ETAROC – Is it now useless?

English Teachers Association considers hurdles for Taiwan

The English Teachers’ Association of the Republic of China (ETA-ROC) yesterday completed its annual conference, a three-day program that struck a bleak tone.

Sentiment at the 2012 International Symposium and Book Fair on English was less one of excitement and more that of concern, with Taiwan’s position in an unstable and challenging world taking prime focus.

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Few comments here mentioned how ETAROC has largely become irrelevant outside the universities. With papers that are really specialist and only for university professors, most teachers who attend ETAROC find the programs fail to address the issues they face in their classes: rigid exams, unmotivated students, tons of grammar & vocab teaching, little actual use or training in English. It’s hardly surprising that when faced with this, that ETAROC’s actual powerlessness (dare I say, toothless tiger syndrome) is exposed much as the emperor’s clothes were.