There were about 200 students participating in the English remedial classes in the second semester, 2007 academic year. According to the statistics of the satisfaction questionnaire done by 192 participants, 98 percents of the students like the English remedial course, with 98.5 percents thinking that taking the course help them a lot to get higher grades, and 94.8 percents of the participants are willing to recommend others to attend the course. The English remedial teaching project is continued in this semester. Apart from freshmen, the sophomores are also welcomed to join the class.
Dr. Chen Kan-nan, Vice President for Academic Affairs, indicated that the purpose of remedial courses is not only to improve students’ English grades, but also to increase students’ interests in learning, and help them promote their English level consciously, no matter in reading, speaking , or writing abilities, which are the basic skills they should have to apply a job. “Last year we provided the English remedial course for the first time, which gained a good feedback. Since the participants last year had a great improvement, we decide to recruit sophomores this year, and I’m sure that there will be a good result, too,” said Dr. Wang Ai-ling, Assistant Professor of English Dept., who takes charge of this project.
Most students think that the course was taught with a lot of efforts, and the ways of teaching were also very lively and diverse. For instance, the teachers would use movies and English songs to teach English. The daily-life material and pleasant atmosphere created a pressure-free environment, which attracts students’ attention and inspires their learning interests immediately.
Some students pointed out that the 3-hour, twice-a-week course is too much, while others hoped that there could be more options of schedule to choose from. Responding to these questions, Dr. Wang expressed that this year, the English department has changed the 3-hour course into 2-hour. As for the students who cannot join the course because of the conflict of time, Dr. Wang said that they can go to the Office of English Dept. and suggest their ideal time section to the assistant, who will try to arrange the time for the course.
Lin Tsung-wei, a sophomore of Dept. of Insurance, indicated that because of the remedial teaching, he made progress and got about 30 points more in the final exam than that in the mid-term. He said, “The English song teaching is very lively and relaxing, which can inspire my learning interests, and I like it very much!” Li Chun-hui, a sophomore of Dept. of Industrial Economics, expressed that although his final grade was improved, he still failed at the end for his mid-term grade is too bad. “However, I really learned a lot from the course. The most important of all, it changed my way of studying,” said Li. He stated that he improved a lot in English vocabularies and grammars, and his grade in English II has without doubt bettered. No wonder Le said, “I am really grateful to the teachers of remedial course.”
In Dr. Chen Kan-nan’s opinion, bad English grades make students shrink away from further studying. By setting the class size to be within 20 students, the English remedial class entitles the participants with more chances to get in touch with English. “The remedial teaching is not a cram school. Apart from inspiring students’ learning interests, it should stimulate their motivation of learning English,” Dr. Chen said.
Since English ability is a prerequisite in work field, the school authority spares no effort to create English learning environment. Besides extending the required English course from one year to two, it also sets up “Language Learning and Association” Zones” (B1 of Foreign Language Building) and “Situational Language Lab” (T307). Moreover, students are encouraged to take part in English language tests, language exchange with foreign students in TKU, and join the junior abroad program. English ability cannot be attained in one step. Just like the cultivation of other abilities, anyone who wants to improve his or her English ability needs to learn continually and grasp any chance of learning.
According to the regulation of this project, freshmen and sophomore whose average English grades last semester are below 40 are forced to join the remedial courses. Students who want to pursue further improvement can also attend the course. Different materials will be used in freshmen class and sophomore class. The different time sections of the class are every Monday and Wednesday, 2:10 PM to 4PM, every Monday and Wednesday, 6:10 PM to 8PM, and every Tuesday and Thursday, 6:10 PM to 8PM. People who need to know more information please contact the Office of English Dept. (FL207). ( ~ Shu-chun Yen )
