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FEATURE: 'Disparities plague English classes'

"The evolution of language is a very neutral thing. Maybe in the future, the poor Mandarin that our young people speak right now will become the norm. But it is undeniable that many students are falling short in their Mandarin ability."

Patrick Lien, former English professor at Soochow University

Some educators say an "M-shaped" curve is emerging among Taiwanese college students in English proficiency levels and that ability-based division in the classroom is the answer to narrow the English gap.

Huang Hsin-chou (黃馨周), an associate professor in the Department of Applied English at St. John University said, the polarization of college students' English skill is so extreme that some students can perform an all-English skit while others have trouble deciphering the word "elephant."

"We have students who don't even know how to pluralize and then those who pass the TOEFL with flying colors," Huang said.

To combat the extreme differences, some colleges have opted to divide their students into different English classes according to their English skills.

Even the Ministry of Education, which traditionally opposes separating primary education students based on their ability, fully backs the idea for college level students.

For example, all incoming freshmen at National Central University must take an English placement test. The three-part test includes listening comprehension, reading and grammar. The students are divided into beginners, intermediate and advanced classes based on their marks.

"It would be very difficult on the teachers to have mixed level of students in the classes because some students who already have good English skills might be bored while other might have trouble catching up," said Huang Shu-feng (黃淑芬), an English teacher at the university who agrees with the division.

Derek Chen (陳冠男), a student at Central Police University, said it is necessary to divide the students because if not, the teacher will only cater to the lowest level students and it is not fair for the rest of the class. The division will ensure that all students learn the language at their own pace.

He said so far, many schools only require freshmen to take English, but to really solve the disparity, schools should also make English a mandatory class throughout all four years of college.

However, some think such division will have an adverse psychological effect on students.

Father Inna Edara, a native of India who teaches psychology at Fu Jen Catholic University said it is the teacher's responsibility to design a curriculum that fits the needs of all students.

"Students learn through modeling. Students who are less skilled in English can learn from their peers who have better than they do. You don't get that if you separate the students," he said.

Another reason ability-based divisions could backfire are that some students "purposely perform poorly on placement tests so they can get an easy A in the lower class," said a student surnamed Wu, majoring in food nutrition in Shien Chien University.

Patrick Lien (連育德), a former professor at the Soochow University's English Department attributed the "M-shaped" curve to student's financial background, saying students from well-to-do families are at an advantage because their parents could afford to send them to English classes while they were young.

Lien said he believes that many college students are disinterested and even fearful of the English language because they were not adequately taught when they were in high school -- the prime time for language acquisition, he said.

A recent National Taiwan University graduate, Chen Hsiao-ming (陳曉明), shared Lien's view, saying although most of his peers speak English well, overall college students have poor English skills.

"I think it has a lot to do with the high school you attended. It goes without saying that if you went to a better ranked high school, your English skills will be a lot better than most people," he said.

Chen Hsiao-ming said he concurs with the ability-based division because for some students like him, it could be a source of motivation.

"There was a semester that I placed in the lowest tier. I was so mad that I got such low scores. So I studied hard and by the next semester, I was placed in the higher class," Chen said.

But the talk of creating a better English learning environment for Taiwanese college students has also created some doubts among people who wonder if it is prudent to be so focused on English acquisition at the expense of mastering the Mandarin language.

Lien said even though English will still be the dominate language for the forseeable furture, Mandarin is catching up fast.

"The evolution of language is a very neutral thing. Maybe in the future, the poor Mandarin that our young people speak right now will become the norm. But it is undeniable that many students are falling short in their Mandarin ability," Lien said.

Michael Wang (王豪濬), whose daughter is a high school student in Danshui, said many parents are being short-sighted pushing English on their children without stressing the importance of their mother tongue.

"It is a pity that many of our young people can't speak Mandarin well when it will be the `in language' of the 21st century. If we keep going at this pace, we will create a generation that can't perform well in either language," he said.
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