How difficult is it for university English departments to attract students? The results of a survey on college and university English-related departments nationwide showed that eight departments have closed down or stopped recruitment over the past eight years. Meanwhile, nine applied foreign languages or English departments transformed into tourism or some other department just to find a way out.
The Global Education Association in Taiwan (GEAT) held a forum on the afternoon of Sept. 12. The GEAT sent a survey to all English departments and received responses from 74 departments. About 31.5 percent of them admitted that they are facing the challenge of student shortage. According to Chen Chao-ming, the results show that English departments are no longer popular when senior high school students and their parents are choosing a university.
Chen is chief executive officer (CEO) of the association and a professor of English at Shih Chien University. He said that since the English proficiency of other majors is equally good or even better than that of English majors, the enrollment numbers for the prospects for English majors are extremely worrying, as are their employment prospects.
Photo: Lin Hsiao-yun, Liberty Times
照片：自由時報記者林曉雲
Chen said that English departments should be redefined and should no longer limit themselves to cultivating English teachers, secretaries or writers. With an advantage in English language, they should provide cross-cultural training and enhance students’ management knowledge and cross-disciplinary specialization. They should cooperate with industries under the major trend of “transnational management” in the future, so as to train students with cross-disciplinary skills and strong English ability.
(Liberty Times, Translated by Eddy Chang)
大學英文系所招不到學生？一份針對全國大專校院英語文相關系所的調查指出，八年來已有八個系所廢系或停招，另有九所學校的應用外文系或應用英文系改名成觀光系等，轉型找出路。
台灣全球化教育推廣協會九月十二日下午舉辦座談會，該會針對大專校院英文系所發出問卷，共回收七十四份問卷，百分之三十一點五受訪系所表示已面臨招生人數不足的挑戰，陳超明表示，問卷結果顯示高中生或家長選擇大學時，不少人對英語文系卻步。
台灣全球化教育推廣協會執行長、實踐大學教授陳超明表示，當其他系所學生的英文能力和英文系學生一樣好，甚至更好時，英語文系招生和就業狀況，讓人焦慮、恐懼。
陳超明表示，英語文系應重新定位，不能再侷限在培育英語教師、英文秘書、文學家等人才，而應善用英語文優勢，置入跨文化訓練、補強管理智識及跨領域專業，配合產業未來跨國界管理的大趨勢，以培育學生成為跨界英語人才。
（自由時報記者林曉雲）
TODAY’S WORDS
今日單字
Historians are rethinking the way the Holocaust is being presented in museums as the world marks the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the last Nazi concentration camps this month. Shocking images of the mass killings of Jews were “used massively at the end of World War II to show the violence of the Nazis,” historian Tal Bruttmann, a specialist on the Holocaust, told AFP. But in doing so “we kind of lost sight of the fact that is not normal to show” such graphic scenes of mass murder, of people being humiliated and dehumanized, he said. Up to this
A ‘Dutch angle’ is a classic camera technique that has been used in filmmaking since the 1920s, when it was introduced to Hollywood by German Expressionists. Why is it called the Dutch angle if it’s actually German? In fact, it has no __1__ to the Netherlands. The term “Dutch” is widely believed to be a misinterpretation of “Deutsch,” which means German in the German language. In any event, the name stuck, and the Dutch angle remains a popular cinematic tool to this day. This technique involves tilting the camera on its x-axis, skewing the shot to create a sense of
When people listen to music today, they typically use streaming services like YouTube or Spotify. However, traditional formats like vinyl records have regained popularity in recent times. Vinyl records are circular discs that store music in grooves on their surfaces and are played on a turntable. As the turntable’s needle runs along these grooves, it picks up vibrations and translates them into sound. The history of vinyl records dates back to the late 1800s, but material and technological challenges delayed mass production until the 1950s. Despite early versions having short playtimes and poor sound quality, vinyl records introduced a new era
Dos & Don’ts — 想想看，這句話英語該怎麼說？ 1. 能做的事都做了。 ˇ All that could be done has been done. χ All that could be done have been done. 註︰all 指事情或抽象概念時當作單數。例如： All is well that ends well. （結果好就是好。） All is over with him. （他已經沒希望了。） That’s all for today. （今天到此為止。） all 指人時應當作複數。例如： All of us are interested in his proposal. All of us are doing our best. 2. 我們這麼做有益於我們的健康。 ˇ What we are doing is good for our health. χ What we are doing are good for our health. 註︰以關係代名詞 what 引導的作為主詞的子句，動詞用單數。如： What he said is true. 3. 大家都沿著步道跑。 ˇ Everybody runs along the trail. χ Everybody run along the trail. 註︰everyone 是指一大群人，但在文法上一般用單數。 4. 桌上有一本筆記本和兩支筆。 ˇ There were two
RSS