1. At remote area but with international administration

     Our school is in the remote area of central Taiwan, but we are not bound as regional university. However, we pursuit of excellence and attend international events to become an international university. Therefore, we emphasize the importance of foreign language with our teaching to cultivate professional elite with technology and humanities and attract more international students. To match with our administrative development, we enhance our students’ foreign language ability to be more competitive, achieve the English proficiency certification of “1+4 project”(Appendix IV) and reach internationalization.(1+4: diploma, language proficiency certificate, professional ability certificate, computer-ability certificate, and association participation certificate.) Students can apply the scholarship according to each kind of certificate.

2. Placement of freshmen English course and unify the teaching material

    Our school starts the Placement of freshmen English course for trial since 2003 academic year to avoid big class. According to the grades of General Scholastic Ability Test, Language Center implement the placement for “Vocabulary and Reading” course and “Oral-Aural Training in English” course which are divided into four groups based on four time-slices: College of Management, College of Engineering A+ College of Humanities and Applied Science, College of Engineering B, and College of Design. Then, each of the four groups has three sub-groups which are A, B, and C. (Figure 1), and the materials and the extra reading are chosen by the teachers based on different level.

　　(1)This plan was officially established since 2005 academic year. The placement was based on the English scores of the entrance Exam.

　　(2)Repeater is placed in A or B according to his/her will. 

　　(3)Engineering Elite Program and Program of International Project Management are not included for the placement. The materials are chosen from level C by teacher.(Figure 2)

(Table 1) 2011 academic year: Placement of English course for freshmen

(Table 2) 2011 academic year: List for textbook- “Oral-Aural Training in English”

3. The scores of English proficiency simulate test show that students’  English proficiency level are commonly low.

    To know the English proficiency level of our students and take it as the reference, we execute To know the English proficiency level of our students and take it as the reference, we execute the on-line simulate GEPT test ( Intermediate-first round) for the freshmen since 2002 academic year. From 2009 academic year, we changed into New TOEIC as the online simulate test which can make our teacher know about students learning. The grades of listening and reading simulate test from 2005 to 2011 academic year are showed below. (Figure 3) According to Figure 3 and Figure 4, Freshmens’ English proficiency improves gradually year by year, but they are still behind the school’s standard. Moreover, this shows that students are still lack of basic skills.

(Table 3) Score and pass rate of Online simulate test from 2005 to 2011 academic year

4. The numbers of participating in English proficiency test and pass rate have increased annually. 

(1)The number of whole students is 9365 in 2008 academic year. Among the whole students, there are 1524 students who joined the English proficiency test, and there are 1222 students who pass the elementary level (CEFA2 above). The pass rate is 80.18%. The percentage of students who pass the elementary level is 13.05% among the whole school students. 

(2) The number of whole students is 9519 in 2009 academic year. Among the wholestudents, here are 3151 students who joined the English proficiency test, and there are 2304 students who pass the elementary level (CEFA2 above). The pass rate is 73.12%. The percentage of students who pass the elementary level is 24.20% among the whole school students. 

(3) The number of whole students is 9764 in 2010 academic year. Among the whole students, there are 4709 students who joined the English proficiency test, and there are3789 students who pass the elementary level (CEFA2 above). The pass rate is 80.46%. The percentage of students who pass the elementary level is 38.81% among the whole school students. 

(4) The number of whole students is 9856 in 2011 academic year. Among the whole students, there are 4599 students who joined the English proficiency test, and there are 4184 students who pass the elementary level (CEFA2 above). The pass rate is 90.98%. The percentage of students who pass the elementary level is 42.45% (including the Department of Foreign Language) among the whole school students. “Yuntech: Implementation of requirements for University students’ English proficiency” was officially carried out in 2007 academic year. Our school actively encouraged the students to sign up the English Proficiency test. The number of students who sign up for the English proficiency test has increased rapidly, as can be seen in Table5.  

5. To Establish theSign up system for English proficiency test to provide the statistics of result correctly.

   To carry out the “Yuntech: Implementation of requirements for University students’ English proficiency”, Information Technology Services Center invented the Sign up system for English proficiency test in 2007 academic year. After joining the English proficiency test, the students need to upload the test result. Then, the students who pass the standard can graduate after their test result is verified by their department. The students who do not pass can take the course: English Enhancement. Students who take the “English Enhancement” need to (1) join the English proficiency test (2) upload the test result (3) be verified by the assistant in the department (4) select the course (5) pass the course to graduate. The Sign up system for English proficiency test can sum up how many times the students join the English proficiency test and understand students’ proficiency level. The Sign up system for English proficiency test can be seen in Table 6. 

(Table 6)  The Sign up system for English proficiency test

6. To open the English Elite Program

   Since 2009 academic year, the recruiting affair for English Elite Program (Appendix III) has shifted to Language Center. This program is the other way for students from other departments who are interested in English and have better English proficiency. The total credits are 20 credits. Students who finish the program can get the certificate of English Elite Program. For students who do not finish the program, the credits can be counted as the graduated credits for other department. According to Table 7, the original name of this program is “English Program” which cannot attract the students who have better proficiency level. Also, the number of students who join the program decreased annually. In addition, because of the lack of people, the course cannot open. To attract the students who have better proficiency level to join the program, we develop the feature of English Elite Program to meet the needs of the students. Moreover, this program has the English courses related to job field to raise the ability of the students in professional field.

(Table 7)  Number of attending English Elite Program from 2005 to 2011 academic year

(Table 8)  Curriculum of English Elite Program

7. English remedial teaching

    Since 1999 academic year, our school started carrying out English remedial teaching by Department of Foreign Language and the Language Center. English remedial teaching is conducted through the small class. The teachers are the graduate students from Department of Foreign Language who are trained by Dr. Yu-Fen Yang. English remedial teaching makes the students from other department who are not so good at English retrieve their confidence and keep up with other students. To understand the proficiency level of the students, we conduct the pre-test, and then design the remedial course content. After finishing the course, we then conduct the post-test to evaluate whether the students improve or not. Then, the students who have reached the standard of improvement can join the plan of studying on their own, and the students who have not reached the standard can participant the English remedial teaching continually. The procedure can be seen in Figure 1. English remedial teaching is free and the credits are not counted. The course is opened according to the number of participants, so the number of students is different in each semester. The number of participants can be seen in Table 9.

Figure 1：Flow chart of English remedial teaching

(Table 9)  Number of attending remedial teaching from 2005 to 2011 academic year

8. To hold every kinds of contests and activities regularly

    Language Center holds the English Speech Contest, Listening Contest, Dictionary Usage Contest, English Recitation Contest, Story Telling Contest, and English Songs Contest to improve students’ motivation in learning English. By holding every kind of English contests, activities, students can have more chances to practice and improve their learning energy to gain the confidence of getting certificate. The students are also encouraged to participate in the contests outside the school.  

(Table 10)  English contest and activity from 2005 to 2011 academic year

9. English Computer-supported Language Learning course