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What is “Bilingual Teaching” in Taiwan?
In my last post, I discussed the definition of EMI in Taiwan. Now I will look at another term–bilingual teaching. The Bilingual 2030 policy defines different approaches to higher education, which uses EMI, and senior high school and below, which should implement bilingual teaching. But what does bilingual teaching actually mean? At least for senior […]
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What is “EMI” in Taiwan?
As Ernesto Macaro laid out in his 2018 book titled English Medium Instruction, the acronym EMI has taken on different meanings around the world. EMI has been said to stand for, among other things, English-medium instruction English as the medium of instruction English as a medium of instruction In terms of English language use, the […]
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A Response to “Bilingual Policy Deserves Support”
On June 2, 2022, the Taipei Times published an article titled “Bilingual Policy Deserves Support” by Peter Whittle. From the onset, I think it is important for me to explicitly state that I support bilingual education. I think that idea may get lost in some of my criticism of policy in this blog and my […]
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“English was to a large extent only the teacher’s language”
The quote in the title comes from a research paper by Eva Codó titled “The Dilemmas of Experimental [Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL)] in Catalonia.” In the paper, the author describes her observations of a teacher named Jordi. It was observed that Jordi rarely required students to use English and, accordingly, students rarely did. […]
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The Problem with Points and Averaged Grades
Recently, I have been getting into the blog Grading for Growth. The blog is about alternative grading, which I believe can be incredibly useful in bilingual education. In short (though I suggest you read the blog), alternative grading focuses on feedback over grades. For bilingual students battling numerous challenges when learning through a non-dominant language, […]
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Writing Objectives for a Bilingual Lesson
When an additional language is brought in as a medium of instruction for a course (whether partially or fully), the first reaction of teachers is often this: “I don’t have enough time to teach everything.” In many classrooms around the world, teachers implement a coverage curriculum—that is, where the goal is to cover all of […]
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A Response to “The Best Bilingual Education Starts Early”
On December 27, 2021, the Taipei Times published an editorial written by Professor Rongwen Huang of National Changhua University of Education titled “The Best Bilingual Education Starts Early.” Commenting on the implementation of bilingual education in Taiwan, Professor Huang’s suggestion is as follows: “Tsai’s bilingual education plan should start from the roots and focus on […]
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A Response to “Tsai Mulling English Test Update for Entrance Exams”
On Monday, November 1, 2021, the Taipei Times reported in an article titled “Tsai Mulling English Test Update for Entrance Exams” that President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) suggested replacing the English part of university entrance exams with proficiency tests. I am cautiously in favor of such a change. On the surface, separating English classes from the […]
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SFL Genre Pedagogy: The Key to Integrating Language and Content
When I conduct bilingual education training for teachers in Taiwan, I usually have the participants discuss their feelings about this statement: It is the job of the bilingual teacher to teach the English language. Since my audience is typically content teachers, most disagree. When asked why they disagree, they answer, “That’s the English teacher’s job!” […]
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A Response to “Tips for Making Taiwan Bilingual”
On October, 10, 2021, the Taipei Times printed an opinion piece by Michael Riches titled “Tips for Making Taiwan Bilingual.” I would like to provide my response to some statements in the article. As Taiwan moves toward English-only instruction in 60 percent of elementary and high schools by 2024, with the goal of having a […]