The spread of English as a global language has contributed to the trend of recruiting native English-speaking teachers (NESTs) through government-funded schemes around the world, particularly in East Asia. In Taiwan, the NEST scheme has been recently expanded because of the national policy for a bilingual Taiwan in 2030. However, the NEST scheme…

Research on novice ESL/EFL teachers' identity development often characterizes the teaching practicum/internship as a boundary-crossing period in which pre-service teachers move out of the sheltered environment of education to become in-service teachers in real classrooms. Nevertheless, many prospective teachers experience a prolonged pre-service…

Over the past few decades, scholars have paid increasing attention to the role of native speakerism in the field of TESOL. Several recent studies have exposed instances of native speakerism in TESOL recruitment discourses published through a variety of media, but none have focused specifically on professional websites advertising programs in…

In order to promote energy literacy for graders K-12, the Ministry of Education (MOE) in Taiwan initiated a K-12 Energy Technology Education Project in September 2010. This 40-month project has one project office affiliated to a university, and 18 promotion centers affiliated to 18 schools--including 5 regional centers for upper-secondary schools…

Case studies have pointed out that teachers' disciplinary knowledge affects their pedagogy; however, the results are not consistent. There is a need for quantitative research to examine the relationship between teacher knowledge and practice, particularly in social studies where content-specific studies are mostly qualitative. The authors used…

The status of English as a global language has played a significant role in contemporary language education policies across the world. In East Asia, the hegemony of English has been reflected in a number of central governments' policies of recruiting native English-speaking teachers (NESTs) to participate in English language education. This paper…

The Taiwan Government launched the Hand-in-Hand After-School Care Program in 2006 with several goals: In addition to providing disadvantaged students with supplemental learning opportunities, this highly ambitious government program hopes to provide increased employment opportunities for substitute teachers and low-income college students, and…

Teacher quality has been a perennial issue in the field of education. In addition to academic ability, psychological and motivational characteristics are regarded as increasingly important dimensions of teacher quality. This study has established a multidimensional framework of teacher quality including social competency, adaptive ability and…

The teaching profession has difficulties in recruiting high-quality science teachers in many countries and many beginning science teachers would leave after their first year of teaching. As Taiwan has recently been able to recruit many graduate-level science students into teachers' training programs, it is important to investigate if these…

Teacher college and training institutions in the Republic of China are established by the government and limited to public institutions. Graduates of institutions other than normal colleges must receive preservice training in a normal college or school of education of a public university to achieve certification. Preservice training for primary…

Due to rapid social changes, the government of the Republic of China instituted in 1979 the "Teacher Education Statute," which incorporated the training of both elementary and secondary school teachers. This was followed by legislation in the form of bylaws that prescribed the ways and means of the program's implementation. Revision of…

Taiwanese teachers enjoy higher occupational prestige and greater job satisfaction than teachers elsewhere. These outcomes are attributed to favorable government policies in teacher education and schooling over past decades. Cultural, historical, and political traditions have shaped the high social status of Taiwanese teachers. The effects of…