E NGLISH IN T AIWAN

The current sociolinguistic profile of English in Taiwan results chiefly from various institutional power—education, media, and popular culture. Generally, the number of proficient English speakers is still relatively small even though it is steadily increasing. As English is of high prestige but with a small number of proficient English users, functions of English are mostly perceived to be instrumental (see e.g. Chang 2001; Chen, Warden & Chang 2005; Wang 2000). In fact, the instrumental motivations in fact surpass its practical functions (Chen 2010).

23 2.4.1 English education in Taiwan

English education in Taiwan has undergone tremendous changes in the past decade. Though English has always been a compulsory subject in high school for long, it was conceived as insufficient to equip every student with proficiency for obvious reasons. Along with other prospects—developments of international perspectives, maximizations of effects of the critical period, catering to parents’ expectations, and longer immersions in English (MOE 1998), the demands pushed forward the reform of the new language policy. Chen (2010) stresses that the new policy enacted in 2001 differed from the previous one in its focuses on earlier exposure to English at the elementary level, English as the language of instruction in higher education, and basic competence for all citizens (Chen 2010). The reform of the policy put great emphasis on making English as a medium of information rather than as merely a subject. It has been affirmed in the previous sections that language planning involves social dimensions (Cooper 1989; Tollefson 1991) owing to the fact that language planning endorsed by the institutional authority can affect speakers’ language ideology of English. English is therefore mostly viewed as positive in public sectors.

The new focus on earlier exposure to English is particularly interesting and controversial. The situation is worth the attention for two reasons. For one, the parent-directed policy is inclined to load policy implementers and the government with much pressure (Lin 2006; Oladejo 2006). For another, although this reform reflects and meets expectations of general public, parents’ expectations on early exposure to English contradict with the government’s motives for the reform. English in global contexts is a medium of international communication and an access to foreign information. However, Lee (2008) asserts that parents are eager to have their pre-school children learn English for, again, its instrumental functions. Though policy

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implementers also consider plausible teaching English at the elementary level (Duo 2003) and the early exposure to English has received positive feedbacks from all parties, they apparently do not see eye to eye with each other on reasons of English necessitation. Instrumental values of English have been an effective motivation for English learning in Taiwan (Chen 2006).

The new policy is also aimed at developing English to be a medium of information access by advocating English as the language of instruction in higher education. Beliefs of and attitudes toward English by highly educated students may be diverse. Notions of integrative and instrumental motivations of English start to kick in as English is no longer a mandated subject. It is found by Chou (2005) that proficiency levels are prominent in shaping attitudes towards English. In addition, for proficient speakers like senior English majors, English can even serve integrative functions as an ingroup marker due to their long-term immersion in English. The finding suggests that proficiency levels may indeed plays an essential role in shaping conceptualizations of English.

The focus on attitudes toward English held by general citizens is the least explored in the literature. Seldom did studies elaborate on general public’s attitudes toward and perspectives of English as most of the studies have focused on either English learners, such as students, or English users with various levels of proficiency.

To head for the prospect of being an international country, service industries at the national counters such as airports is among the first group affected by the reform. In 2005, the government planned to stipulate that taxi drivers at airports to take the basic level of General English Proficiency Test (GEPT henceforth). The news took wide media coverage on January 7, 2005. The next day on January 8, 2005, the editorials were crammed with both voices of agreements or discontendedness toward the reform.

In one report, Li (2005) accounts for taxi-drivers’ collective of the reform and

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explains that English proficiency guarantees higher income and stable customer-hood.

It again points to the fact that English is instrumental. To sum up, the three focus of the new policy targeting at different groups of citizens are in fact aiming at making English prevalent in Taiwan. Through language planning, social values and status of English are also imposed on citizens. However, language normality in a given society is never a result of language planning solely. As Blommaert (2009) states, institutions, though playing a primary role in language normality, are never hegemonic.

2.4.2 Other institutional power

Language ideology can also be produced and reproduced in media (Spitulnik 1998). Take magazines in Taiwan for example, English or English-Chinese code-mixing is a marked language choice which has been manipulated to attract attention. At the same time, English or code-switching vivifies expressions (Shih &

Sung 1995). To ensure intelligibility, that is, to make sure that readers can read the English expressions with even limited proficiency, usually short and basic English words, nouns in particular, are preferred (Chen Cheryl Wei-Yu 2006). In press, English projects an image of cosmopolitanism and modernism. Press representations, in particular prestige press, usually allow readers to view the hegemony of English as uncritical and positive (Demont-Heinrich 2008).

In the previous two sections, it has been demonstrated that English in Taiwan is mostly treated as instrumental. And owing to power imposed through language planning and economic values of English, English is bestowed symbolic power in the society. Hence, it is not surprising to find that English is exploited by speakers to construct authority. Lan (2003) discusses that the employer-employee hierarchy between Taiwanese employers and Filipina domestic workers can thus be easily

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challenged through manipulation of English. Taiwanese employers use economic capital to establish authority while Filipina domestic workers use their cultural capital to display resistance. Ownership of English as cultural capital sometimes outruns the ownership of economic capital. Through interview, Lan claims that Taiwanese employers are self-reported to be less unwilling to hire well-educated domestic workers. Though economic capital is still the determinant in the employment relation, English sometimes has higher prestige in markets in transnational interaction. And the symbolic power of English even precedes its actual use in Taiwan.

The sociolinguistic profile of English in Taiwan is strongly related to language planning and media. Through implementation, English in Taiwan is viewed strongly positive and facilitative to upward mobility.

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To investigate language ideology of English in Taiwan, the study adopts a qualitative approach and has collected data chiefly through interviews. The sociolinguistic profile of English in Taiwan was mostly conducted in quantitative analyses (e.g. Wang 2000; Chen 2010). Moreover, the issue was usually approached from the facets of English education in Taiwan (e.g. Chang 2008; Hsieh 2006; Lee 2008; Oladejo 2006). Relatively little attention has been paid to the social dimension excerpt for language attitudes toward English. The study is aimed at developing a sociolinguistic account for conceptualizations of English. Gathering data through interviews allow observations of rationalizations of English. Yet, the drawbacks of conducting interviews, such as the interviewer’s control in interviews and interviewees’ awareness and pressure of providing information conforming to shared social norms, are taken into consideration. Consequently, the interview data contains such rich information that they cannot be treated as flat and regular question-and-answer sequences.