Education and EFL in Taiwan: Policy and Practice

Education and EFL in Taiwan:

Policy and Practice

A diminished inclination to think creatively.

by

Paul W. Mathews

Editor

Original Illustrations and Cover Illustration by Juan Pablo Ho Tseng*

Warrior Publishers (Australia).

Copyright © 2017. Paul W. Mathews

This work is copyright. Apart from fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, critique, or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission from the authors. Inquiries should be made to the authors. Pmathews2@hotmail.com

NON-FICTION

Smashwords Edition License Notes 2017

This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your enjoyment only, then please return to Smashwords.com or your favorite retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of these authors.

E-Book ISBN: (epub version)

* Illustrations first appeared in Lee, S-H & Mathews, P. (2006). Travellers in Taiwan: Reflections of Formosa. Canberra: Philippine Studies Association of Australasia Inc.

ISBN: 9 78064646 8365 (paperback in Mandarin and English).

Reprinted as an e-book at Smashwords (in Mandarin and English versions) 2014.

ePub ISBN: 9 78131134 9897

All illustrations were originally done by Juan Pablo Ho Tseng, except for that illustration on about page 7.

Contents

Introduction

Structure of the book

Dr. Paul Mathews

Prologue

Foreigner Teacher Dismissed For Failing Lazy Students At Dung Nöne.

Dr. Paul Mathews

Learning English in Taiwan: A Comparative Commentary

Dr. Paul Mathews

Part 1. English as a Foreign Language.

EFL in Kindergartens

Ying-ying Cheng, Ching-chung Guey, Jui-kun Kao, Seiji Shibata & Paul W. Mathews

EFL in Elementary Schools

Ying-ying Cheng, Ching-chung Guey, Katsumi Kiyonaga, Seiji Shibata & Paul W. Mathews

EFL in Junior High Schools

Ying-ying Cheng, Ching-chung Guey, Katsumi Kiyonaga, Seiji Shibata & Paul W. Mathews

EFL in Senior High Schools

Ying-ying Cheng, Ching-chung Guey, Katsumi Kiyonaga, Seiji Shibata & Paul W. Mathews

EFL at the Tertiary Level

Dr. Paul W. Mathews

EFL Education in Taiwan: A Snapshot by Students

Dr. Paul Mathews

Part 2. Reflections

Double-Speak as Discourse

Dr. Paul Mathews

Taiwanites: The New Thomasites

Dr. Paul Mathews

"Teacher Bye Bye": Memories of Teaching Literature in Taiwan

Dr. Michaela Keck

Infructuous Greed for Grades…and other oddities

(unfruitful, fruitless, unprofitable, ineffective)

Dr. Paul Mathews

Book Banned by Taiwan English Dept.

Anonymous

Systemic Perpetuation

Dr. Paul Mathews

and

Non-infructuous Ways Forward

Dr. Paul Mathews

Summary and Conclusion

Dr. Paul Mathews

About the Authors

Other Works by Paul Mathews

Connect with Warrior Publishers

About Warrior Publishers

Introduction

Dr. Paul Mathews

Taiwan's Educational System

In Taiwan[1] the Ministry of Education (MoE) is responsible for education.

Legislation, introduced in 1968, provides for an educational system that supports up to 22 years of formal study, from kindergarten to post-graduate education. The timing is flexible, depending upon the needs of the students. The entire process includes:

2 years of kindergarten education (non-compulsory),

6 years of primary school,

3 years of junior high school (from which 95% of students go on to higher secondary school, trade school or college),[2]

3 years of senior secondary or vocational school,

4-7 years of college or university,

1-4 years of a master's degree program, and

2-7 years of a doctoral degree program.

MoE's website,[3] An Educational Overview, dated November 1, 2010, illustrates this system, as follows:

The school year consists of two semesters; the fall semester begins in early September and runs till late January or early February. The spring semester begins following the Lantern Festival in mid February and ends in early June.

