English-language listening exams should not be used as a baseline for college admission, civil activists said yesterday.
Representatives of the National Senior-High School Teachers’ Union, the National Educational Industry Union, the Taiwan Education Movement and the Parental Alliance on 12-year Education gathered outside the gates of the Ministry of Education’s headquarters in Taipei, presenting a petition calling on the ministry to forbid colleges from requiring students to achieve certain scores on the Test of English Listening Comprehension (TELC) to gain admission.
Activists said that requiring scores on the English listening test was unfair to children from rural or poor backgrounds, because they lack the chances to study English enjoyed by more privileged students.
Photo: Wu Po-hsuan, Taipei Times
“The TELC is extremely difficult for those who live in remote areas,” said Hung Lung-chiu (洪龍秋) an instructor at National Hualien Girls’ Senior-High School. “Their problem is they do not have the [urban learning] environment.”
He said that because English courses in public schools focus on reading and writing, most students who perform well on the listening exam have taken extensive courses at cram schools. Such courses are expensive and available only in urban areas, putting them out of the reach of students from poor or rural backgrounds, he added.
National Senior-High School Teachers’ Union director Pai Hung-shan (白宏杉) said that over the past two years, just 5 percent of students in the nation’s rural eastern counties received an “A” grade on the listening exam, compared with 20 percent of students in more urbanized northern counties and cities. He called on the ministry to invest more resources into English education in rural areas, reduce class sizes and hire foreign teachers to teach conversational English.
“Allowing different departments to make their own decision is good policy,” said Chuang Jung-hui (莊榮輝), executive secretary of the College Recruitment Commission Joint Board.
He said the rules do not require the use of listening test scores as a baseline for admissions, adding that it makes sense for certain programs — such as English departments — to require listening scores.
The Ministry of Education and College Recruitment Commission Joint Board said that they would internally discuss activists’ demands, but added that changes for the upcoming admissions cycle were unlikely because admission policies have already been announced.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it