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Taiwan's Language Curriculum and Policy: a Rhetorical Analysis of the DPP's Claims-Making

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Taiwan's Language Curriculum and Policy: a Rhetorical Analysis of the DPP's Claims-Making University of Northern Iowa UNI ScholarWorks Dissertations and Theses @ UNI Student Work 2009 Taiwan's language curriculum and policy: A rhetorical analysis of the DPP's claims-making Yi-Hsuan Lee University of Northern Iowa Let us know how access to this document benefits ouy Copyright ©2009 Yi-Hsuan Lee Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.uni.edu/etd Part of the Language and Literacy Education Commons Recommended Citation Lee, Yi-Hsuan, "Taiwan's language curriculum and policy: A rhetorical analysis of the DPP's claims- making" (2009). Dissertations and Theses @ UNI. 670. https://scholarworks.uni.edu/etd/670 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Work at UNI ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations and Theses @ UNI by an authorized administrator of UNI ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. TAIWAN'S LANGUAGE CURRICULUM AND POLICY: A RHETORICAL ANALYSIS OF THE DPP'S CLAIMS-MAKING A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Education Approved: Dr. Robert Boody, Committee Chair Dr. John Fritch, Committee Member Dr. Kent Sandstrom, Committee Member Dr. Kimberly Knesting, Committee Member Dr. Sarina Chen, Committee Member Yi-Hsuan Lee University of Northern Iowa December 2009 UMI Number: 3392894 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. UMI Dissertation Publishing UMI 3392894 Copyright 2010 by ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This edition of the work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 11 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS For the days of my studying in Iowa, it is just like what Charles Dickens addressed in 1859: It was the best of my time, it was the worst of my time; it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness; it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity; it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness; it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair; I had everything before me, I had nothing before me; now I am at the point of writing the acknowledgments for my dissertation. A Chinese proverb, which says "Rely on parents at home and rely on friends when you out of home," describes my life precisely. I appreciate my family and friends' support and patience. I would like to thank my dissertation chair, Dr. Robert Boody, and my committee members: Dr. John Fritch, Dr. Kent Sandstrom, Dr. Kim Knesting, Dr. Sarina Chen, and Dr. Taifa Yu. I appreciate my course adviser, Dr. Ana Donaldson, and my other professors for their great lessons and assistance. I am grateful for having their examples which will help me be a good teacher and even a good parent in my future. I want to thank the tutors in the university writing center and Reuben Mork for editing my English. They are not only my English editors but also caring friends. I have finally finished the Ed. D. journey and appreciate the scenes and companions I have enjoyed along the way. I will always keep the memories of beauty and kindness I have experienced in Iowa in mind as I walk other journeys. Life is about connecting dreams. I completed one dream in Iowa and am now ready to fulfill my next dream. I would like to take this chance to thank my teachers, family, and friends who provide me the knowledge and courage to keep going and loving the journey of life. Ill TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1 Language Controversy in Taiwan 2 Problem Statement 4 Research Question 5 Origin of the Study 5 Significance of the Study 9 Approach of the Study 9 Overview of the Study 12 CHAPTER 2 REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE 13 Review of the Chinese Language Policy and Education 13 Regimes of Language: Politics and Identities 14 Historical Context of Different Chinese Written Language in Mainland China and Taiwan 18 Social Context of Different Chinese Written Language in Mainland China and Taiwan 19 Differences in Chinese Systems between Taiwan and China 24 Different written languages 24 Different phonetic symbols 26 Language and Identity 27 Native Education and Equality of Languages in Taiwan 30 Native education 30 Language equality 31 Language Curriculum and Policy Changes in Taiwan 35 Issues that Influence the Taiwanese Government's Policy Decisions 37 Political context of policy making 39 Historical context of policy decision 42 Political Power and Education 45 Conclusion of Review of Language and Politics 49 CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY 52 Theoretical Framework of this Study 52 The Value of Rhetorical Analysis 53 The Process of Rhetorical Analysis 54 Research Approach 56 Social Problems Research 56 