Interdisciplinary studies on the evolution of senior high school English education in postwar Taiwan and the relevance to Japan's system

Abstract

In recent years in Japan, there has been an urgent need to develop logical, critical thinking, and communication skills in Japanese English education. While there has long been considerable research on Japan’s English language education system and that of other East Asian nations, there has been less information available on the English education system in Taiwan. Despite similarities between the English education systems in Japan and Taiwan, there is less data on the Taiwanese system, which makes it difficult to draw comparisons between the two. This is the research focus of Professor Seiko Hirai, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Kitasato University, Japan. Hirai is interested in English education, with a particular focus on Taiwan, and her research also explores cognitive perspectives of bilingualism. Hirai has been investigating the English education situation in Taiwan, with a focus on Taiwanese English textbooks. Hirai’s findings indicate that, as demonstrated by the Taiwanese English education situation, it is possible to develop communicative skills in tandem with critical thinking skills and that these are not mutually exclusive. Her studies also suggest that literature materials used in Taiwanese English textbooks are useful for developing these skills, and for deepening the level and type of intellectual exposure to English in its many forms. There is some consensus in the literature that acquiring reading and writing abilities in one language helps with the acquisition of reading and writing abilities in other languages and that this could possibly also improve higher thinking processes. Hiraiâ–™s research on the cognitive perspectives of bilingualism is ongoing but she is eager to promote the improvement of communicative-based language development learning in Japanese school environments. She intends to collaborate with other researchers to explore how to improve Japanese English textbooks by using knowledge gained from her research on the Taiwanese system as well as research on other East Asian nations.