On The Indigenous Language Education Of Taiwan

Taiwan is a multi-ethnic region in which many indigenous peoples have formed multi-ethnic culture and language for a long time.Unfortunately,due to the political power and language policies in Taiwan,its indigenous languages have suffered a development crisis,and many of them are on the verge of extinction.Since the 1970 s,influenced by the multiculturalism and the international politics,the Taiwan region has begun to adjust its language policies of indigenous people,emphasizing the protection and promotion of diversified civilization.Based on this background,this dissertation attempts to investigate and analyze the practical actions and effects of these policies in Taiwan.Firstly,through the analysis of policy texts,the historical context of indigenous language policies in Taiwan in different historical periods is sorted out and reviewed,and the basic process and content of indigenous language policies are integrated and analyzed.Secondly,the implementation and effect of indigenous language education policies in three different types of schools were investigated through field investigation.This study has the following discoveries:First,there are about 550,000 indigenous people in Taiwan,accounting for about2% of the total population of Taiwan.Most of them live in mountainous areas.The number of aboriginal students has reached 136,371,accounting for 3.05% of the total number of students.While there had been a slight increase in the frequency of indigenous language conversations among students since 2013,it remained low.About half of the indigenous students felt that using indigenous language was difficult to communicate with others,so that they lacked interest in learning the language.In terms of language use,students were weak in listening,speaking and singing praises.The number of indigenous students who had been certified by the national language at the secondary level was also decreasing year by year.Secondly,to effectively protect the endangered indigenous languages,the Taiwan region has formed a diverse system of policies.Taiwan’s “Ministry of Education” and the Indigenous Committee take the main responsibility of policy making.In addition,the Indigenous Education Act and Indigenous Languages Development Act were established as the signature documents which triggered serious policies including the curriculum planning,teacher training,textbook editing,language certification and so forth.Lastly,the action path of indigenous language policy was optimized,with more emphasis on promoting and deepening through the school systemThirdly,according to this serious policy planning,local schools in the Taiwan region have formulated corresponding policy implementation plans and got certain achievement.In terms of curriculum arrangement,the Taiwan region has stipulated certain number of hours of indigenous language courses in the nine-year curriculum plan and the 12-year compulsory education.For the selection and training of indigenous teachers,the certification system of indigenous language competence has been established as well as special training programs.What’s more,ninth-level teaching materials of indigenous languages has been comilated.In addition,the school has set the Day of Indigenous Lauguage and many other language activities to develop their language learning environment.With the help of special language assessment and authentication mechanism,school could diagnose and promote students’ language learning.Teachers have adjusted teaching methods for different student groups,taking the collaborative demonstration of language teachers,introducing in-depth tribal culture and life experience and so on.Fourthly,the implementation of policies faces problems.To begins with,the integration of resource in school administration is hard.In terms of teachers,the situation of the aging teachers bring in the age fault of people resources.In course implementation,it is difficult to unify textbooks.While it is difficult to arouse the recognition and initiative of parents and create a ideal atmosphere of community support.For the subsequent policy revision and development,it is necessary to enhance the initiative and self-determination of relevant subjects,as well as improve the system of curriculum and teacher according to basic logic of language survival and development.Also,it is vital to make supporting measures such as striving for social and cultural support,increasing relevant investment,and building a language education community of family-school-community.