Pentadic Analysis of Political Policies 58 Summary of Burke's approach 61 Procedures 61 Document Analysis 61 Situating the Documents within a Context 64 CHAPTER 4 ANALYSIS 65 The Claim-Making Regarding Taiwan's Educational Reform 68 Rhetorical Analysis of Tu's Speech 68 V Analysis of the DPP Government's Claims 70 The Applied Analysis of Social Problems Research 79 The Proposed Language Equality Act 86 Ideas of Language Equality 86 The Claim-Making Regarding the Proposal of Language Equality 92 Native Languages at Risk 98 Creating Identification with the Language Equality Law 101 An Analysis of the Guidelines of the 98 Curriculum 112 The Government Design of the 98 Curriculum 112 The Opposition View on the 98 Curriculum 115 Pentadic Analysis of the Government's National Curriculum 117 Claims Made by the Government and Opposition's Views 119 CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION 128 Summary of Findings 128 Learning Native Language to Have Taiwanese Consciousness 129 Learning Native Language to Ensure Language Equality 130 Learning Native Language to Have Taiwan-Centered Education 133 Native Languages Are not Ethnic Languages 135 Native Languages Need to Be Learned in School 139 Discussions 142 Conclusion of Findings 147 REFERENCES 149 TAIWAN'S LANGUAGE CURRICULUM AND POLICY: A RHETORICAL ANALYSIS OF THE DPP'S CLAIMS-MAKING An Abstract of a Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Education Approved: Dr. Robert Boody, Committee Chair Dr. Sue A. Joseph Interim Dean of the Graduate College Yi-Hsuan Lee University of Northern Iowa December 2009 ABSTRACT This case study of Taiwan's language curriculum and policy is a rhetorical analysis of the claims-making regarding changes with Taiwan's native languages and Chinese education. To answer the research question of whether or not the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government claims support its language curriculum and policy changes, this study applied (a) Social problems research, and (b) Burke's dramatisim to analyze the claims. Two statements by the Taiwanese government about its educational policy, during the 2000-2008 presidencies, were analyzed along with the actual curriculum guidelines. Also, the opponents' opinions regarding the government's actions, which were represented in the newspapers, were examined to provide the context needed for an effective social problems research analysis. The DPP government provided claims to persuade people that there was a need to shift the China-centered education to Taiwan-centered education to ensure the equality of different native language rights among the ethnic groups by implementing curriculum and policy changes in Taiwan. This study looked at the speech of the Minister of Education, the proposed Language Equality Act, and the Guidelines of 98 Chinese Language Curriculum to understand the claims the DPP government made to support their language curriculum and policy changes. The rhetorical analysis for these documents also provide an example of how the political power could influence education and society through claims-making as well as planning curriculum and policy in the sense of building Taiwanese identity instead of Chinese identity. Based on the analysis of the DPP government's claims regarding language equality, the findings showed that Ho-lo, a common native language, is not at risk and has a more favorable position in education. It surpasses Mandarin Chinese as the national language but does not demonstrate language equality or Taiwan-centered education. The DPP government cannot prove that studying native languages, especially Ho-lo, has a correlation to Taiwanese identity or helps Taiwanese consciousness. However, the DPP government's suggestions regarding language education could create a split among the different ethnic groups about their Taiwanese identification. The new language curriculum and policy could become a controversy, because it increases the influence of Ho-lo as native Taiwanese and displaces Mandarin Chinese as the national language. The connection between Ho-lo as the Taiwanese language and national identity might threaten people who are not native Ho-lo speakers. In addition, it raises a concern about the DPP using Ho-lo to replace Mandarin Chinese as the national language to further Taiwan's independence. The importance of this study is that it examines the claims regarding the Taiwan- centered education and language equality, within a political and historical context, to understand the reasons and effects for making the language curriculum and policy changes. This is a rhetorical analysis that applies the findings of a real situation to meet practical needs in politics and education. This study helps to apply the use of rhetorical analysis to policy in order to understand the government's claim making and the educational decisions within the political context.
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