many people fail to speak English effortlessly despite years of study? What
is wrong with English education?
The first and most obvious problem I found with schools was the way in
which they teach English. Most schools, everywhere in the world, use the
grammar translation method. As the name implies, the focus of this method
is on grammar analysis and the memorization of translated vocabulary. This
method breaks English into an endless series of grammar formulas to
memorize. Of course, each grammar formula has exceptions and these must
be memorized too.
Schools like the grammar translation method because it appears to be
serious, academic and complex. The grammar translation method fits the
way schools teach most subjects — with textbooks, lectures, notes,
memorization, and tests. The only problem, as you know, is that it doesn’t
work. In real conversations, there simply is no time to think about grammar
formulas and their exceptions. The failure rate for this method, therefore, is
absolutely horrible. Despite the failure of most students to speak English
fluently, schools continue to use this method. This is an epic failure of our
education system.
Recently, because students find the grammar translation method so
boring, some schools have added “communication activities” to their
curriculum. Occasionally, the teacher puts the students into pairs or groups.
The students then read or repeat dialogues from a textbook. Sometimes they
might answer a few questions from a worksheet. Of course, these activities
are unnatural, nothing like real English conversation. Consequently, the
failure rate of “communication activities” is just as bad as grammar
translation.
Obviously the English teaching methods used in schools do not work.
That was easy to see. I knew it. The students knew it. And many teachers
know it too, though few will admit it.
However, as I continued to investigate the problem with schools, I found
even deeper problems in the education system. These problems are less
obvious, but in many ways far more damaging to the students. I call these
