Confucius confounded: On the implications of being Taiwanese, doing teacher-training in the United States, and teaching English as a Foreign Language in Taiwan at the millennium (China)

Taiwanese English as a Second Language (EFL) teacher-trainees come to the United States to improve their English and to learn American culture and new teaching methods. In order to be successful, they must not only be able to succeed in their coursework, but also have a meaningful “American experience” outside the classroom and be able to bring home with them ideas which they are willing to try to implement and which the Taiwanese educational system and culture are willing to accept. How much can these teacher-trainees profit, in their limited time in the United States, from an education (in both the school and cultural senses) which is so at variance with so much of their prior experience, and where that prior experience has created for them preconceptions, misconceptions, and expectations for their American experience which are so at odds with American education and culture as they really are? To what extent do the changes now taking place in Taiwan—and the fact that much of this change is American-influenced—factor into this mix?; An ethnographic study was undertaken. Twenty-two Taiwanese women were interviewed. Four had just begun their American graduate study in teaching EFL. Four were nearing their master's degree. Seven had already graduated, returned home, and begun teaching. Seven, though not EFL teacher-trainees, were typical of the students who might enter such a program. The interviews attempted to ascertain the informants, sense of who they are and where they come from, culturally and educationally, what they hope to accomplish or have accomplished, and any problems they have encountered along the way.; It was found that the informants, though often extremely perceptive about aspects of their education and experience, rarely were able to make more than superficial sense of their meaning: they could see what had happened but not why; what they wanted to happen but not why it could not or did not happen; they could more or less satisfactorily describe the respective cultures (Chinese, American, and, to the extent that it is different from Chinese, Taiwanese) but not always make sense of how a culture's integrity shapes life, limits possibilities, and provides a perhaps necessary anchor or worldview for its people. The enormous influence of American culture on Taiwan has serious implications for how and what the informants and other EFL teachers will teach, what Taiwanese culture will become, and the extent to which the Taiwanese will be able to exercise conscious control over their destiny. These findings may apply, too, to many other cultures.