| The problem. The purpose of this study is to explore Taiwanese junior high school educators' perspectives on the efficacy and implementation of the New Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)-based English Education Policy, bridging the gap between new government policy and the reality of teaching practice.; Method. This study utilized qualitative research methods to provide descriptive data about the opinions of Taiwanese junior high school English educators regarding CLT and how the new CLT-based policy is being implemented. The participants included seven Taiwanese junior high school English teachers, two junior high school principals, and a professor at a teacher's college. In addition, all of the teachers were observed while conducting several lessons. Themes were extracted from the interviews, field notes, and government documents and were then triangulated.; Results. Results indicated that most of the ten educators agreed that CLT is an effective approach for teaching English. On the other hand, they believe that the implementation of the policy has several negative effects on students' English language learning. One of these negative effects is the Double-Curve Distribution Phenomenon, which divides students into a high and low proficiency group.; In addition to having negative effects on students, the adoption of a CLT-based policy caused difficulties for teachers. They experienced a number of implementation challenges, including: (a) being restricted by large class sizes in which students' English proficiency levels varied, (b) feeling pressured by the demands of the grammar-based exam-oriented teaching schedule, (c) having an insufficient command of spoken English, (d) having limited teaching hours and resources, and (e) realizing that CLT is unsuitable for the Taiwanese EFL context. Participants felt that in-service teacher training and support should be improved to help teachers implement the new policy.; This study's findings lead to a number of pedagogical implications for improving junior high school English education in Taiwan. The author makes the following recommendations to the Taiwanese government's education policy makers: (a) modify exams to be CLT based, (b) adopt interactive language activities through the use of technology, (c) offer more practical in-service trainings, (d) offer in-service training on differentiated learning/teaching techniques and strategies for handling varying levels of proficiency within a class, (e) support the rearrangement of class schedules to accommodate in-service training, (f) group students by proficiency levels starting in grade seven, (g) teach with the assumption that students have no English proficiency, (h) increase the number of English teaching hours, (i) hire more native English speakers as teachers and mentors, and (j) reduce class sizes. |
