In the News

Reports raise eyebrows over Taiwan’s English levels

• Publication Date：12/18/2009
• Source： Liberty Times

Taiwan’s secondary and tertiary students are falling behind the rest of Asia in terms of their English reading and writing skills, according to a local education consultant Dec. 17.

Wang Shu-wei, Cambridge ESOL’s marketing manager in Taiwan, said students in Taiwan tend to lose interest in English education after primary school, resulting in a drop-off in their reading and writing skills.

“High school teaching often focuses on memorizing vocabulary and grammar, which bores students to death and causes them to lose interest in learning English,” she said. “This pattern tends to carry over into tertiary education and explains students’ poor ratings.”

According to Cambridge’s latest testing data, local students aged 7 to 12 scored better than the global average in terms of English listening and speaking skills.

“Compared with countries where English is not an official language, Taiwan’s students actually did well,” Wang said. “They were second only to Indonesia and ahead of mainland China and South Korea.”

A report issued by the U.S.-based Educational Testing Service also found that the island’s secondary and tertiary students have poor English reading and writing skills.

“Taiwan’s students actually fared worse than their South Korean counterparts,” said Benjamin Wang, an ETS Taiwan spokesman. “However, they did score higher than students from Japan, except those attending vocational schools.”

He added that the only way to rectify this situation is if the government reforms English education in secondary and tertiary institutions. “Incredibly, today’s curriculum still follows a guideline established 40 years ago.” (PCT-JSM)