【Chat】I got a what if.

[peter9932 10]

Um...

I am wondering our educational policy is correct or not.

because Taiwanese often put a lot of emphasis on your "testing abilities,"

that is reading and writing.

but after scoring high in the Joint College(University) Entrance Exam, we students are not equal to speak fluently like a foreigner or understand what CNN's reporters talking about.

Some students ignored it and pretends to great English fluency.

It is a pity that there is a special adjective, "Chinglish," it means we speaks English not only not accurate enough but also mingled some Chinese in it.

What if added "speaking and listening test" in JCEE?

WOW, there would be so many students doomed to get out of their "perfect school or department."

It is very hard to transform our testing way, because it is a prevalence, once the way we test each students' English, it will cause catastrophic changes in both bushibans and schools!

Every students will try their best to speak like a native speaker, understand whatever DISCOVERY without subtitle as soon as possible.

Of course it will be one "LUCRATIVE" way to make money, to some extent...

All in all, we do know the phenomena is unbelivable, the reality is irresistible, the edutional way and the way people makes money is inseparable.

So...

What do you think about this kind of educational system? Is it good or bad? Would it pose any threats to us after we graduated?

As for me, the answer absolutely is YES, you know it, although Enlish is my major.

此內容已被編輯, June 16, 2010 ,由 Sunriz
小錯誤 稍微修改一下

[freyJa 10]

I quite agree. The whole point of learning a language is to communicate with it. Otherwise, why learn it?

Students today speak a lot of Chinglish due to lack of practice,

and I guess it's mainly because most of them study English just to get high marks,

especially high schools students, for the universtiy entrance exams apparently don't include English oral.

The government should put more emphasis on improving our English oral abilities, or else, like you said, people would just ingore the fact that their English isn't good enough.

By the way, I plan to major in English literature when I get into college.

p.s Is your avatar from Neopets? It looks familiar..

[peter9932 10]

By the way, I plan to major in English literature when I get into college.

p.s Is your avatar from Neopets? It looks familiar..

Wow~

It is such a pleasure that you will be my competent, after we step into this cruel society!

yes!!!!

I played Neopets for over 4 years, you can visit my page at http://www.neopets.com/userlookup.phtml?user=peter9932

[freyJa 10]

I haven't been to Neopets for so long that i've already forgotten my ID @@".. Maybe I'll re-register after I enter college.

Btw, I'll work on my Grammar:)

[曾經滄海難為水 10]

If one wanna improve speaking and listening, the only way is speaking to native speaker.

Although lots of English teacher teach us wat ENGLISH is, they cannot chat with a foreigner fluently.

If one's wanna improve speaking and listening, I bet studying abroad is the only way.

coz you definitely can't change your accent and learn those slangs by studying textbooks.

As freyJa, I 'll work on my grammar someday.

[Balie 10]

It is very interesting to talk with a foreigner becasue the guestures and expressions are a lot different from we Chinese. We can also see some cultural differences.

OK! Come back to the topic of the education policy of Taiwan. Do the officials really care about our English? They just want to finish what they need to do.(ex. To make some rules about the English courses; however, they do not really care the quality, they just take it as a daily ritual)As a result, (I am afraid to say)Taiwanese's English ability is not so good on the whole, not only in the performance of some international English examinations, but also in our application in daily lives.

I do think it is important to get an OK grade in any kind of tests, big or small. Pratically speaking, we have to get into our ideal schools. On the othe hand, it more or less represents our basic ability. Then what is next to getting a decent grade? Just take a rest? I do not think so.

(By the way, the definition of a(n) OK/decent grade varies from person to person. For example, the standard is totally different for a taxi driver and an English teacher.)

It is very good for me to have the ability to look into the world through English. Movies, songs, books.....etc. I tihnk the ultinate usage of languages is to communicate, to share ideas with different people, so we can do something different when we leave the stage full of stacks of papers. Then we will be much more happier. ：）

[kira39 10]

First of all. we all know that the ultimate goal of learning English is not just getting a high score on the tests or exams but having a ability to use this language. However, Taiwan's education policy is not helping the students to get this goal. We could know it from a few part:

1. Differ from the countries such like Singapor and India, students in Taiwan rarely use English to communicate no matter in their leisure time or in classes. We all know that the best way or even the fastest way to learn a language is to use it. However, students in Taiwan are still using the textbooks which is written in Chinese and the English teachers are also using Chinese to teach English. As the result, students do not have any opportunity to practice or use English.

2. All of the exams and tests which students have in school are all focusing on writing, reading comprehensive ability. However, it is the worse way to learn a language. Many research show that while a person is learning a language, speaking and listening are the most important and helpful way. For instance, we all know that while a person was a baby who is trying to learn his/her first language, he/she listens and then speaks. After he/she could speak fluently then he/she learns how to read and write.

Second, from my experience, English has a totally different language logic from Chinese.