In 2004 the MoE implemented a trial 10-year compulsory education program nationwide. This program was designed to integrate junior high school and senior vocational school curricula. Those students who had an interest in vocational training could undertake appropriate Courses during their last two years of schooling.[4] This specifically designed program addresses their needs and allows them to receive the relevant occupational training that they would need, since they are not going on for further education.[5]

The pass rate for junior high school graduates on their high school entrance exam is a low 20%, with about two-thirds attending a vocational school. About 700,000 students attend over 100 available universities and colleges in Taiwan.[6]

National examinations control advancement

Access to high school and university is controlled by a series of national exams.

After finishing nine years of compulsory education, students take national exams in order to receive senior secondary education, inclusive of senior high school (3 years), vocational high school (3 years) or junior college (5 years).

Beginning in 1997, educational reform has been an ongoing project so as to meet the ever-surging waves of globalization. However, one of the consequences of this, as we shall see, is that the goal posts keeping shifting—aims, goals, curricula, methods, focus and theories, all seem to willy-nilly take one direction then another, and often contrary to one another.

STRUCTURE OF OUR BOOK

Following this Introduction, Dr. Mathews provides a lighthearted brief on his perceptions of education and, in particular, EFL education during his early days in Taiwan, followed by a comparative note on EFL/English competency between Taiwan and the Philippines (as well as Australia).

Both of these briefs are presentiments of what is substantiated in the core of this book. Beginning with a brief overview of pre-school education and EFL, Part 1 focuses on direct observations of and reports on numerous actual teaching episodes in schools, from pre-school to University education levels. Five papers form a series of studies employing essentially the same methodology, as described in the papers. We aimed to examine the connection, or lack thereof, between MoE requirements/guidelines and the actual fulfillment of them, by focusing on the practical, everyday teaching and learning of EFL. What we essentially found was a consistent misfit between policy and practice, despite the best efforts of many of the teachers and schools.

These observations, and the interviews of the relevant teachers, in no way intend to denigrate any particular teacher (or other person). Nor are they assessments of teachers or teaching styles, but an assessment of the disjunction between MoE policy and the actual good work that teachers do. Indeed, we have been at pains to include their own voices, verbatim as much as possible, and thereby highlight the good work they do in often trying circumstances.

The last chapter of Part 1 presents data from a survey of University EFL students, of what they think of education and EFL teaching in Taiwan. Their articulations reinforce many of our own findings.

In Part 2, Reflections, Dr. Mathews and Dr. Ella Keck each reflect on their teaching experiences in Taiwan, and offer some suggestions for improvement, some of which again hone in on several issues raised in our observations and reports about Elementary to University EFL education, and what students have had to say. Dr. Keck’s paper exemplifies a number of issues that are noted elsewhere, as well as raising a pertinent issue often overlooked, that of a gender hierarchy among staff and students. She raises the issue that a large proportion of tertiary students in English Courses are female, yet many seem to resort to domesticity soon after graduation, and thus wonders what is the value of their education to themselves and the Taiwan nation?

Another paper, Taiwanites: The New Thomasites, raises the issue of historical and political similarities between the Thomasites of 1901 in the Philippines and the current band of foreigners who teach EFL/ESL in Taiwan. Some interesting analogies emerge….

Two small pieces follow. One picks up on one of the wonders of Taiwanese (and Asian) education, that of plagiarism, in an attempt to not so much blame students but to dispel the myth that Asian students are cheating.

The other is a brief account of how a University reacted, with fear, to the perceived threat Dr. Mathews' and Ms. Lee's book ostensibly presented. It illustrates just how anti-academic, how conservative, and unsupportive educational institutions in Taiwan are, and of how school politics and personal or ethnic factors unprofessionally intrude into education.

The next Chapter, consisting of two sections, considers how the system of EFL education (and perhaps education generally in Taiwan) perpetuates its inadequacies, for several reasons. The second section makes explicit suggestions on how, in a practical way, some of the aforementioned issues could (should?) be addressed.

