Study by NTNU finds many elementary students in Taipei have low level of English proficiency
Taiwan News
Date: 2018/06/01
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer
Taiwanese students napping. (By Wikimedia Commons)
TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A study released on Monday (May 28) by National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) revealed that many children in Taipei’s elementary schools received low marks in English proficiency tests, reported Liberty Times.
Despite the fact that English has been included in public school curriculums in Taipei since 1998, many sixth grade elementary students who took English proficiency tests administered by NTNU received substandard scores. One in four students failed the vocabulary test, 54 percent flunked grammar, 21 percent were unable to pass listening comprehension and 29 percent were unable to make the cut in reading comprehension.
Many students were not able to achieve sixth grade English proficiency at a all, and in the case of vocabulary (12 percent), grammar (18 percent) and listening comprehension (6 percent), some were not even able to reach a fourth grade level of competence in the language.
In 1998, Taiwan’s Ministry of Education put forth a 9-year English curriculum for elementary schools. In 2005, the ministry began requiring schools to begin teaching English twice a week starting in the third grade. [FULL STORY]
