BEIS Newsletter - March 2016 (Plain Text Version)
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In this issue: |
IMPLEMENTING BILINGUAL EDUCATION IN TAIWAN: TWEAKING IT FOR SUCCESS
Reviewed by Kathy Ling Lin, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Minhang, Shanghai, China This article raises an important issue that interests all bilingual educators, especially colleagues from Asia or from countries in the Expanding Circle in general (Kachru, 1985). It describes current bilingual education in Taiwan, which, in the author's view, is essentially similar to foreign language or second language learning and diverges from the discrete bilingual education taught in the United States. She thus suggests that the so-called bilingual education in Taiwan may need to be redefined, re-understood, and further improved. To confirm these points, the article makes a detailed comparison of bilingual education in Taiwan with that in America and has pointed out some differences. For example, in the United States, the bilingual teachers are capable of using two langu ages to teach students different knowledge and subjects. However, in Taiwan (as an example of Asian countries), the emphasis is more on learning the foreign language itself. Personally, I feel that it might also be the case in many other Asian countries or cities such as Shanghai, the city I am residing in. While noting some complicated factors (e.g., the social environment and the culture) behind the differences, the author makes some helpful suggestions. For instance, she strongly recommends bilingual teachers' use of the mother tongue to facilitate students' understanding and learning of various subjects. Corresponding to this, she advocates a transitional model of bilingual education rather than an immersion model that indicates English as the only language medium in teaching. Further, she advises that the standard criteria for bilingual education assessment that could be widely applied and well-received by schools at different levels should be established in Taiwan, in spite of many possible differences in course design and some other aspects of such schools. “文章的開始先要談到一位成功的企業家想要栽培下一代, 但在這位企業家的年代, 本身並沒有機會學習到英文， 為了讓他的下一代可以提早培養英文能力， 從小學就支付昂貴的費校將小朋友送到雙語學校。 所以小朋友的所有作業， 家長聯絡本以及所有課本都是以英文為主要語言。因此，父母必須在課後再請一位英文家教可以複習輔導雙語學校的作業”。 雖然父母社會已經意識到雙語教育或學習好英語的重要性，但雙語學校的實行也造成了多教師和家長的挑戰! 雙語教育 雙語教育 (Bilingual Education) 已經在許多家獲得許多家長的注意，希望下一代可以在這樣的課程裡學習英文或同時學習二個語言。很多公立小學開始有雙語課，坊間也有很多私立的雙語學校。 也似乎只要和 “雙語” 有關的課程就會吸引到家長的注意。但是雙語教育全世界各地的成效都會因為文化，語言，大環境, 學生特質而有所不同。在英語非第二外語或官方語言的國家，雙語教育通常意味是英文加上本國語言， 但是所強調的學習重點還是以英語為主。 雙語教育在亞洲來講，實施上的重點是更強調英語的學習或者是全英語的上課方式。然而雙語教育或全英語教育的全面實施，還要再多多參考其他國家的實施以及配 套措施。 美國雙語教育 美國政府於一九七四年八月二十一日公布的〔雙語教育法案〕，旨在由聯邦政府提供經費給地方學區，以便實施雙語教育，使本來英語說話能力 有限的學童能得到特別的教學與輔導。雙語教育法案的主旨希望學童原有的語言和文化但也可以快速融入以英語為教學語言的情境之中。 美國雙語教育是指在教育過程中，有規劃、有系統地使用兩種語言作為教學媒體，學生同時接受二個語言學習數學、自然、社會、閱讀、寫作等 等不同科目。所以美國的雙語教師必須有能力同時可以雙語教授不同科目，確保各科學習上的進展。且熟練第二語言，而不是只是單純的學習英語。 但是當雙語教育移到亞洲後，必須注重到一個移轉 (transition)的銜接，以下要以美國所定義的雙語教育來檢視台灣的雙語教學是否更有更大的進步空間。 亞洲雙語教育- 以台灣為例 許多人將雙語教育此詞用在台灣的英語教學上。其實已經和第二外語學習混淆了，以為學習了另一種語言，就是雙語，雙語與外語在質與量上都 有很大的差異。如果台灣一般公立學校以及坊間雙語學校要宣稱所實施的為雙語教學，恐怕未達西方國家雙語教育的宗旨。目前我台灣實施的英語教育，屬外語教育 學習；而美國學校、園區實驗學校等為實施雙語教育。所以台灣很多學校或者坊間招牌會常常使用“雙語”做為號召,但其實上課教材內容師資都是外語教學性質。 在文章一開始的故事呈現了雙語教育在英語非第二外語國家的挑戰。以下文章希望提出一些建議有哪些地方應該修飾再去推動雙語教育:
結論 不管是雙語教育或者全英語教育的實行對家長，學生還有老師還是必須有一個過渡時期。 但是不可否認的是全英語教育要培養英文能與世界接軌或者雙語教育的目的是要培養一個雙語主義、雙文化知識、雙讀寫能力。從全英到雙語實行, 如果能面面俱到，相信語言教育的成效才會發揮到淋漓盡致的境界。沒有任何一種課程是學語言的萬靈丹，而是要有好的教育體制、行政制度上、師資培訓、父母參 與、還有社會多方資源的支持下才會有最大的學習效果。 References Kachru: Kachru, B. (1985). Institutionalized second language varieties. The English language today, 211-226. Dr. Hsiao-ping Wu is assistant professor at Texas A&M University – San Antonio. Her teaching specializations focus on applied linguistics, second language acquisition, and research methods in ESL for preparing bilingual/ESL teachers in Texas. Her current research interests include new literacies through computer-mediated communication (CMC), second language teaching pedagogy, and preservice teacher preparation. Kathy Ling Lin, the reviewer of this article and author of the English summary, is a lecturer in the Research Centre for Corpora and Intercultural Studies at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. She received her PhD from Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and her primary research interests include English for academic and professional purposes, discourse analysis, corpus linguistics, and language education. She has recently published her research on academic writing in reputable journals such as English for Specific Purposes, Ibérica, and The Asian ESP Journal. |
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