The MOE certificates have nothing to do with teaching excellence (or lack thereof). They are simply a marker of rank, based on education level and whether one has (if holding a PhD) gone through the promotion process. 
Guy
You certainly know how to ruin my weekend. 
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No man, it’s not like that. My point is simply that these issues—teaching excellence (or lack thereof) and holding one of these MOE certificates—are decoupled. not linked. Nothing more, nothing less.
Guy
I know.
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One can rank as high as any in Rome.
Just make sure you differentiate the r and w sounds clearly 
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The majority of students in Taiwanese universities can’t have a simple conversation in English. However, they are pretty good at grammar and not bad at pronunciation. You very rarely get “effu” and “olangee”. That’s the garbage they learn in elementary school.
I guess the reasonable grammar comes from the rote learning system in high school, where they can conjugate verbs, but not answer simple questions like “What’s your name?”.
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This is not my experience at all. The uni I work at now has no English language entry requirements, but the majority of students can have simple conversations in English. I would say that 30% can hold a conversation at a pretty decent level.
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Maybe you teach in the higher-level classes? Mine are all basic, at best. I’m speaking about first-years, of course; it’s compulsory for them. My media studies and public relations classes are pretty good, but those are elective courses, so I suppose the illiterate are not going to join.
In terms of Freshperson English this semester I don’t have an Entry Level class. Three Intermediate and one Advanced. I’ve never had a class with the majority of students unable to make simple conversations in English.
I’m going to be brutally honest here, JP. I think you are spouting hyperbole and it simply isn’t the case.
It’s my experience, mate. Take it or leave it. The majority of my first-years can’t have a simple conversation. But then again, I teach the classes with the lowest GEPT scores.
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This varies a lot by the school and program, I think?
I’m going to split the difference. Almost all of my students are able to give intelligible responses to questions. However, the responses are often complete non-sequiters to whatever I was talking about. Are they able to express themselves? Sure. Are they able to engage in conversation? Eh, I’m not so sure.
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I’ve noticed this increasingly during the past 5 years or so. I don’t think it’s second language related.
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It’s probably the same in Chinese. A lot of the kids (and adults here) ain’t great at random conversations. They are okay with their mates and families but beyond that they could struggle.
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Yeah, during the breaks, when they’re speaking Chinese, they don’t seem to be engaging in much conversation either.
Then again many of our posts on forumosa also don’t exactly demonstrate great skill in the give-and-take of conversation.
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Maybe they are awkward young people. I remember first year university as being socially terrifying, lol
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Oh, of course they are. It’s an important part of being a university student. But I used to delight in surreptitiously watching them overcome that awkwardness and form new social networks. Now they just grab their phones instead, for a different and less thoughtful set of social networks.
It’s not just them. I think massive numbers of us are forgetting how to casually talk to people, and especially to strangers. (Myself included.)
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Other professors at my uni have commented on the “quality” of the enrolled students plunging in the last 5 years or so, but I wasn’t sure if that was specific to us or if that’s happening at many unis (enrollment dipping due to birth-rate effect, so in order to stay in business entrance tests are made easier?).
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So they also compulsively check the latest posts on forumosa? 
Guy
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This. There are fewer and fewer local students to fill roughly the same number of seats. So unless your uni is climbing, you’re getting further down the proficiency / test score pool.
Guy
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