The Impacts of English on Taiwan’s Elementary Curriculum: Homeroom Teachers’ Perspectives

Abstract

Increasingly non-English speaking countries start to mandate English as a compulsory subject starting from the elementary level. Since elementary education with its focus on character development is mostly based on homeroom teaching, consequently homeroom teachers could play a critical role in English education at the elementary level. This study investigates the impacts and possible implications of compulsory English teaching in the elementary school from homeroom teachers’ perspective. In-depth interviews were conducted with eleven Taiwanese homeroom teachers with more than six-year homeroom teaching experience. The findings suggest that English as a powerful language has created more inequality in school as well as a dilemma within homeroom teachers’ mind and practice. Teachers were fully aware of the importance of English, thus perpetuated its role as the global language, but they seldom made any effort in assisting students’ English learning. The impact of English was more symbolic than material. Policy suggestions include adjusting the curriculum timetable to increase the periods of main subjects (national language, math, and English), transforming more homeroom teachers into qualified English teachers, and changing the discourse of English in Taiwan by advocating a post-colonial ideology that calls for awareness of the various symbolic meanings of English in Taiwan. Keyword: elementary curriculum, TESOL, curricular change, language policy and planning 本研究探討小學導師所認知英語對小學之衝擊。在深度訪談11位至少六年帶班經驗的導師後發現英語進入小學產生許多的差異化,除了學生學習及程度兩極化外,教師間、學校間差異化也都增加,而補習班更加興旺,不僅一般家長把英語學習交給補習安親班,甚至老師也如此,使得小學英語教育反而只是象徵性的存在。政策建議方面導師們認為先增加國數主科時數,再來才是英語的時數,否則根本沒先學好,只追求英語是不合理的 關鍵字: 小學課程、英語教學、課程變遷、語言政策與規劃