How it Works?

The General English Curriculum (GEC) is an undergraduate, university-wide, two-year English language curriculum led by the Department of English. The GEC consists of a series of courses that are designed to help students improve their English skills in listening, speaking, reading, and writing and prepare them for their graduation English requirement. The GEC is required of all undergraduate students in their freshman and sophomore years unless the student has successfully waived it.

Typically, students are enrolled in GEC classes based on their English proficiency, determined by taking the joint exam when they first enter Taipei Tech and during the semester. Transfer students and students who do not have the necessary GEC credits have different ways of enrolling in the GEC classes. 

The freshman GEC course is named “English Communication and Application, (ECA Courses),” and each major-based freshman class (i.e. the fresh mechanical engineering class, the fresh architecture class, etc...) is attached with one “ECA Courses” course but with different difficulty. Students are assigned to the “ECA Courses” course that is most suitable to their English proficiency. This means a mechanical engineering student may or may not be taking the “ECA Courses” course attached to his major-based class. The only exception to this rule is the English major students, who always take the “ECA Courses” course within their department.

The sophomore GEC course is named “English for Specific Purposes, (ESP Course)” and it functions basically the same as the freshman course. One exception is that, starting in Fall 2016 (Academic Year 105), each “ESP Course,” in addition to varying difficulty, also has varying topics. Students need to pick a topic of their interest offered in their English proficiency level.

In addition to the required freshman and sophomore courses, the GEC also offers topic-based and career-oriented English training courses to juniors and seniors starting in Fall 2015. The credits obtained through these English courses are recognized as graduation credits by most of other departments, except for the Department of English. These courses are offered by the Office of Academics on the course system.

Graduation Requirement

The General English Curriculum (GEC) is a university-wide, two-year English language curriculum led by the Department of English. The GEC consists of a series of courses that are designed to help students improve their English skills in listening, speaking, reading, and writing and prepare them for their graduation English requirement.

Regulated by the Office of Academic Affairs, all undergraduate students must have either passed one of the standardized English exam requirements or passed the Career English course before being qualified for graduation. Department of English students adapt another set of English skill requirements for graduation.

Enrollment & Placement

To determine student's English proficiency, freshman students take an English placement test during their orientation. The class placement for sophomore students is determined by the joint final exam grade in the second semester of their freshman year. The class placement remains the same throughout the academic year (i.e. two semesters). Students therefore are recommended against guessing answers on their tests as it might cause them to be placed in a higher level class that they can't handle.

Joint Exam

Students who are enrolled in a GEC course need to take the joint midterm exam as it accounts for 20% of the final grade. The joint midterm exam is normally scheduled at 10:00am on the Tuesday of the midterm exam week (9^th week of a semester).

Waiving Policy

Please refer to the Office of Academic Affairs website and look for the full regulation and application form on waiving general English curriculum courses.