English, Competitiveness, and Deficiency: A Critical Discourse Analysis of English Education in Taiwan

Abstract

This study suggests that the spread of English in the world involves not only the effect
of policy making and education practices but also the subtle influence of discourses regarding
English. It focuses on the discourse of English education in the beginning of the 21st century
when English education at elementary level was adopted as an important language-in-education
policy in non-English East Asian countries such as Taiwan (Nunan, 2003; Ho and Wong, 2003).
By presenting a textual analysis of the discursive practices on English education at that time, the
ideological character of the English language in Taiwan is investigated. Through the
employment of Critical Discourse Analysis and by analyzing how English is presented in the
educational document, it examines the presentation and construction of discourses on English.
This research suggests that discourses concerning English in Taiwan are conditioned by the
external global structure and Taiwan’s socio-cultural context. Through discourses regarding
English education for elementary and junior high schools, the ideology of English consequently
functions as part of the mechanisms involved in the global spread of English.