台湾小学英语测验报名十年激增，GEPT注册突破千万人；越早考越受关注，也引发对公平与压力的讨论。
By Rachel Lin, Yang Mien-chieh and Jake Chung / Staff reporters, with staff writerEnglish test participation at elementary schools has surged over the past decade, test administrator Language Training and Testing Center （LTTC） said.請繼續往下閱讀…Since the introduction of an elementary-school-level English test in 2015, registrations for the General English Proficiency Test （GEPT, 全民英檢） have surpassed 10 million, with the number of elementary-school students taking the test rising more than 30 percent over the past decade, it
said.LTTC official Wu Yi-fen （吳怡芬） attributed part of the rise to the 2019 national syllabus, which has designated GEPT test results as a “general indicator” of learning results.Chun Shin Co （忠欣公司）, which hosts one of the testing sites for Test of English as a Foreign Language （TOEFL） exams, said last year’s statistics showed that test takers had an average score of 64, with about half of them at the Common European Framework of Reference for
Languages A2 level, adding that the students were capable of carrying out basic conversations in English.The TOEFL Primary and TOEFL Junior tests are aimed at children younger than eight and teenagers aged 11 to 15, offering an internationally recognized measure of English proficiency, it added.However, the trend of lowering the age for English exams has also sparked debate.National Federation of Teachers’ Unions president Hou Chun-liang （侯俊良） said focusing on the English proficiency test deprived elementary-school
students of time to explore diverse subjects and interests, contradicting the basic spirit of the national syllabus, which centers education on students.Parents were divided on the subject as well.Action Alliance on Basic Education president Wang Han-yang （王瀚陽） said the rising popularity of elementary-school-level English tests reflects parents’ concerns over bilingual education policies and academic competition.Wang cautioned against placing additional pressure on young children through early testing and certification, urging a focus on cultivating their interest
and confidence in using English.Others said taking the test early would allow parents to more accurately gauge their children’s proficiency, while some acknowledged that peer pressure and academic competition often lead parents to feel that “if other kids are taking it, my child has to take it, too.”K-12 Education Administration official Chang Yan-kai （張硯凱） said the Ministry of Education has a free online proficiency test that allows test takers to see their proficiency immediately, adding
that the system also provides performance analysis.Meanwhile, Ministry of Examination Deputy Minister Liu Yueh-lan （劉約蘭） said that including an English proficiency test result as part of the state examination criteria has reduced the number of test takers while improving overall test takers’ quality.Policies would continue to be fine-tuned to balance fairness in examinations with the ability of qualified people, she said.Soochow University Department of Political Science professor Wang Mao （王貿） in a paper published on
the Examination Yuan’s Web site said that while setting an English proficiency score criterion for the public service exam helped raise the bar for test taker quality, it also increased the potential cost for test takers, and increased barriers for some groups due to resources needed.The system can “screen” and “exclude” students, he said, adding that it could hamper chances of people from disadvantaged backgrounds and raise concerns about exam fairness.Such criteria should be applied
based on the job, so that examination fairness would not suffer and disadvantaged groups would not be barred from the examinations, Wang said.新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
GEPT全民英檢, 小学英语测验, TOEFL Primary, CEFR A2, 教育公平争议, 双语教育