Seventy percent of middle and elementary schools now conduct English classes entirely in English, the Ministry of Education said, as it encourages schools nationwide to adopt this practice
Minister of Education (MOE) Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) is scheduled to present a report on the government’s bilingual education policy to the Legislative Yuan’s Education and Culture Committee today.
The report would outline strategies aimed at expanding access to education, reducing regional disparities and improving talent cultivation.
Photo courtesy of the Tainan City Government’s Bureau of Education
Implementation of bilingual education policies has varied across local governments, occasionally drawing public criticism.
For example, some schools have required teachers of non-English subjects to pass English proficiency tests, while others have mandated that non-English subjects be taught bilingually.
K-12 Education Administration head Peng Fu-yuan (彭富源) on Saturday said that English classes should be taught in English following the principle of “maximizing classroom input and output.”
Teachers should conduct lessons in English as much as possible based on students’ language levels and promote peer-to-peer communication to increase opportunities for English language use, Peng said.
The ministry provides various resources, including manuals, games and a database of 95 instructional videos to help improve English teachers’ professional abilities, he said.
As of this February, 10,184 bilingual teachers have undergone training, with 6,525 currently employed as full-time teachers, the ministry said.
The ministry has also expanded its recruitment of foreign educators, with 1,184 full-time foreign English teachers and 3,021 part-time foreign teaching assistants currently employed, it said.
To encourage the use of English in daily life, the ministry said it has integrated community resources to create maps of English-friendly stores around school campuses.
The ministry has also launched a free English self-assessment system, allowing students and teachers to evaluate their language proficiency independently.
In addition, its online learning platform, Cool English, incorporates artificial intelligence (AI) tools, including English chatbots and AI-powered writing assistants, to enhance language learning, it said.
The platform has been accessed more than 2.95 million times, helping to bridge educational gaps, the ministry said.
Lin Hsiang-yin (林香吟), principal of Kaohsiung Municipal Chungshan Senior High School, said that instruction in English is a core component of the bilingual education initiative.
In the past, English classes were typically taught in Mandarin, with an overemphasis on grammar and exam preparation, Lin said.
However, the new approach shifts the focus toward immersive, communicative learning, she said.
Adjusting the language of instruction, as the ministry has done, is not only a necessary first step, but also yields rapid results, she said, adding that students immersed in an all-English curriculum tend to make swift progress.
National Federation of Teachers Unions president Hou Chun-liang (侯俊良) expressed support for the ministry’s decision to focus on English instruction specifically in English classes, rather than requiring all subjects to be taught bilingually.
Hou said that implementing the policy is more challenging in elementary schools than in middle and high schools.
This is due not only to disparities between urban and rural areas, but also to the wide variation in students’ English proficiency levels upon entering elementary school.
While classes should be tailored to students’ proficiency, some students attend all-English kindergartens while others do not, Hou said.
National Alliance of Parents Organization chairman Hsiao Tung-yuan (蕭東原) said that Taiwan needs bilingual education to cultivate the next generation’s English abilities.
Considering that there is a shortage of teachers, the ministry’s choice to emphasize teaching English classes in English is correct for the short term, Hsiao said.
However, training more teachers is necessary to ensure that all subjects can be taught bilingually over the long term, he added.
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