English must be relevant
I agree, for the most part, with Cheng Shiuh-tarng (鄭旭棠), especially when the author said the “unequal distribution of educational resources has contributed to the disparity of English language ability among students of different circumstances” (“Poor English reflects flawed system,” Oct. 24, page 8).
If anything, the author is understating the problem.
Cheng does not mention that affluent Taiwanese can afford to send their children to cram schools to learn English. One can easily find elementary-school students in cram schools who speak better English than most English majors at private universities.
Meanwhile, other students can attain high levels of English literacy by studying English for a few months, if not a whole year, overseas.
When these students grow up and attend university they are unlikely to want to become English majors at private universities because they would find the level of English to be too low for them, while the teachers would be speaking mostly in Chinese and there would be little chance for students to speak English because the classes usually contain between 30 and 60 students.
I worked at a private university which refused to split conversation classes and this made it difficult for students to have the opportunity to speak.
Students who attend private schools probably also resent having to pay more tuition: These students are absent more often, show up later and pay less attention in class than students in public universities, based both on my own observations and the comments of colleagues at various institutions.
Part of the problem is that students at private universities “have to” take part-time jobs.
It is almost as though parents blame their children for not scoring high enough to get into public schools and tell their kids they have to go to work to make up the difference.
It is no wonder that students at private universities look so angry and resentful compared to students at public universities.
This resentment results in students’ lack of motivation to learn English.
Another factor is, as Cheng pointed out, that English is a “foreign” language in Taiwan. Of course, English will always be a foreign language and not a local language in Taiwan.
The only reason why students would want to speak English is if they want to speak to foreigners.
The real problem is that some students might have negative feelings toward foreigners, and therefore not feel motivated to speak a foreign language.
In particular, they would be less likely to take advantage of classes with foreign teachers if they had negative views regarding foreigners.
Students who are simply shy and do not like to talk to anyone would be similarly disadvantaged.
For this reason, I actually think it is a good thing that English departments in Taiwan are refocusing their programs and becoming more practical.
English should be a language that is used for practical communication and not simply be something that students find in a textbook.
Martin Phipps
Greater Taichung
Two sets of economic data released last week by the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) have drawn mixed reactions from the public: One on the nation’s economic performance in the first quarter of the year and the other on Taiwan’s household wealth distribution in 2021. GDP growth for the first quarter was faster than expected, at 6.51 percent year-on-year, an acceleration from the previous quarter’s 4.93 percent and higher than the agency’s February estimate of 5.92 percent. It was also the highest growth since the second quarter of 2021, when the economy expanded 8.07 percent, DGBAS data showed. The growth
In the intricate ballet of geopolitics, names signify more than mere identification: They embody history, culture and sovereignty. The recent decision by China to refer to Arunachal Pradesh as “Tsang Nan” or South Tibet, and to rename Tibet as “Xizang,” is a strategic move that extends beyond cartography into the realm of diplomatic signaling. This op-ed explores the implications of these actions and India’s potential response. Names are potent symbols in international relations, encapsulating the essence of a nation’s stance on territorial disputes. China’s choice to rename regions within Indian territory is not merely a linguistic exercise, but a symbolic assertion
More than seven months into the armed conflict in Gaza, the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to take “immediate and effective measures” to protect Palestinians in Gaza from the risk of genocide following a case brought by South Africa regarding Israel’s breaches of the 1948 Genocide Convention. The international community, including Amnesty International, called for an immediate ceasefire by all parties to prevent further loss of civilian lives and to ensure access to life-saving aid. Several protests have been organized around the world, including at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) and many other universities in the US.
Every day since Oct. 7 last year, the world has watched an unprecedented wave of violence rain down on Israel and the occupied Palestinian Territories — more than 200 days of constant suffering and death in Gaza with just a seven-day pause. Many of us in the American expatriate community in Taiwan have been watching this tragedy unfold in horror. We know we are implicated with every US-made “dumb” bomb dropped on a civilian target and by the diplomatic cover our government gives to the Israeli government, which has only gotten more extreme with such impunity. Meantime, multicultural coalitions of US