The concluding summary attempts to draw together some of these pertinent issues, wrestling with the notion that, despite goal posts constantly shifting, nothing really changes: rote learning, examinations, hierarchic structures and culturally-based vis-a-vis earned respect, cheating/plagiarism, credentialism, profiteering, linguistic incompetence, political infighting from the national level to the English Department level—all these persist, from the university/college level down to pre-school.

Background

Pre-School

Approximately one quarter of children under age 6 in Taiwan attend non-compulsory kindergarten educational facilities. Although the popularity of EFL arose in the early 1990s, English did not come to be approved and supported by MoE as a subject in kindergartens until later.

Despite some concern that pupils at such a young age may experience a limited ability in either their mother language or Mandarin, or both, as well as in English, such early education in English prospered, often contrary to MoE guidelines. According to MoE, EFL/ESL has a great impact on the child's learning of Mandarin, thus a program of full English teaching to children in kindergarten has not been recommended by MoE.

The general public in Taiwan also has been asking questions such as whether it is proper to offer EFL courses in kindergartens. Thus it remains problematic as to the real effects of EFL learning, and motivation to learn, among students in later years? Our further studies of Elementary, Junior and Senior High schools and Universities of Taiwan, presented in subsequent chapters, suggest some serious thought be given to these questions and issues.

Elementary School

Children between 7 to 12 years of age attend classes 5 days a week. The official language of instruction is Mandarin. The subjects taught are Mathematics (introductory algebra and geometry by the 6th grade), Science (basic biology, physics and chemistry), English (1st grade and up), Native languages (Taiwanese, Hakka and aboriginal languages are offered), Social studies, Music and Art.

English is taught from 1st grade, usually at 40 minutes twice a week, totaling 320 hours a year, both in school and outside.[7] The major teaching approach is/was communicative language teaching.

The General Guidelines of Grade 1-9 Curriculum of Elementary and Junior High School Education officially introduced the MoE's EFL teaching in elementary schools in 2000. By 2001 5th graders were obliged to learn English as a Foreign Language. However, in reality, in 2005 EFL classes began from the 3rd grade under the official version of the Nine-Year Integrated Curriculum (2003).[8] This situation came from the fact that, in Taiwan, EFL had been a very popular subject in pre-school education, and the central government had to adjust itself to the trend and the practice already approved by local governments.

Although officially English education should begin according to the decision made by the Ministry of Education,[9] there are variations as to when students should or do begin. The official start is from the 5th grade. But due to differing policies among different schools, some begin from the 1st grade, while others begin from the 3rd or 5th grade.

Shuchun Inagaki notes that, in Taiwan’s multilingual community, Mandarin Chinese is the official language, Taiwanese is the most widely spoken local dialect, while English is rarely used in daily lives. English was originally taught in junior high school and into college as a foreign (or second ?) language, but recognizing the increasing importance of English as an international language, the government gradually introduced it into elementary schools from 1993, and as an official school subject in the fifth and sixth grades across the nation from 2001. By 2004, EFL was taught in the first grade in over half of Taiwan’s elementary schools. However, some difficulties in developing appropriate teaching materials occurred, as well as in finding professionally qualified teachers. Shuchun Ingagaki argues that too much attention focused on lowering the starting age for learning English without due emphasis on improving the quality of English teaching itself.[10]

Thus one of the biggest problems lies in the fact that when those graduating students from primary schools enter junior high school or lower secondary school, and find themselves in a huge class of more than 35 students with diverse linguistic skills, at what level of English do teachers address students.[11]

Junior and Senior High Schools

Much the same can be said of JHS and SHR EFL learning and teaching. As will be evident from our studies, time for English learning is limited, classes are large, and consist of various levels of competence—a result of not addressing that issue in Elementary schools and not streaming students in JHS and SHS accordingly. Further, there is a great over-emphasis on exams, and at the SHS level EFL competency (as measured by exams) is a significant component for entering a university or college of one's choice. Add to all this is that MoE keeps moving the goal posts.

University/College

At this level nothing gets better. Indeed, we see the results of the foregoing years of confusion, poor planning and pedagogy. Students range from those who can barely speak a word of English (at graduation!) to some who are very fluent—all in the one class. This issue and others are evidenced in our final observations as well as anecdotally in our other pieces.

