Simultaneous Promotion of Indigenisation and Internationalisation: New Language-in-education Policy in Taiwan

Abstract

The indigenisation and internationalisation of Taiwan emerged as issues of national concern as a result of the democratisation of politics in the late 1980s which profoundly changed the sociopolitical and economic climate. One manifestation of these changes was ‘new’ language-in-education policies. These were the Local- Language-in-Education (LLE) policy to revitalise dying local languages and promote ‘de-Chinaisation’ and ‘Taiwan identity’, and the English Education (EE) policy to develop English communicative proficiency in order for Taiwanese to be competitive in the globalised world. This simultaneous indigenisation and internationalisation was aimed at promoting linguistic pluralism and bilingualism in Taiwan. This study argues that the EE policy was more systematically and thoroughly planned by the central government, and subsequently more vigorously implemented by all parties concerned (e.g. central and local governments, schools, teachers, textbook publishers), than was the LLE policy. In terms of language acquisition, the EE policy implementation seems to have been more effective than the LLE policy. The study identifies a set of logistic situations (the lack of standardisation of local languages, the lack of prior resources and practice, and publishers’ reluctance to produce textbooks in LL) as factors leading to the differences. More importantly, it finds that there were different levels and types of motivation on the part of parties concerned (national and local governments, schools, parents and students) to learn and promote local languages. This was influenced by the perceived lower status of local languages, which derived from their limited pragmatic and instrumental functions. However, although the LLE policy was less effective in language maintenance, it assisted in developing a new ‘Taiwan identity’ across ethnic linguistic boundaries.