I was honored to receive comments on my article ("Choosing an English curriculum," Oct. 18, page 8) from such a renowned academic as Stephen Krashen. I sincerely believe that these discussion and debate forums can only enhance the focus of educators, the government and parents on the current and emerging problems that face us in second and third language acquisition situations with the ultimate outcome of hopefully fueling a positive engine of change.
As the former director of two ESL elementary through secondary schools in Taiwan for more than five years, part of my responsibilities included assembling and overseeing curriculum teams charged with the task of revising and writing effective EFL/ESL curriculums (as I have previously done on two other continents). During that time, we looked at dozens of models and became intimately familiar with theories from Gatto to Armstrong, and even Krashen's.
It is true that much has happened in this field over the past three decades (unlike Krashen, I would have cited the post-World War II era in general). However, as an academician of some standing, I am sure that the good professor is all too aware of the way that research, statistics and "facts" can be, and often are, manipulated to support theories in many, if not all, academic fields.
How many times have we been told one thing by so-called "experts", only to have their views contradicted and overturned by other so-called "experts?" Even Krashen carefully qualified his statements by using such ambiguous terms as "may" and "the research strongly suggests" when he outlined his arguments. In truth, there are many things that we simply don't know about higher brain functions or learning despite the millions spent in this field.
Furthermore, I would add that Krashen is incorrect when he asserted that my views were in conflict with common sense. As any competent and observant classroom teacher or parent knows, students often automatically memorize words from nursery rhymes to songs; from poetry to complex words, phrases and entire passages; most of the time the student is unaware that they are even learning. Grammar structures are likewise automatically acquired through constant usage and refined by watchful teachers and parents alike. Tens of millions of people around the world are multilingual.
Krashen must understand that in brief editorials it is impossible to succinctly elaborate upon such a complex subject and that I do not believe that my way is the "only path to proficiency." Nevertheless, I stand by my views and hope that these kinds of dialogues improve student acquisition of English.
Dan Ritco
Puli, Nantou County
Saudi Arabian largesse is flooding Egypt’s cultural scene, but the reception is mixed. Some welcome new “cooperation” between two regional powerhouses, while others fear a hostile takeover by Riyadh. In Cairo, historically the cultural capital of the Arab world, Egyptian Minister of Culture Nevine al-Kilany recently hosted Saudi Arabian General Entertainment Authority chairman Turki al-Sheikh. The deep-pocketed al-Sheikh has emerged as a Medici-like patron for Egypt’s cultural elite, courted by Cairo’s top talent to produce a slew of forthcoming films. A new three-way agreement between al-Sheikh, Kilany and United Media Services — a multi-media conglomerate linked to state intelligence that owns much of
The US and other countries should take concrete steps to confront the threats from Beijing to avoid war, US Representative Mario Diaz-Balart said in an interview with Voice of America on March 13. The US should use “every diplomatic economic tool at our disposal to treat China as what it is... to avoid war,” Diaz-Balart said. Giving an example of what the US could do, he said that it has to be more aggressive in its military sales to Taiwan. Actions by cross-party US lawmakers in the past few years such as meeting with Taiwanese officials in Washington and Taipei, and
The Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan has no official diplomatic allies in the EU. With the exception of the Vatican, it has no official allies in Europe at all. This does not prevent the ROC — Taiwan — from having close relations with EU member states and other European countries. The exact nature of the relationship does bear revisiting, if only to clarify what is a very complicated and sensitive idea, the details of which leave considerable room for misunderstanding, misrepresentation and disagreement. Only this week, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) received members of the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations
Denmark’s “one China” policy more and more resembles Beijing’s “one China” principle. At least, this is how things appear. In recent interactions with the Danish state, such as applying for residency permits, a Taiwanese’s nationality would be listed as “China.” That designation occurs for a Taiwanese student coming to Denmark or a Danish citizen arriving in Denmark with, for example, their Taiwanese partner. Details of this were published on Sunday in an article in the Danish daily Berlingske written by Alexander Sjoberg and Tobias Reinwald. The pretext for this new practice is that Denmark does not recognize Taiwan as a state under