Taiwanese High School Students' Participation in Competitive English Debate: A Motivation and Efficacy Study

Abstract

Although students' experience of competitive forensic involvement has long been researched in the US, it is a topic yet to be explored in Taiwan. To achieve a preliminary but broad understanding of Taiwanese students' competitive English debate participation, a study was conducted which surveyed 64 high school students for their perceptions on participating in the 2007 Taipei Cicero English Debate Tournament. Among other findings, the study showed that like their American counterparts, Taiwanese debaters deemed educational needs followed by competitive and personal needs as incentives to participate in the competitive debate. In addition to improved English skills, Taiwanese debaters also considered enhancement of communication/public speaking, critical/analytical thinking, and debating/argumentation skills as the major benefits, and time-related factors as the chief cost of debate involvement. Over all, the findings of the study spoke powerfully for the educational values of competitive English debate involvement for Taiwanese high school students.