explicit template qualifier

[kakalake]

Hello!
How can i use the following function in the following class?

class test
{
public:
      template<class T>
             T testFunc();
};

I tried to invoke the function like this:
test t;
1) t.testFunc();
2) t.testFunc<char>();
3) t.template testFunc<char>();

Everytime i tried to invoke the function testFunc in one of the 3 ways i get an error. Why ?
I am asking this in refer to the class bitset. I tried to use the to_string function and tried to call it in this way:

bitSet.to_string<std::string::value_type, ....>();

But it doesn´t work.
Could someone help me?

I am using Vc++6.0 and the stlport4.5.3 library.

Thanks in advance...