The Southeast Asian languages policy in Taiwan: the linguistic and nonlinguistic goals

Abstract

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study is to examine the linguistic and non-linguistic goals of the Southeast Asian languages (SEAL) policy in Taiwan. It was proposed by former President Ma Ying-jeou’s administration to develop grades 1–12 students’ multilingual awareness, for there has been an increasingly significant presence of second-generation Southeast Asian immigrants at school. Since current President Tsai In-Wen’s first-term in 2016, the SEAL policy has been fuelled with an economic and sociopolitical agenda – the New Southbound Policy, the measure which is designed to advance the nation’s prospects in Southeast Asia. This study applies Cooper’s [1989. Language Planning and Social Change. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press] language policy as marketing and analyses the instrumentalist value of the SEAL. The Tsai government is conceptualised as a marketer; the SEAL are defined as the product; the Ministry of Education is assigned to the place as a hub which distributes the SEAL product to nationwide consumers; promotion piques the consumers’ interest in SEAL learning; price is set by making one’s profit gains larger than the sum of investment. The study concludes that the value of the SEAL product increases when its communication network is expanded from local immigrant communities and national school systems to an international business area.