It is almost 20 years since mother tongue education was implemented in Taiwan’s elementary schools, and teaching materials and systems have since progressed.
The Development of National Languages Act (國家語言發展法) stipulates that mother tongue education would become compulsory at junior-high and high school from next year — a giant step forward for the nation’s mother tongue instruction.
At the moment, the biggest concern is that there might be a shortage of teachers. Although there are Hoklo — also known as Taiwanese — departments at universities, not many people devote themselves to mother tongue education after they graduate. The first mother tongue instructors started teaching in elementary schools in 2002, after passing the Ministry of Education’s language proficiency test, and more entered the field later through a university certification system.
However, the mother tongue instructor job market was only able to meet the needs of elementary schools, and many instructors have quit or retired from teaching in the past two decades.
Many teachers, civil groups, community colleges and promotion centers have been working hard to offer mother tongue classes, and to encourage students to take National Taiwan Normal University’s mother tongue certificate test so that they can serve as instructors at public schools. Still, the number of students getting the certificate is insufficient to meet the demand of junior-high and high schools.
Hopefully the ministry will discuss with all Hoklo departments about providing certificate courses for Hoklo teachers, which would help meet high schools’ demand for instructors. Otherwise, many schools will find it difficult to recruit qualified teachers next year.
The ministry should therefore come up with comprehensive complementary measures before the problem arises. Should there be a shortage of teachers, it would hurt the good intention behind the Development of National Languages Act, and it would not be beneficial to mother tongue education.
How many of those who graduated from Hoklo departments in the past two decades are really able to teach Hoklo in the classroom? Some departments even closed after failing to recruit enough students.
This is a failure of mother tongue instruction in Taiwan’s higher education system. The causes of this failure must be investigated, so as to revitalize Hoklo in academia.
Besides, how many professors in the departments can truly speak correct Hoklo? Not too many. Due to unqualified teachers’ inaccurate pronunciation, some Hoklo majors have problems with pronunciation.
The most effective way to revive mother tongues is to cultivate outstanding teachers and create a comprehensive learning environment.
Graduates from the departments should be able to serve as instructors on the front line. Taiwan’s mother tongue ambitions will only succeed if the departments have a healthy structure. In the past, it was a mistake by universities to transfer professors from Chinese-language departments to newly established Hoklo departments.
As a result, some Hoklo professors cannot even read Hoklo, and can only read their students’ theses if they are written in Mandarin.
There is a wealth of talent in the country. Hopefully, the deans of the nation’s Hoklo departments will act with caution when hiring professors. Passing on centuries of Taiwanese culture, language, history, land and morality requires a sense of mission if the nation wants its people to develop Taiwanese dignity and spirit.
Ng Siu-lin is deputy director of the Northern Taiwan Society.
Translated by Eddy Chang
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