The views expressed herein are not necessarily those of the editor.

Dr. Paul. W. Mathews.

Notes:

[1]. The Republic of China, commonly known as Taiwan, is an island that lies 130 kilometers off Mainland China in the Pacific. The land area covers 36,000 square kilometers, slightly smaller than Kyushu, Japan’s southernmost island. Its largest cities are Taipei, New Taipei, Kaohsiung, Taichung, Tainan.. Taiwan’s population as of January 2010 was 23,120,000, consisting of Han Chinese: 98%; Hokio (or Hoklok): 14%; Mainlanders: 14%; and Taiwanese aborigines: 2%. Taiwan is experiencing a decline in its birth rate; its population growth is 0.23%. The official language of Taiwan is Standard Mandarin, although a majority of the population speaks Taiwanese.

[2]. Ministry of Education, Republic of China (Taiwan). Retrieved 12.24.2010 http://english.moe.gov.tw/ct.asp?xItem=4133&CtNode=2003&mp=1

[3]. Educational System in Taiwan.

http://www.foreigncredits.com/Education-Database/Countries/Taiwan/Education-System

Retrieved 12.19.2011.

[4]. Her, Jia-Huey. The Globalization of English: Its Impact on English Language Education in the Tertiary Education Sector in Taiwan. PhD thesis, University of Waikado, New Zealand. 2007. pp. 7-8. Retrieved 12.20.2010 http://www.asian-efl-journal.com/Thesis_Jia_Huey_Her.pdf

[5]. http://english.moe.gov.tw/public/Attachment/6651734371.pdf

[6]. Taiwan in Education. Retrieved 2010.12.20 http://www.saec.edu. tw/fulbright/system.htm

[7]. Ministry of Education, Republic of China (Taiwan). Retrieved 12.24.2010 http://english.moe.gov.tw/ct.asp?xItem=4133&CtNode=2003&mp=1

[8]. Tsailing Liang. (2002). Implementing Cooperative Learning in EFL Teaching: Process and Effects. PhD thesis. National Taiwan Normal University. July 2002. p. 4.

[9]. Ministry of Education, Republic of China (Taiwan).

http://english.moe.gov.tw/ct.asp?xItem=4133&CtNode=2003&mp=1 Retrieved 12.24.2011.

[10]. Her, Jia-Huey. 2007. Op. cit. p. 6.

[11]. Taiwan - Educational System—overview - Percent, Students, Compulsory, MoE, Academic, and Age.

http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/1494/Taiwan-EDUCATIONAL-SYSTEM-OVERVIEW.html Retrieved 11.08. 2011.

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Prologue

FOREIGNER TEACHER DISMISSED

FOR FAILING LAZY STUDENTS AT DUNG NÖNE

Dr. Paul Mathews

Fed up with the shortcomings and bureaucracy of academic life? Too many papers and politics to deal with? Or just graduated as a native English speaker? No prospects, but want to experience the world ? Then teach English in Taiwan! We offer fulltime employment, free airport pickup, free health care, free accommodation, return airfare, end of year bonus, attendance bonus, help with visas, paid holidays, etc etc. Must have a BA in any subject, like working with kids, commit to a 1 year contract,…..

It is common to see literally hundreds of ads like this on various websites, pleading for native English speakers (foreigners) to teach kids in Taiwan, Korea, HK, Macau, Singapore, Vietnam, China, and just about anywhere else in the world. A great opportunity, you think, to see the world, and get paid for it! But is it all that it is cranked up to be?

You arrive at CKS airport, Taipei, at 11pm, get picked up by a seedy looking man who speaks no English; driven to a local bus station to wait 2 hours for the driver who will take you 165 km to Taichung on a bus packed with 25 Vietnamese maids; dumped in a hotel, only to wake up next morning and not know where to get breakfast because everything is in Mandarin.

