Category: Language Education

Asia Language education in 2020 is still in a mire, all the more so when everything seems to be much more efficient through technology. The major problem is that teachers keep busy lecturing at the blackboard, while students listen altogether to the same things in the classroom. Individuals are treated as a group, rather than as a single person.

最近看到有老師分享學測翻譯題：「飼養寵物不是一項短暫的人生體驗，而是一個對動物的終生承諾」，竟然寫成：「Pet ownership is not a fleeting life experience but involves a lifetime commitment to the animal」。可以理解，英語老師當然希望用最棒最美的英文來呈現，然而我反對這樣嚇死學生。

怎麼會，以「理解活動」為核心廣泛閱讀教學法，不應該使用「理解測驗」？Krashen 回答到  “this is counter to the ideas underlying extensive reading” (Wang, 2013).

Krashen 在 2003 曾說：“Free voluntary reading [extensive reading] may be the most powerful tool we have in language education. In fact, it appears to be too good to be true… with a strong impact on reading, comprehension, vocabulary, grammar, and writing” (p. 15) 然而，廣泛閱讀的有用性，在亞洲廣泛地被老師和大眾質疑，尤其是台灣。他們認為，廣泛閱讀不足以幫助學習者在「考試導向」並且高度競爭的教育制度下存活。換句話說，重要的不止是有效，更要有效率才行！針對這個看法，其實已有相當多的研究成果支持廣泛閱讀及視聽，整理如下。