The legislative review of the draft law for the establishment of a “Bilingual Nation Development Center” scheduled for March 15 was put on hold due to a lack of quorum. The low headcount was a result of objections to the bill by members of opposition parties and civic groups, such as the Republic of China National Federation of Teachers’ Unions.
The stark reality of Taiwan’s bilingual policy is that, since its implementation almost three years ago, it has been beset by a wave of opposing voices.
When I was taking up doctoral studies in Australia the supervising professor told local Australian students during a study session that international students have an advantage in their linguistic ability. He said that I, for example, can speak not only Mandarin, but also English, while the local students, even though their English is good, cannot speak any other languages, and that could be a problem for them.
Despite the linguistic advantage, the education sector in Taiwan is not in good health. With the nation’s birthrate declining, schools and universities throughout the country are finding it difficult to attract enough students, and many private schools and universities are having to close.
For the past two years, universities have been promoting all-English courses in hopes of pushing Taiwanese students to improve their communication skills while attracting more foreign students
All-English courses have long been the way things are going in higher education internationally, with many universities in countries and territories such as Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong and Macau offering courses taught entirely in English, from university level through postgrad institutes.
The main reason for this is that English remains the major lingua franca of the world.
Bilingual education is the international trend. The traditional ways of teaching and of advancing through higher education are gradually losing their appeal and relevance, and are increasingly unable to persuade the more self-aware, new generation of students that this is the way forward.
Cross-disciplinary, contextual and literacy-oriented programs such as bilingual courses, which go beyond examinations and focus on lifelong learning skills, are what the future of education looks like.
Countries such as Spain and Indonesia have for many years now been heavily promoting bilingual education, a phenomenon reported in many studies in the area; Taiwan is lagging behind.
When all is said and done, the fundamental value of having bilingual skills in the face of many emerging issues and challenges in this globalized world is to cultivate in the student a more sophisticated world view and the ability to problem solve.
Succumbing to complacency cannot be allowed. The advantage that one’s mother tongue gives one should of course be valued, but having bilingual skills would in no way take away from that.
The world always benefits from diverse perspectives and solutions, and bilingualism is a great way to start in this endeavor.
Tao Yi-che is an adjunct assistant professor of English as a medium of instruction at National Taipei University of Business, and is responsible for implementing the plan for bilingual instruction at the Affiliated High School of National Chengchi University.
Translated by Paul Cooper
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