According to a plan set out by the Ministry of Education (MOE,
As the age of students learning English gets increasingly younger, however, parents -- especially the heads of disadvantaged families -- will feel increasingly pressured. Why is this the case? After all, elementary school English classes should inspire students' interest in the subject, using various types of exercises, games, songs and activities to advance the students' listening and speaking ability. But as far as this writer knows, in numerous elementary schools, students who benefit from private English lessons have become the sole beneficiary of these activities.
Most of the time, teachers allow only students with "good grades" to practice during class. Disadvantaged students, who lack the means to do additional private study, get few chances to participate in their regular elementary school English classes. Although some teachers say they don't want to "waste" precious class time, this type of teaching deprives children of their right to an education.
If students have to receive private tutoring outside of school just to get recognition and practice time in their elementary school classes, what then, is the value of their elementary school education? And how is the idea of "equal educational opportunity for all" -- currently espoused by the educational authorities -- going to be implemented?
One case this writer came across involved a child who earned excellent grades in years one and two of elementary school, but struggled upon entering third grade. The child, unable to afford private study, accordingly lost ground in his regular English classes. Attending class became a source of torment for the young student, who completely lost his confidence. Asked what his greatest hope was, the child replied: "No more English class!"
Unfortunately, this is not an isolated case. Every school has experienced the problem, and the numbers are considerable. It shows that past patterns of abandoning English studies during the third year of middle school are now appearing at the beginning of year three in elementary schools. This fact must by no means be overlooked by those educational authorities who advocate the universalization of the study of English.
Successful English education certainly doesn't mean holding a few speech or language-skit contests every year and showing off students that are newly returned from overseas or promoted from bilingual kindergartens, as "model" students or the "results" of their English classes. Successful English instruction means every student is studying the language happily and efficiently.
To achieve this goal, there remains the pressing task of cultivating qualified English teachers. Apart from fluency in English and professional skills, patience and compassion should also be prerequisites for elementary school English teachers. The backgrounds of English instructors at the elementary-school level may vary, but their English language ability certainly must meet rigorous standards. As for the fostering of English teachers' professional skills, aside from taking basic courses such as teaching methodology, activity-design, and foreign-language acquisition, elementary school English instructors should also be required to understand the concept of "multiple approaches of assessment."
There are currently numerous elementary English teachers lacking an appropriate understanding of evaluation and still using paper-and-pen tests as their sole basis for assessing students' progress. Tests even include tricky grammar questions beyond the scope of both the teaching materials and the students' abilities. Such practices strike a serious blow to students' interest and should be stopped.
Organizations in charge of training elementary school English teachers should also carefully select trainers for the teachers. According to a recent report, some university professors teaching on the MOE's teacher training program were teaching the would-be elementary school teachers how to construct test items for the Joint College Entrance Exam!
The main reason for this disturbing state of affairs is that the MOE had to rush to complete the training of 3,500 prospective English teachers within a short period of time.
The importance of English is certainly indisputable, but as to the issue of whether "younger is better" with regard to starting English studies, no final conclusion exists, either on a theoretical or on an experimental level. Before the MOE begins its universal implementation of compulsory English classes for first-graders, there needs to be a gathering of scholars and experts, to consider deeply the pros and cons of this issue. In addition, thorough evaluations should be conducted on schools already teaching English to first-graders.
The final decision on whether or not to require every elementary school to begin teaching English from grade one should be based on the results of those evaluations. The content of the evaluations should cover a broad range of considerations, including the nature of the class (required or elective), the number of weekly teaching hours, the teaching materials selected, the teacher's English language ability and professional skills, whether or not the instructor is patient and compassionate, and whether the right to education of disadvantaged students has indeed been safeguarded.
This is necessary in order to guarantee the quality of English language education in Taiwan.
Vincent Chang is the chairman of the English department at National Taiwan Normal University.
Translated by Scudder Smith.
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