What Else after "How are you?"-Reflections on Methodologies of English Teaching in Taiwan

在“你好嗎？”之後呢－對臺灣在英語教學法的省思

吳文舜(Wen-Shuenn Wu)

《教育暨外國語文學報》 2期 (2005/12) Pp. 71-81

https://doi.org/10.6372/JEFLL.200512.0071

摘要

對在臺灣大專院校教授英語超過10年以上的老師而言，應該都有一個共同的體驗，就是大學生的英語溝通能力和流利度都快速下滑。或者從統計數據來看，學生在語言成就的表現而言，充其量是呈現「雙峰現象」。20年前左右，臺灣英語教學幾乎都以「文法翻譯法」(Grammar-Translation Method)為主的時候，當時培養訓練出來的學生無法講出流利的英語和寫出順暢的英文是可以理解的。然而，以有效溝通為主而並不強調語言外在形式的「溝通語言教學法」(Communicative Language Teaching)在臺灣也已經盛行10年以上，但是似乎教學成果還不是很有效。此外，越來越多的語言學校或補習班提供學生優良的語言學習環境，或者至少給學生更多和外籍老師溝通互動的機會。然而，大多數臺灣學生在學習「溝通式」的英語數年之後，似乎依然停頓在語言學習的「沉默階段」(silent period)。此篇論文將摘要三種目前流行的英語教學法:「溝通語言教學法」(Communicative Language Teaching)、「自然教學法」(The Natural Approach)、和「多元智能教學法」(Multiple Intelligences)，再討論這三種教學法所面臨的挑戰和批評。最後，以作者對臺灣英語教學現狀的省思做為結論。

關鍵字

溝通語言教學法 ； 自然教學法 ； 多元智能教學法 ； 動機

並列摘要

It seems to be a general consensus, for most English teachers who have been teaching English in university-level institutes in Taiwan for more than a decade, that students' linguistic competence or communicative proficiency has been deteriorated rapidly or at best has been shown statistically as bimodal distribution in terms of their language achievement. It is understandable that most students who received English instruction dominated by the Grammar-Translation Method about 20 years ago might not produce fluent spoken discourse and accurate written texts. However, Communicative Language Teaching (CLT), a method focused on the process of effective communication rather than the mastery of linguistic forms, has been prevalent in Taiwan in the past 10 years. It appears that the pedagogical results are not fruitful. In addition, more and more language schools or cram schools offer better English learning environments for learners or at least give students great opportunities to use English to interact with their English teachers, most of whom are native speakers of English. Nevertheless, most English learners in Taiwan seem to get stuck in their ”silent period” stage even after they have learned English ”communicatively” for a couple of years. This paper is going to first summarize the principle of three major language teaching methods-CLT, The Natural Approach, and Multiple Intelligence, followed by challenges and criticism of these methods. Finally, it will conclude with the author's personal reflection on current English teaching methods.

並列關鍵字

Communicative Language Teaching ； the Natural Approach ； Multiple Intelligences ； motivation

參考文獻

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