Freshman English is a first-year required course. The goal of the course is primarily to improve the proficiency of students in communicative language skills with an emphasis on speaking and writing. A functional, notional approach is taken to planning objectives to help students gain confidence in using English in social interactions. Therefore, active participation in the class is a prerequisite for successful completion. A variety of activities are used throughout the year including dialogues, role-plays, pair work, small group projects and whole class discussions. The syllabus includes a general review of grammar and many class activities attempt to integrate these grammar components. Therefore, students are given the opportunity to apply the rules to real-life situations that they might encounter in an English-speaking country. Teachers encourage students to monitor their grammar usage while improving their level of fluency.

Freshman English for Non- Majors (FENM) is a required course for the majority of freshmen at Tunghai University. This course is intended as a general four skills (namely, listening, speaking, reading, and writing) integrated English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) course emphasizing English fluency in general contexts, i.e., English use for general purposes. Thereby, the course is designed to help students use their existing general knowledge about themselves and about the world along with the knowledge of the English language they have acquired to enhance their general English proficiency and enrich their personal background knowledge by using English to learn and communicate. Specifically, the FENM course maximizes students’ opportunities to use English in a wide variety of contexts both in and outside class. Furthermore, it provides an atmosphere that will increase students’ participation and confidence in a non-threatening, whole-English learning environment and that will facilitate students’ acquisition of new knowledge and skills of the English language and new knowledge about the world.

Reading: Real Reading 3, Reading for Speed and Fluency, The Secret Garden (Oxford Bookworm Stage 3), A Christmas Carol (Oxford Bookworm Stage 3), The Star Zoo (Oxford Bookworm Stage 3), The Call of the Wild (Oxford Bookworm Stage 3)

Listening and oral: Sounds Good: On Track to Listening Success Book 4