Sunday, March 15, 2009

英文寫作的沈疴,Taipei Times 也關心

我 2 月 19 在《語國一方》貼了一篇〈再談大考學測英文〉,除了老調重彈之外,還特別呼籲記者朋友,希望他們能寫個專題,好好探討一下這個季節性的熱點。

隔天《聯合報》將此文砍去了近三分之二登出,置於李家同老師的大作之下。李教授齒德俱尊,洞悉事理,為文鏗鏘,引發了一波討論的熱潮。遺憾的是後來記者只是採訪幾個人,緊抓新聞點追蹤報導。熱頭過了,一切彷彿又船過水無痕。

數日後,媒體的關注點早已轉向,而英文《台北時報》(Taipei Times) 的記者 Flora Wang 居然給我發了電郵,表達想要對此寫個專題,並跟我約了時間當面採訪。我大感詫異,因為 (1) 新聞點已過,冷飯熱炒似乎有違媒體常態;(2) 連最重視教育新聞的《聯合報》都沒有人寫專題,英文報紙對此議題的興趣,超乎我的想像;(3) 平面媒體的採訪,除非是要人要事,否則現在多以電話為之,省時省事,而今記者竟打算登門,一訪我的不知漢齋。

採訪當天我因故遲到,Flora 捧著一杯送我的咖啡在門口久候,讓我深感抱歉。我跟她聊了近一個小時,暢快淋漓,但她當天隨後還得趕到立法院採訪,去之前特地為了這篇專題跑了一趟東吳,誠意感人。

過了半個月,Taipei Times 終於在今天刊出了這篇題為 Teachers lament poor scores in English 的專題 (詳見 http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2009/03/15/2003438532),真是千呼萬喚始出來。半個版面的篇幅,可以看出記者的用心,更可以感受到報社的重視。我不曉得這篇文章的後續效應會有多大,不過冰凍三尺,非一日之寒。七年之病,又何能求三年之艾?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

剛收到newsletter from Stephen Krashen. chao-ling
日期: Sun, 15 Mar 2009 11:57:08 -0400
標題: Poor English writing in Taiwan?


Sent to the Taipei Times, March 15, 2009

It is interesting that some educators are eager to provide
explanations for a phenomenon that may not exist. The Taipei Times
reported that there was "a sharp rise in the number of students who
failed (English College Entrance) exams," but point out that the
writing exam contained "a more complicated and difficult writing
topic" (Teachers lament poor scores in English," March 15).

Whether or not writing ability in English really is deteriorating,
those interested in improving students' written English might consult
the research, which says consistently that writers acquire the
conventions of the written language largely by reading. This is true
in first and second language development, and much of the research has
been done in Taiwan.

Improvement in student writing therefore requires access to a large
amount of interesting and comprehensible reading material in English,
which is sadly not available to many students.

Stephen Krashen

曾泰元 said...

昭伶,你在倫敦讀博,百忙之中還幫忙轉貼了英語教學大師 Stephen Krashen 教授的意見回饋,非常感謝!

我今天上了 Taipei Times 的網站,沒找到這篇投書,可能還沒刊出。

英語教學雖是我的職業,但我教的是英文系學生的專業科目 ── 詞彙學、構詞法、詞源學。事實上,英語教學不是我主要的專業,我的學術專業是詞典學 (lexicography),我的一些意見,純粹是參與大考閱卷多年來累積的一些經驗談與牢騷話,沒有理論根基。

Stephen Krashen 教授講的道理大家應該都明白,不過我擔心那只是個理想,是個分「實驗組」與「對照組」做出來的結果。把它放到一個社會的大機器、大染缸裡,有太多「實驗」無法掌控的變因。因此,「多閱讀」立意雖佳,但在台灣這個升學考試導向的社會,授課時數受限,科目間互相排擠,本位主義盛行,學生家長社會經濟地位有明顯落差,加上其他種種沒有點明的因素,這樣的美好立論,在大多數的情況下,恐怕是窒礙難行了!

也是,我們可能都是在瞎子摸象,各有各的觀點,也各有各的盲點。拼湊一下,隨無法窺得全豹,但也能理出個大概的樣子吧!

Anonymous said...

Dear Hugo

Thank you so much for your reply.
I cannot agree with you more.
By the way, those who subscribe to Krashen’s newsletter (http://www.sdkrashen.com/ ) will get his comments on some issues related to language education regularly. I joined Krashen’s newsletter after attending his seminar in ETA several years ago. That’s why I can read his latest reply to the article in Taipei Times (Teachers lament poor scores in English). I hope you are keeping very well!

Regards
Chao-ling

Anonymous said...

I agree that" you have to read many interesting and comprehensible reading materials in English " to improve the writing. Fortunatelly, graded readers are very popular among elementary students in Taiwan now. What our test-oreiented junior and senior high students need most is extensive reading to get the fluency in writing and to develop contextualized vocabulary, not just spelling. This is another issue about "fluency vs accuracy". which one comes first during which stage?

Some educators whose fields are not TESOL related should be reserved about their opinions to avoid misleading students.