The mother tongues as second languages: nationalism, democracy and multilingual education in Taiwan

Abstract

After nearly half a century of authoritarianism characterized by Chinese nationalism and Mandarin promotion, democratization in 1990s Taiwan was accompanied by a Taiwanization movement featuring calls for the revitalization of local languages and the promotion of linguistic equality. To that end, the government began planning for local language education, and, starting in 2001, children have had to attend one weekly hour of mandatory local language education. This curriculum, which is often referred to as ‘mother tongue education’ in Taiwan, has been criticized as being of little value for language acquisition and transmission. Squeezed between Mandarin – the language of instruction, public affairs and increasingly language of home – and English – the international language – the so-called Taiwanese mother tongues are increasingly being learned, taught and used as second languages. Based on a review of secondary sources, public document analysis and interviews with Taiwanese public officials and language revivalists, this paper offers an overview of local language education policy and planning in Taiwan, with a special focus on the respective influences of democratization, human rights promotion and identity politics.

Keywords:

• Taiwan
• democracy
• nationalism
• indigenous language
• Mandarin
• mother tongue

Notes on contributor

Jean-François Dupré is a recent Ph.D. graduate from the Department of Politics and Public Administration, The University of Hong Kong. This paper was written while on a Visiting Doctoral Fellowship at the Institute of Sociology, Academia Sinica (2012–2013). He holds a BA in East Asian Studies (Major) and Comparative Politics (Minor) from McGill University, and an M.Sc. in Social and Political Studies (Nationalism Studies) from the University of Edinburgh. His current research centres on linguistic, ethnic and national identities in the greater China region (PRC, Macau, Hong Kong and Taiwan), with a particular focus on the Taiwanization and language normalization movement in Taiwan.