Implementation Evaluation on Foreign Brides' Literacy Education in Taipei
Journal
OMNES:The Journal of Multicultural Society
Journal Volume
1
Journal Issue
1
Pages
67-83
Date Issued
2010
Author(s)
Yi Thun Hsu
Abstract
There are more and more foreign brides who have migrated from Vietnam, Thailand, Philippe, Indonesia, or China to Taiwan. Currently the total amount of foreign brides is about 300,000, which occupies 1.3 percent of the total population in Taiwan. Foreign brides and their kids were entitled as "New Taiwanese" since they have to adjust their life style to fit Taiwan culture and environment. Moreover, they have to improve communication skills and knowledge to meet their family demands as well as child education after their marriage. In order to help foreign brides' life adaptation, Taiwan government has focused on their care and counseling policy over the past decade. The policy primarily covered literacy education, living skills, cooking skills, culture and environment acquaintance, etc. By and large, linguistic problems attracted the most attention and, therefore, literacy education has become one of the important issues to those foreign brides. This paper focuses on the implementation evaluation of foreign brides' literacy education in Taipei city. Currently 16 elementary schools have set up 3-year literacy programs for foreign brides. The research employed surveys and in-depth interviews to understand the opinions from policy stakeholders. Basically, questionnaires were handed out to the foreign brides who are currently taking literacy education programs in the elementary schools in order to understand their value, attitude, and satisfaction toward the whole program. Additionally, interviews were conducted with four categories of policy stakeholders: foreign brides, families of foreign brides, teachers of literacy education programs, and public officials from the Department of Education in Taipei City Government. The research wishes not only to induce various studies of foreign brides from academics, but also to propose policy implications for policy makers and practitioners.
Type
journal article