Date of Graduation

Spring 3-21-2016

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL)

College/School

School of Education

Department/Program

Education

First Advisor

Bradley Washington

Second Advisor

Sedique Popal

Abstract

This is a qualitative study examining the perspectives of five Taiwanese-American English teachers on their experiences of discrimination in the English language-teaching field of Taiwan. An extensive amount of literature has been written about the nativeness paradigm and its effect on the English language-teaching field, but the Taiwanese-American experience concerning those issues has yet to be explored. The study used Asian Critical Race Theory, Social Identity Theory and Asian American Racial Identity Theory to analyze the history of English language teaching in Taiwan, the critical studies on native and non-native English language teachers and the social issues affecting Asian Americans in Taiwan. The study found that all of the participants were aware of the notions of hiring discrimination and stereotypes against ethnically Asian English teachers, but not all participants believed that it had a negative impact on their social identity or self-identity. This study offers a voice to Taiwanese-American English teachers in hopes of encouraging a more progressive attitude towards the diversity of all English teachers in Taiwan.

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