I agree that starting younger is not the solution, particularly if current methods and attitudes prevail in this country. I also agree that ‘how’ grammar is taught needs to be changed. The latter is the easiest to solve. Regardless of the methods used to teach English grammar, English grammar needs to be taught in English.

It seems to me that the focus on teaching grammar stems not from its effectiveness in improving students’ language ability, but from the convenience it gives to the teacher. Teachers use grammar as a concrete, math-like system which they can endlessly discuss with their students and each other in Chinese. Therefore, there’s no need to use English in the classroom at all!

Regardless of methods used in the classroom, there are some fundamentals about language acquisition that cannot be questioned. As Steven Krashen and others have written in this newspaper, myriad academic journals and many books ‘language is acquired by comprehensible input’ and the more the better. Students in Taiwan rarely get comprehensible English input in the classroom, let alone outside of it.

Serious learners of English may wish to start improving their proficiency by reading this newspaper, English magazines and books, or the billions of pages of English available at the push of the button on the Internet. Do it every day and you will quickly improve. Don’t depend on your teachers. If more learners do this, the teachers will have to catch up. Language is power.

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