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Letter: Forget what you've learned

I would like to respond to the letters of Stephen Krashen and Peter Nelson (Letters, Oct. 21, page 8) on English-language proficiency.

Having worked as a full-time English teacher for English-language majors at a private university of technology in Taiwan for six years now, I can say with confidence that I completely agree with Krashen's view that students need to understand or comprehend what they hear and see.

The effectiveness of memorization and study is indeed short-term at best, with students forgetting what they've learned almost immediately after taking the test they were cramming for.

That said, students do need to work very hard -- not memorizing, but rather building their level of understanding by increasing their exposure to the target language at a level appropriate to their needs.

The crux of the problem as I see it is that most students simply don't work hard these days. The exceptions to this rule mostly study at top-ranking, prestigious public universities and are highly independent learners.

Nelson mentions that very few students read books, and I couldn't agree more.

My students admit that they spend most of their time surfing and chatting on the Internet, mostly in Chinese. Apart from the advice I give them to create an English-language environment outside of the classroom, I'm not sure how to help these students, who attend classes for a few hours a day and do little independent learning the rest of the time, then desperately attempt to memorize everything just in time for their exams.

They are mostly 18-to-22-year-old students, with deeply rooted, poor learning habits picked up during early childhood. Those bad habits are constantly reinforced by their family members and peers, with whom they spend far more time than with their teachers.

Teachers in Taiwan are increasingly being asked to adopt the role of unofficial surrogate parents, even at the college level.

Yes, I care a lot about my students. But when they don't do their work, when they don't work hard, when they don't create an English-language environment outside of the classroom and when they consistently ignore the advice of their teachers, what more can a teacher do?

All I can do is try to create the best learning environment possible while they are in my classroom.

That won't go very far in helping them, however, since their time in the classroom is very short. Independent learning is absolutely necessary, but unfortunately is largely absent.

I believe that part of the problem is that many teachers rely heavily on quizzes and tests because it's the only way to get students to actually work -- even if they still try to get by on the bare minimum.

Pong Ken-hung

Pingjen, Taoyuan County
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