Recognizing Chinese Character Class

RCCC was implemented in 2003 by the Ministry of Education. The Ministry of Education encouraged schools to consider providing Chinese class for new immigrants under their original adult school curriculum. Besides teaching them Chinese, RCCC has an ambitious goal to help new immigrants adapt their life in Taiwan better as well as solve any problems that they may encounter in their daily life. The Ministry of Education also tied in RCCC with attaining the legal residency. Namely, new immigrants must attend at least 72 hours in order to retrieve Taiwanese legal residency. By doing some, the attendance rate of RCCC has increased; however, it raised several issues besides learning Mandarin.

The objectives of the RCCC are as follows: (1) improving new immigrants’ Chinese competence in reading, writing, speaking and listening; (2) preparing students to make effective use of Chinese language and knowledge; (3) choosing topics relevant to students’ daily lives, needs and interests; (4) addressing cross-cultural issues (e.g., social customs); (5) incorporating reading, writing, speaking and listening into class activities; and (6) understanding and recognizing the Taiwanese culture.

The widespread use of non-qualified teachers became one of the primary concerns for effective language instruction (Nuana, 2003). While universities have not prepared enough qualified heritage language curriculum and instruction teachers, K-12 already starts hiring such teachers. Such language also raised political and historical background of Taiwanese language policies. Most schools ask their current Chinese language teachers to teach these immigrants Chinese; however, these Chinese teachers usually do not have bilingual or second language acquisition training from their education. As a result, these language programs are less effective in improving their Chinese competency.

Method

This study is an exploratory instead of conclusive study. Interview responses were transcribed for data analysis. The rationale for the interview questions was to gather information relating to three major areas: (1) the teachers’ perceptions of the government’s policy on the RCCC; (2) the impact of the government’s policy on their instruction; and (3) the dilemmas faced in teaching immigrants Chinese.

Data Collection

Data collection included scheduled interviews included six interviews and a classroom observation and relevant document analysis. Interviewees were four teachers, an administrator, and a male new immigrant in the city and county of Taipei, and Taoyuan County and Tainan County. Data were collected through interviews and a classroom observation. All proper names references through this study are pseudonyms. The interviews were conducted in Chinese, which allowed the instructors to express their ideas fluently and fully. Each interview was audio taped and transcribed verbatim in Chinese, and subsequently, translated into English by the researcher and proof-reading by native speakers.

Classroom observations followed the interviews in new immigrant centre in Taoyuan County. The researcher was seated at the back of the classroom and occasionally moved around the class. Field notes taken on site documented the progression and procedures of each lesson, as well as the dilemmas each teacher encountered in class. The observation was lasted for 120 minutes includes the break time. The final data source was a document analysis of textbooks, and extracurricular activities of new immigrant centre.