Print

Mail

wiki links

Lawmaker says English material too hard for kids

TSU Legislator Cheng Chen-lung uses vocabulary charts to explain the incompatible levels of elementary and junior-high-school English textbooks. PHOTO: CHU PEI-HSIUNG, TAIPEI TIMES

A TSU lawmaker claimed yesterday that the vocabulary used in many elementary and junior-high school English textbooks is too difficult for students and exceeds Ministry of Education guidelines.

TSU Legislator Cheng Chen-lung (程振隆) told a news conference that his research group had inspected about 30 textbooks published by eight publishers and found much of the vocabulary was beyond the range of the 1,000-word list drawn up by the Ministry of Education, even though the books had been compiled according to the outline of the Nine-Year Educational Program.

The ministry's word list is used as the basis for the Basic Competency Test that junior-high students must take to enter senior-high school.

"I don't think words like `eternal love,' `fading love' or `absent-minded' are necessary for children to learn. These words are just too hard to understand and pronounce," Cheng said, citing examples from the textbooks for first year junior-high students.

Other words and phrases, such as "zodiac sign," "spicy diced chicken," and "breaking the ice" were also on the list for those students, while sixth-grade students are being asked to learn words such as "exhaust," "push-ups" or "stinky tofu," he said.

"If children cannot understand those words, they are forced to just memorize them," Cheng said.

Using a book for sixth-graders published by the Kuang-fu Publishing Co as example, he said that about 47 percent of the book's vocabulary exceeds the range of the ministry's word list. That, he said, might confuse both students and teachers.

"There is also a wide disparity in the difficulty level of the textbooks, Cheng said.

"This probably forces children [who find the books too difficult] to go to cram schools," he said, adding that many of the textbooks were compiled and published by cram schools.

He said the disparity in elementary level textbooks meant junior-high teachers would face difficulties trying to teach students who had attended different elementary schools.

"If a student who used Kuang-fu's elementary-school textbooks then goes to a junior high that uses Nan-I Publishing Co's books, which are much easier than their Kuang-fu counterparts, the student would find the text too easy and vice versa," Cheng said.

"We also discovered that the more difficult a book's content, the better it sells," he said.

Due to market demand, he said, the content of English textbooks has become increasingly difficult, especially those books used by city schools.

"Although learning vocabulary is a small part of learning English, the teaching materials are a pivotal factor in determining the success of the instruction," Cheng said.

Ministry officials responded to the legislator's complaints later in the day, saying that the National Institute for Compilation and Translation has asked publishers to adjust the content of junior-high textbooks to meet the needs of students with differing English abilities.
This story has been viewed 2962 times.