Attitudes toward the new English policy in Taiwan

Abstract

<p>English has become the most important and commonly used international language. Learning English is not only a task for those who live in English-speaking countries, but also for those who may never travel or live in an English-speaking country. Currently, many human activities (i.e. music, politics, economics) rely on English to bridge the language differences between people. One key area for English use is in early education in non-English speaking countries such as Taiwan. Beginning in 1997, the education system in Taiwan has gone through major changes. One of the major changes is the Grade 1-9 Curriculum Alignment. The plan is to make the elementary education and junior high education more relevant to each other. The entire education reform is confusing and complicated to many Taiwanese. Therefore, it leads to many public debates when the Ministry of Education (MOE) first presented the education reform. Among all the changes in the education reform, the change to elementary English education has received the most attention from the public since its implementation in 2001. The two research questions in this study are: 1. Do key stakeholders (educational administrators, Mandarin and English teachers and parents of 5th and 6th graders) believe the change in English language policy will be positive for improving the English abilities of Taiwanese students? 2. Do the stakeholders see the advantages of the new English policy as influencing linguistic and cultural change in Taiwanese society? This research investigated the attitudes of educational administrators, Mandarin teachers, English teachers and parents of the 5th and 6th graders towards the new elementary English education policies. The results show that most stakeholders are positive about the effectiveness of early English education, although they think the policy is poorly planned. However, most stakeholders are not certain whether they believe the policy will influence long-term linguistic and cultural change in Taiwanese society.</p>