A Comparative Study of Elementary EFL Education Policies in Japan and Taiwan– From Foucauldian Perspective

• Main Authors: Ming-Yu Hsu, 許銘裕
• Other Authors: Wen-Jou, Hung
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2016
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/f34y69

博士 === 國立暨南國際大學 === 國際文教與比較教育學系 === 104 === Concept of Foucault’s micropower perspective is the analytic theory for this research to analyze and criticize power within English education policy text of Taiwan and Japan, comparing to power analysis from macorpower perspective. As Foucault has indicated, knowledge produced surveillance and discipline to teachers and students in the classroom. In addition to Foucault’s concepts of micropower, Ball’s and Popkewitz’s application to Foucault’s concepts also served to set up a micropower analytic construct for policy analysis. The research methods were discourse analysis, text analysis, and Bereday’s comparative method. The findings with a further analysis were as following: 1. Discourses of English elementary education policies varied between Taiwan and Japan. Discourses of economy, international relation, English teaching, and teaching material had something in common, but others differed. 2. Discourses of contextual construct produced practices of elementary English education in Taiwan, and discourses of educational construct, dominated by ELT, displined elementary school teachers and students in the classroom. 3. In Japan, priority of English teaching is after Japanese teaching due to influence of distinct discourses of contextual construct. Referring to educational construct, the situation remains the same. Japanese is prior to English because of inner/outer categorization of discourses. 4. Teachers and students in Taiwan and Japan are docile bodies of discursive discourses, and they have no freedom in choosing languages for communication. Rather than use their will to communicate to others, they are mostly to bodies of “communicate to will”. At last, this study provides a micropower analytic framework for researchers to explore power within elementary English education policy. Also, it is suggested to explore power research of language planning to protect language right of minor languages. Furthermore, researchers may evaluate power practices in English education policies to reconsider meaning of communication.