Maybe they can read, but they sure cannot write without the aid of a test or something related to what they momorized and I have to agree with Glenski as I also have experienced it first hand. It is rare to find a decent written paper or short essay from a high school or even a college student unless they are hellbent on learning the language and just not going through the rote motions.
Taken out-of-context, this phrase could easily apply to American college students.
Good writing is hard to find nowadays. Teachers are trying to make kids write like cheap
Time or
Newsweek journalists. All my foreign students' essays read in this monotonous, formulaic style, and it drives me insane. The grammar mistakes that go hand-in-hand with learning English, I can cope with. But the standard 5-paragraph pattern, the obligatory "hook" at the beginning, these things are mind-numbing. I try to suggest my students read good essayists, and have been trying to find some skilled writers that they can emulate without being too challenged.
Teachers are part of the problem, and I'm not just speaking about the guys/gals doing the work in Japan. I'm also talking about the people who get MAs in TESOL at my university--they are indoctrinated with a variety of teaching methods that are somewhat contradictory. A linguistics grad student and friend of mine can't help but shudder when he hears about their language acquisition methods. Furthermore, since their TESOL certifications are given through a branch of the university Education Department, they are subjected to the standard Educratese brainwashing that all teachers have to go through. It isn't the teachers themselves, but how
they have been trained, that is part of the problem. (But that isn't necessarily talking about the teachers
in Japan.)
Finally, as Derfel said, the students need to be motivated. And believe me, motivation can go a long way. I've taught myself how to read Latin and French without any classes, and I'm actually quite good at it. However, because I have never practiced conversation (at least, not since high school), I cannot understand French at all when it is spoken, nor can I write in it. Some things, you simply need the interaction to acquire. You cannot learn a language solely from a book. Dead languages, that's fine, but to actually learn a tongue but not be able to speak it kind of defeats one of the reasons to learn in the first place. Motivation and practice are both required.