Three days later, having survived on instant noodles from the local ubiquitous 7-11, the agency summons you to board another bus back to Taipei for an interview for the job you have been guaranteed. Now is the first time you have contact with another foreigner, an American, whom you discover was living right next to you in the hotel but you weren't told about, and who, incidentally, is also applying for that same guaranteed job of yours.

At the school you meet Mrs. Woo, who professes to have a PhD from the USA but can speak barely a word of English. Breaching even the lowest standards of Taiwanese bureaucratic incompetence, she informs you that there is only one job, not two as the agency had promised, and after 5 hours of negotiation you get the job by default, only because the American has got fed up with the Chinese ambivalence, ambiguity and chicanery. So, they have to appoint you to save their face—hardly an endearing start to a promising career at Dung Nöne Institute of Technology !

Institute? Technology? You quickly discover this is a private, technical college, not a public university, and where the kids almost literally pay in expectation of getting a Degree. So the advice, ever so readily given, is talk s-l-o-w-l-y, smile, be nice, you have to understand…..They're only kids (anywhere between 18 and 50 years old) and this is their last chance to get a tertiary education, so don't fail too many, OK?

OK, sure, you can handle that; just ease yourself into the classroom, where you will regale them with stories of far away places. Forty, fifty, sixty, seventy students sit there, stony faced, as you tell them your name, your country, your marital status, your zodiac sign and align that with your Chinese animal sign, your blood type, your age, and how wonderful Taiwan is. A great opportunity for introductions and to learn about your students, so go ahead, ask them to say something about themselves, their ambitions, family, skills, hobbies, etc. After 5 minutes of agonizing silence you realize that either they can't understand a word of English or their arms do not work: no one volunteers to speak—other than constantly among themselves in Mandarin or on their cell phones. Perhaps you could show them a movie, "To Sir with Love"…….?

Ok. Don't panic. You have their names: Fanny, Gan (which means fuck you in Chinese), Subaru, Angel, Dr. Death, Barbie, Bunny, John, Johnny, Jonathan, Ikea, and yes, even Mr. Fooker….. Finally you choose Angel—how can you go wrong with a name like that! Amidst great applause and embarrassing shyness Angel tells us her student number, her age, that there are 4 people in her family, she works in sales, and her hobbies are shopping, eating and sleeping. Great! Next...! Fanny then tells us her student number, her age, that there are 4 people in her family, and a cat, she works in marketing, and she likes to shop, eat and sleep. Ok, how about Subaru? Student number, age, there are 4 people in his family, and he works in a company and likes to watch TV, eat and sleep……. By this time you are wishing the rest of the class is asleep.

By the next class you have learnt not to ask questions; to speak very S-L-O-W-L-Y, follow the text book to the letter, and if you want them to speak let them read it out loud. As for the mid term test in just 4 weeks time, make it easy, after all, they can't speak English and you should not fail too many students.

But you have professional integrity, and a passion for teaching; you introduce some new methods of teaching and assessment; you try to get them to talk vis-à-vis read English; give them new material, role plays, short pieces to write, and only small mid term and final tests. Students hate English because they have too many tests, so you think you are doing them a favour; but paradoxically Taiwanese expect and like to take tests and extra classes. If they aren’t taking tests, they feel anxious and uneasy, like they aren’t anything unless they score high on a test.

Taiwan education places enormous importance on testing. Students have tests every day, every week, every month and every semester. But if teachers are testing all the time, then what are they teaching?

Clearly not much. You simply can't pass 50% of the class because they can not read, write, comprehend or speak any English, or they never attend class or never pay attention. One student consistently turns up 10 minutes before end of class and immediately goes to sleep—obviously his hobby! Another student can not speak a word of English even after 4 years at Dung Nöne.

But this is a college, students are adults, and they pay money to get an education. They complain that you are too strict, they can’t understand you despite you getting RSI from writing everything on the board, and you even inflate every student's mark by 10%

But you have not yet sold your soul, as most Taiwanese teachers have, who have to pass 99% of their students to remain popular and keep their jobs. Taiwanese education is based on 1 year renewable contracts, not tenure; there is no security of employment, as you discover amidst the constant reprimands emanating from students, and finally, after 1 year, your dismissal.

