| In recent years, the increasing biethnic population, called the "new Taiwanese' or "children of new immigrants," has impacted the education system in Taiwan, which is not fully acknowledged. The particular ethnic, linguistic, and cultural backgrounds of these biethnic students are not used as resources or knowledge foundations in school curriculum and instruction. Instead, they are viewed as deficient individuals who lack the economic and linguistic capital to succeed at schools and in society. The primary purpose of this study was to explore the process in which the instructional decisions and behaviors of elementary school teachers in Taiwan are mediated by their beliefs of biethnic students, and how these are influenced by contextual factors such as education policy, textbooks, and expectations of school administrators. In addition to exploring instructional behaviors of teachers, this study examined the learning experiences of biethnic students, and the extent to which claims of multicultural education in the United States are valid when transferred to other geo-political, national, and cultural contexts, in this case, Taiwan. Qualitative case study research methods were applied to capture the dynamics of teacher beliefs and instructional behaviors and biethnic students' learning experiences in three first grade classes. Data derived from observations during Mandarin instruction, semi-structure interviews with three teachers, their biethnic students, and school administrators, and document analysis were used to answer the research questions. The data were presented in six areas of classroom dynamics, including instructional goals, Mandarin teaching strategies, teaching about diversity, parent participation in classrooms, classroom management, and student-teacher instructional interactions. Several possible explanations were provided for the results this study generated about how Taiwanese teachers interacted with their biethnic students. They included: lack of multicultural education training; preventing stereotyping and stigmatizing; insufficient experiences on teaching biethnic students; following the national education policy; time and energy constraints; Insufficient studies regarding biethnic students; lack of support from school administrators; and school is not the only institution where biethnic students learn. Limitations, significance of the study, and recommendations were proposed as well. |
