CHINFEN CHEN (ATIONAL TAIPEI UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION )

POLICIES AND IMPLEMENTATION OF BILINGUAL EDUCATION IN TAIWAN : LANGUAGE PLANNING AND LANGUAGE POLICY

Abstract Since 2018, Taiwan’s National Ministry of Education has been implementing the project of “Bilingual Education on Partial Areas of Curriculum in Public Primary and Secondary Schools in Taiwan.” Currently, under the guidance of Professor Chen, Director of the project, there are more than 200 schools starting bilingual education, mainly focusing on PE, Visual arts, Music, Science, Life Education, and Integrated Education. The project emphasizes the principles of bilingual education that content knowledge is the main focus and the target language is supplementary acquired. ” The implementation mode of Taiwan’ bilingual education is slightly different from that of the conventional bilingual instruction conducted in Canada and USA. Bilingual is referred to teaching subjects in both language, Mandarin and English, during the process of instruction alternatively. Undoubtedly, there are numerous challenges and doubts aroused among parents, teachers and scholars, for which we several 配套措施 are adopted to overcome the difficulties and to answer the puzzles, guiding the bilingual instruction practiced smoothly and fruitfully. The paper will elaborated the policy and implementation strategies in terms of curriculum structure, lesson plans, teaching strategies, assessment, and teaching resources. Lastly, a number of suggestions on how administration can start and support bilingual teaching are offered for schools interested in planning and implementing bilingual education.

Professor of English education, Dean of Teacher Education Section, General Director of national bilingual education, specializing on English instruction, bilingual education, and pre-service and in-service teacher training.