Education is business in Taiwan: E-business. It takes money under false pretences, grinding out illiterate, self-centred, immature and face-saving graduates who can't even buy a bus ticket to the airport, or who think the Philippines is north of Japan, Australia south of the South Pole, and Mainland China should be spelt main chain.

There is a plethora of English books in Taiwan and much of the rest of Asia; publishers, editors and writers are making money, but you are not because you just lost your job all because you wanted to teach. Welcome to Dung Nöne !

Is it any better in other schools? Not really. Motivation is poor, ability abysmal, and administration unsupportive. The government has an archaic programme for English education, attempting to make Taiwan a new hub of English-speaking entrepreneurs in Asia, in competition with HK, Singapore, Macau, China, etc. They need foreigners to teach English, but treat them with disdain and obfuscate and obstruct rather than facilitate living and working in Taiwan, while also failing to train Taiwanese teachers to be proficient in English. Most native teachers of English conduct classes in Mandarin, so students get a mixed message and no opportunity at all to practice English. Language acquisition is seen as a technical skill, not a social process. It's all there in the myriad of published books !

The media is as much at fault. There is only one newspaper and two radio stations in English, and of 79 TV channels only 1 has the international news in English; 6 others show reruns of Hollywood B-grade movies. Thank god for the HOB channel ! Most Taiwanese could not understand any of these, even if they did bother to listen to them. Compare this to the Philippines, where several daily papers are in English, radio broadcasts are often in English, and TV stations mix English with Pilipino. Filipinos are immersed in English every day from the time they are born, and the medium of instruction in schools is mostly English.

But there are no jobs for native English teachers in the Philippines; indeed, Taiwanese hire Filipina maids to teach English to Chinese children. In any case, you are not a maid; you are white, male, have a Masters or even a PhD, and no job.

And the cost of living in Taiwan is not cheap, as most foreigners initially expect. Living costs are about on par with Australia, and your income was maybe only about 75% of what you would get in Australia or the USA. Sure, cigarettes are dirt cheap, so is food, accommodation and transport. But the rest—electricity, water, gas, entertainment, even CDs and computers—begin to burn a hole in your pocket.

So you turn to the private market, the cram schools which are about as ubiquitous as 7-11s. They operate for profit, so you can't fail any students. You learn to acquiesce to demanding mothers with face-saving platitudes, offer private tuition, endearing encouragement, and falsified grades, while joining all the other burnt-out teachers every Friday night at Carnegies disco pub. There you regale in repetitive stories of unscrupulous bosses, delayed salary payments, unpaid extra-curricular activities and perpetual meetings held in Mandarin, free proofreading for the school, and forfeited bonuses.

You begin to wonder, if there are so many places in Taiwan looking for foreigners to teach English, why do you feel the pressure to kowtow? Perhaps you can learn Mandarin in your spare time to better negotiate the myriad of regulations and requirements—that should take only a year or two.

Are all the schools pretty well much the same? Yes, that's why teachers come and go all the time, forever looking for a place that is somehow better, more honest, with integrity, only to find that after one year it's better to return home and try to sell your self as an experienced teacher or veteran Asianist. That's why websites in Taiwan are an abundant source of teaching vacancies; these schools have no real programmes other than E-business, and little integrity. Genuine teachers quickly become disillusioned, and move on.

What Taiwan gets, then, is an ad hoc, publisher-driven, money-based industry of credentialism and nepotism, that produces nothing more than a handful of semi-literate graduates taught by unqualified, disillusioned backpackers. Education, training, sustainability and forethought are not key ingredients in the Taiwanese E-business. The real losers are the whingeing, lazy students, such as those in Dung Nöne, who pay—under the pretence of education—for nothing. When the docile students finally realize this, perhaps places like Dung Nöne and the cram schools will need to provide real education and English proficiency to attract and retain students and staff.

In the meantime, if you want a paid holiday of sorts, follow the text book and don't fail too many students.

