After reading "I Can Say My ABCs!"

After reading "I Can Say My ABCs!" in the April issue of your North American edition, I had a few thoughts about the teaching of English that I thought I'd like to share.

A language should not just be a tool for communication. Through the study of language we can come to a deeper understanding of the culture that is so intimately intertwined with it. You mention in your article that students in Hong Kong and Singapore have a better command of English than their counterparts in Taiwan. This is attributable, as you note in your article, to the fact that students there do not just study English as a language, but acquire it in the context of a much better understanding of British culture and customs. If English instruction in Taiwan could pay more attention to the ability to actually use English, and if the courses included more information concerning the customs of people in English-speaking countries, students would probably find English classes more interesting. The students would also learn things that would counteract the distorted images of Western culture presented in Hollywood movies.

As for grading the difficulty of English classes to ensure a smooth progression from one grade to the next, the education authorities could devise a coordinated curriculum. Having done this, they could familiarize both teachers and parents with the level of English ability that students in each grade are expected to attain. Once clear standards have been adopted, slower students would, with the help of teachers and parents, at least be able to reach the required level of proficiency. Faster students, in the meantime, would be able to study ahead at their own pace to get a preview of lessons yet to come. In addition, English instruction at the elementary and secondary levels should pay attention to all the basic skills: listening, reading, speaking, and writing. If the proper degree of focus is placed on each of these skills (i.e., a 70% focus at the elementary level on listening and speaking, with a gradually increasing emphasis thereafter on reading and writing as students advance through the higher grades), we can say good-bye to the problem of elementary students failing to find the groove in junior high due to a change in teaching methods.

Students in Taiwan are usually packed into large classes, and given the fact that everyone absorbs information at a different rate, it is difficult for teachers to see to the needs of all students. The result is that some students learn little or no English, and eventually just give up on it. If lesson materials could be recorded on cassette and video tapes, teachers could lend these out to the slower students to use at home. This would solve problems with pronunciation and enable such students to keep up with the rest of the class. Then they would not give up.

Having elementary students learn English is all very good, but we must formulate more detailed plans regarding course content and instruction methods, otherwise beginning English at an earlier age will not go to the root of the problem.

A Clarification

Chen Jo-hsi

Dear Editor:

I would like to make a clarification. In your interview with me published in last month's issue (domestic edition, May 2001), you reported me as saying: "I left America with nothing to my name." That is not in fact the case. It was only after receiving my ex-husband's pension that I left America.