About 70 percent of the nation’s high schools and universities support testing people taking college entrance examinations on English listening proficiency, a Ministry of Education-affiliated survey showed yesterday.
The poll, conducted by the College Entrance Examination Center on behalf of the ministry, showed that 66 percent of high schools and 70 percent of universities in Taiwan believed English listening comprehension tests should be added to the annual college entrance examination, center deputy director Hung Tung-kuei (洪冬桂) told reporters.
At present, examinees are only tested on reading, writing, grammar, translation and vocabulary.
KEEPING UP
Hung said Taiwan’s main competitors in Asia, including China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and South Korea, have included listening comprehension in their college entrance examinations.
Hung said China even implemented traffic control measures and banned construction work to avoid excessive noise when examinees were taking its listening proficiency test this year, while South Korea made 125 changes to commercial aircraft take off schedules to avoid disturbing English listening test-takers.
DELIBERATION
Hung said the center is considering the possibility of introducing listening comprehension tests to the entrance exam and would submit the results of the survey to the ministry for further deliberation next month.
Hung said some students from Taipei Municipal Jianguo High School and Taipei First Girls High School told the center that even if their schools offered English listening sessions, their classmates never took the classes seriously, which could be problematic if listening tests were to be implemented.
Hung said the center would also propose that the ministry turn the entrance examination’s English writing section into an independent test and divide the test into different levels of difficulty so students can choose the level that best suits them.
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