Dr. Paul Mathews (bloodtype RH+)

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LEARNING ENGLISH IN TAIWAN:

A COMPARATIVE COMMENTARY

Dr. Paul Mathews

Abstract

In a short period Taiwan’s economic progress has been impressive, but as globalization moves ahead, Taiwan’s new generation appears to have been slow in keeping abreast of necessary English proficiency. This paper, from the comparative viewpoint of a newcomer to the Island, explores why Taiwan’s English-learning students may be lagging behind some of Taiwan’s Asian neighbours in this arena, and suggests that despite the use of TPR (total physical response), English acquisition remains largely compartmentalized among Taiwanese students.

Introduction

Having arrived in Taipei to teach English, but having had extensive experience in anthropological fieldwork in the Philippines and elsewhere, my academic instincts, so to speak, were in full mode. My initial few days were interesting, wherein I had to negotiate my needs among a signage and a people who, to some extent I assumed and was consequently told, had very limited English proficiency. Even at my new place of employment I was advised that the students operate at a very basic level of English proficiency. This was very different from my extensive experiences in the Philippines over the last 20 years, where most urban Filipinos speak quite good English, and many inhabitants of the rural provinces are not adverse to engaging with foreigners. In contrast, Australia—from whence I hail—barely encourages its students to be proficient in any language (and, sadly, that also can include English!) To my surprise and pleasure, I quickly found that many Taiwanese did in fact speak some English—indeed, if I could speak Mandarin as well as they spoke some English I would be happy.

In this paper I explore my first impressions of Taiwanese English proficiency, with some comparative commentary on the situation in the Philippines and Australia. Thus the paper draws out some interesting insights as to the greater proficiency in foreign language acquisition among Filipinos vis-à-vis Taiwanese and Australians. My subsequent 2 years of teaching EFL in Taiwan tended to confirm my first impressions, and allow me to make some suggestions on how to raise the level of Taiwanese English proficiency.

The Philippines

The Filipino people have a long history of being exposed to European languages: first was Spanish for almost 350 years, followed by direct colonization by the USA for about 50 years (with a brief but linguistically insignificant period of 3 years under Japanese rule), and subsequently under American and more generally Western hegemony since 1946. During the American Period (1898-1946) mass, free education was established, and the medium of instruction was English; this has largely continued to the present day, although proponents of Filipino nationalism over the last 20 years have urged that Pilipino/Tagalog be used more and more in schools and the media, etc.

Concurrent and subsequent to these periods of direct rule Filipinos have been exposed to English on a daily basis through the media: several TV and Radio broadcasts and Newspapers are in English; street names are in English, or at least Taglish, and shop signs, bus destinations and T-shirts abound in English; and Filipinos soak up American music and lyrics. While there is an argument that this bilingualism fails to generate fluency in both Pilipino and English, the counter point is that such linguistic knowledge makes the Philippines, and Filipinos, more accessible to the Western world—and hence one major reason why the Philippines is a major tourist destination—and makes the world more accessible to Filipinos. Whichever view one may take on that debate, such bilingualism does at least provide a solid base and allows for the possibility of developing a strong expertise in one or other, or both, languages.

Taiwan

Taking those historical and social factors into account, Taiwan has been either fortunate or unfortunate to have escaped such colonial and hegemonic influences. Effectively established for only 56 years, Taiwan developed with the primary legacy of Chinese language and culture, adopting any Western influences only within that Sino framework. Taiwan has not been a major tourist destination (catch-22 vis-à-vis the Philippines), and has only in the last 25 years attempted to integrate itself into the global economy in a more proactive way, one being, of course, through deliberate policies on English learning. The effects of this history and an array of multiple socio-economic and cultural factors are seen in the absence of street and other signage in English, limited media coverage in English, and limited comprehension of American movies etc on cable TV, which, in any case, use Americanisms/slang and go too fast, to the effect that English becomes intimidating. The overall effect, as my anthropological sense informs me, is that Taiwanese students of English do in fact speak English in a linguistic, technical sense, but lack daily practice as the Filipinos do.

One of the