to teach English.

  The primary reasons for employing native speakers is their pronunciation and their "feeling" for good grammar, such as when a native speaker says: "I don't know why that sentence is right or wrong, but I know that it is."

  I am something of an expert on teaching English writing. Despite what Melamed says, having "foreign teachers" correct writing is nearly useless, and in the beginning, it is destructive.

  Anyone who wants improve his writing skills needs only to do two things: read a lot and write a lot everyday.

  As to what should be read, the overwhelming evidence shows that "pleasure" reading is effective, but assigned "literature" is not.

  I love Shakespeare, Mark Twain and Robert Frost, but the Harry Potter books and Goosebumps are better for most students.

  I am a retired lawyer from the US who began teaching English in Taiwan in September 1987, and then stayed because I loved it. In the nearly 20 years I have been teaching, I have seen amazing changes in the nation, including substantial improvement in the quality of English. It is nonsense to call the English here "pathetic."

  For more than half my time here, I have trained English teachers while also teaching. For about a dozen years, my partners and I have run our own bushiban. I can easily identify many Taiwanese English teachers who are head and shoulders above most of the native English speaking teachers.

  Finally, let me say something about "accountability" here. When I arrived, the nation was governed by a dictator. People were imprisoned for complaining about this. I watched the Taiwanese people fight for and gain their liberty.

  Is the political system "perfect?" No. Personally, I think Taiwan should adopt a parliamentary system. But, in any case, people are not perfect, so they can't create a perfect system.

  Can the Taiwanese take pride in their system of government? Yes.

  Should they, for that reason, become complacent? Of course not

  Jim Walsh
  

  Taipei

  It is with interest that I have read the last few days' letters on the standard of students' English. I have been an ESL teacher for more than five years, four of them in Taiwan, so it is a subject that is close to my heart.

  After Eileen Han's letter bemoaned the low scores on college entrance exams, Chaim Melamed's letter came up with a 10-point plan to address the problem.

  While some of Melamed's ideas made good sense, especially his proposal that changes be made to exam and teaching methodology to de-emphasize memorization of grammatical rules, a few of the other suggestions appeared to be a little misguided.

  The standard of English teaching in Taiwan is obviously poor. Millions of dollars are spent each year on English education, both by the government and by parents, and yet students' test scores remain low.

  Melamed calls for more foreign teachers, but will this really help solve the problem? Just because a person is a native speaker does not mean that he or she will be a good teacher.

  Indeed, given that most foreign teachers in Taiwan come here for a working holiday and have had little or no training, it is more than likely that they will not be good educators. I remember hearing the boss of a cram school chain -- a chain that only hires Taiwanese teachers -- say that 70 percent of foreign teachers were incompetent. At first I was outraged, but after thinking about all the foreigners I have known here, I couldn't help but agree with him.

  What I would want to add to his statement though, is that about 70 percent of Taiwanese English teachers are also incompetent. Many are university students who are teaching part time and who, like those "holidaying foreigners," have a much more important agenda away from the classroom.

  Many have problems with pronunciation and grammar. However, with such a great demand for English teachers, schools are often not able to employ very high standards when hiring new teachers.

  All these factors give rise to a situation where a good many bushiban classes are a complete waste of time. I have visited schools where children who had been learning for two or more years couldn't readily answer or ask "What's your name?"

  The solution to the nation's English woes will not be easy to find, nor will it be quick to implement. I cannot agree with Melamed's call for more foreign teachers.

  The vast majority of foreigners who come to teach here are both lazy and incompetent. There is no reason to suppose that this will ever change, as schools are unable to pay salaries high enough to ensure their foreign teachers will be qualified and proficient.

  Instead, the solution must come from within.

  Professional training schemes need to be initiated so that Taiwan can free itself from its reliance on foreign teachers so the next generation of Taiwanese educators will not suffer from the same deficiencies that undermine today's teachers.

  Andrew Crosthwaite
  

  Minsyong, Chiayi County
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