For example, A: Aren't you a student? Native speakers would answer this question if they are student in " Yes, I am". In contrast, Chinese students would answer it in English " No, I ain't" which would make the native speaker confuse... so you are not a student?

To conclude, it is unavoidable of using English to communicate with foreigner after we start working. So, my suggestion to improve the English education in Taiwan is to use all the textbooks except Chinese in English. Or, at least all the English teachers should teach in English but not Chinese.

[MikiRei 10]

I am wondering our educational policy is correct or not.

because we Taiwanese often put a lot of emphasis on your "testing abilities,"

that is reading and writing.

but after scoring high in the Joint College(University) Entrance Exam, we students are not equal to speak fluently like a foreigner or understand what CNN's reporters talking about.

Just a short comment. Please don't press enter after every phrase. That's Chinese style writing. Press enter when you need to start a new paragraph.

because we Taiwanese often put a lot of emphasis on your "testing abilities,"

Quite true. The education policy seem to want to create testing robots. The fact that even applying for COMPANY jobs require some sort of written test boggles me. You don't want exam writing machines. You want innovative and independant workers. The fact that an emphasis is placed on your exam skills makes me wonder whether we're creating enough critical thinkers. Clearly, from this thread, we are, but it may not be the education policy at work here. = =|||

but after scoring high in the Joint College(University) Entrance Exam, we students are not equal to speak fluently like a foreigner or understand what CNN's reporters talking about.

Neither do many English-speaking countries produce students that can speak a second language fluently by default. Only Europe seem to be able to do that. I think, if anything, we should all copy the way Europeans educate their people. They seem to do a great job in creating capable, intelligent human beings with multiple talents.

What if added "speaking and listening test" in JCEE?

Yes, they should add speaking and listening. In Australia, we test languages through writing, reading comprehension, listening and speaking, which makes sense because that's what you're using the language for - listening, speaking, reading and writing. Interesting that they didn't add listening and speaking by default.

So, my suggestion to improve the English education in Taiwan is to use all the textbooks except Chinese in English. Or, at least all the English teachers should teach in English but not Chinese.

That would help but won't it degrade our national identity? You might as well declare Taiwan as an English speaking country and teach Chinese as a second language but that's going to extremes. I think it's time to look into how the Europeans do it because most of their citizens can speak English at a very advanced level. They just have an accent but grammatically, expression-wise and the level of vocabulary they have is just as good as any average native English speakers.

[Tictac 10]

Hi,

I'm in America now.

And what ive seen is that American students know what "they like to do".

Unlike Taiwanese students, who are pretty much just living under pressure without knowing what they are supposed to be like.

However, we can't blame this on them.

What I'm trying to tell is that Taiwanese students should spend more time on scheduling their "future".

Know what you want to do, Do what you want to do.

:)

[EDTA 10]

Classy portmanteau word you have there, Chinglish! I guess the best example is the mistaken sentence pattern "because......, so......"!

This topic is one of the headlines on today's Mandarin Daily News. It seems that although Taiwan's students' English ability ranks number five in Asia, their interests in English are low. Funny. Putting a lot of emphasis on testing abilities is certainly not the best, but a way to learn English. This is our culture, and there's nothing much we can do to change that in a short notice. You must have made your way through all those boring junior high school years of reciting grammar and sentence patterns. See it as a fine foundation laid for you.

As for speaking, I do agree that there should be oral courses in the curriculum. But come to think of it, we didn't have Chinese oral courses in the first place, did we?

[Sunriz 11]

I agree it ...

I think speaking is more important than writing ..

but most of the students in Taiwan are good at writing .

Maybe the problem will be better in this few year

[MikiRei 10]

But come to think of it, we didn't have Chinese oral courses in the first place, did we?

The reverse is true as well, you know. I grew up in Australia. There was like, in total, 5 oral assessments throughout my entire schooling here. Oral is kind of a given if lessons are being conducted in said language.

[楓痕劍魂 10]

Oh ,so interesting ~

I never claim my perspectives in English.

I agree with you.I just think why many people think grades can substitute our efforts.

Maybe I study hard . However , I just can't fit into our test mode, so I get poor grades.

That's all. It's unfair. But It is not imaginable.

[peter9932 10]

Oh ,so interesting ~

I never claim my perspectives in English.

I agree with you.I just think why many people think grades can substitute our efforts.

Maybe I study hard . However , I just can't fit into our test mode, so I get poor grades.

That's all. It's unfair. But It is not imaginable.

Indeed, everybody want to get a good grade after studying hard! Due to the fact that policies made by our MOE is to measure our ability on TEST, what we can do is to improve our" testing ability," not living ability such as how to control our EQ and how to maintain relationship with people, it is so wrong~~~

BTW, there are several grammatical errors in your reply, I am convinced that you can find it out and...... just, think can be replaced with another words! :)