Newspapers have reported that the Taipei City Bureau of Educa-tion recently approved a "Tem-porary Outline of the Taipei City Elementary and Middle School Curriculum for English Language Instruction" (台北市國中小英語教學課程暫行綱要). Having reviewed the contents, as a researcher in linguistics and a worker in the field of English language education, I can't help but feel weighed down by worry.
According to this new curriculum outline, first and second grade elementary school students will have to be able to "orally comprehend, speak, read and write" between 100 and 150 words in addition to becoming thoroughly familiar with the English letters and classroom expressions. Third and fourth graders will have to be able to count to 1,000 in English, recognize 300 to 400 words and read 20 to 50 children's books on their own, as well as knowing basic classroom expressions and language from daily life.
Fifth and sixth graders will have to be able to recognize 500 to 600 vocabulary words and read 50 to 100 books as well as developing their listening and speaking skills. Middle school students will have to acquire a vocabulary of 2,000 words and read 100 to 300 extracurricular books. They will also have to write diary entries of 50 to 100 words in length.
However, specifying an indicator of English ability involves more than just doing arithmetic with the number of vocabulary words one knows or the number of books one has read. It should not be just a response to adult wishes to accelerate the pace of internationalization.
It is necessary to broadly consider several factors, such as the children's stage of cognitive development, the learning environment, overall improvement, the cultivation of values, their sense of cultural and national identity and so on.
Did the education administrators who specified these indicators ever consider that first graders are simultaneously beginning to study Mandarin Chinese's system of phonetic symbols as well as the complex system for writing characters? Furthermore, after plans for native language instruction are implemented, learning the systems of characters and phonetic symbols for each local dialect will reportedly also begin in first grade. With a heavy burden like this, how can we hope to cheer children up?
In recent years, the idea that children have an extraordinary ability to learn foreign languages has been vigorously promoted by cram-school operators and widely accepted by parents and even those in charge of education administration. As long as they receive a bit more training at a very early age, in the future their English abilities will naturally be a cut above others. What we wish to remind parents of is that learning English earlier shouldn't be the entirety of children's learning and growth.
As we pay attention to how many vocabulary words children know or what scores they receive on the TOEFL or the General English Proficiency Test (GEPT), should we not examine their Chinese ability? How well are they able to express themselves? How much do they understand the surrounding society and culture? How much concern do they feel and how much do they identify with society and culture? How well do they get along with their classmates and friends? Do they have space to play games and exercise imagination and creativity?
I would venture to ask: How many kids can look after every one of these aspects of their development and remain carefree and happy, handling it all with ease?
In addition, we should carefully evaluate whether devoting so much energy to studying English at a young age really does result in a guarantee of superior English ability as an adult.
Language study and cognitive development are intimately related. The advantage of studying at a young age lies primarily in the perception and ability to imitate phonetics. Thus as long as one has the guidance of a teacher with a proper basis for pronunciation (please note -- not all English speakers meet this condition by any means) at a young age, then as an adult, pronunciation will be relatively trouble free. But on the other hand, the range of vocabulary and complexity of grammar are related to the student's stage of development in abstract thinking. Thus the English encountered in childhood can't possibly achieve a very high level of abstraction in terms of vocabulary and sentence structure. To truly master language usage at the abstract level, post-adolescent cognitive development, a natural shifting of one's interests and an accumulation of experience are essential. Only in this way can one achieve the goal of mastering English and using it at will in one's field of expertise.
To workers in the field of English education, the current, unprecedented degree of importance given English in domestic circles is cause for great optimism. What perplexes us is that, on the one hand, we reduce the number of English instruction hours for junior and senior high school students, while on the other hand we stretch to the limit primary school students' learning age, as well as the content and depth of their English knowledge -- even to the point that first and second graders must learn listening, speaking, reading and writing skills concurrently.
It's almost like the significant mission of learning English has been put entirely on the child-ren's shoulders.
The unique advantage enjoyed during childhood is the interest in, and sharp perception of, sounds. Because of this, increasing the amount of listening material that is both interesting and connected to everyday life is worthy of consideration. Insisting that reading and writing ability be learned at too early an age, however, is truly inappropriate -- akin to to pulling up seedlings in order to help them grow faster.
At National Taiwan Normal University's English department, we see top-notch talent in English, expressed in the students' outstanding speeches, debates, and written work. Many of these students lack the benefit of any early childhood English education. Instead, their achievement is rooted in either the fact that they had an excellent English teacher during high school, or their exceptionally strong interest in English.
With Taipei City's version of English curriculum targets, if there is no one in the childrens' families to guide them -- or if the family hasn't the means to send their children to a cram school -- it goes without saying that the one to two English classes a week currently offered by schools won't be near enough to achieve the curriculum targets. Even if classes are increased to three or four a week, it will still be difficult to meet the projected goals.
Of course, some parents will work hard to meet this high standard, making their children begin learning English and the National Phonetic Symbols ("bopomofo,"
We must remember: Primary school education is compulsory, and not accelerated education. We should not only cater to those children who can afford to attend cram schools, but rather those who cannot -- and to those parents who don't know how to speak up to guarantee their children's right to education.
Facing targets with such high standards, advance English learning only makes students experience, in advance, all the frustration and disappointment of studying, and will cause them to drop out of the English learning process.
I hope the Taipei City Bureau of Education will give this issue careful consideration. It is also to be hoped that other county and city heads will not to follow the bureau's example.
Vincent Chang is chairman of the department of English at National Taiwan Normal University.
Translated by Ethan Harkness and Scudder Smith
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