David on Formosa

Earlier this year I blogged about a Ministry of Education (MoE) plan to certify Mandarin teachers in Taiwan. Yesterday’s Taipei Times carried a report giving more details of the plan.

The country’s first national certification system for Mandarin teachers who wish to teach overseas has been established and will take effect at the end of this year, the Ministry of Education (MOE) said yesterday.
According to the system, these Mandarin teachers — regardless of their nationality — will be certified either through examinations or qualification inspections.

The first examinations are expected to be held on Nov. 4 and Nov. 5 and the qualified teachers will receive their certificates by the end of December.

The test subjects include Chinese linguistics, Mandarin teaching, Chinese society and culture, Chinese literature and Mandarin oral fluency.

I think the move is a good one and it is important to set some standards for teachers. The certification may help ensure that Mandarin teachers in Taiwan have some qualifications I don’t know how well the certificate will be accepted internationally. One problem that Taiwanese teachers face if they wish to work abroad is that most courses use simplified characters and Hanyu pinyin. Also there is often a preference for a Beijing or northern accent. I think the latter is something that is given undue importance, but the former needs to be recognised. Unless a teacher is completely familiar with simplified characters and Hanyu pinyin they will have difficulty competing in the job market.

On the pinyin issue, the Taipei Times article says,

Hsin Shih-chang (信世昌), chairman of the Graduate Institute of Teaching Chinese as a Second Language at National Taiwan Normal University, said that the issue of which pinyin system to use in the exams will not be a problem. He said the exams may involve a test of the ability to compare and contrast different pinyin systems.

Of course it is useful to know the differences between the major systems of pinyin, but unless a teacher has a complete knowledge of Hanyu pinyin then they should not be certified.

It is also good to note that foreigners may also take the test. According to the report, “Candidates of any nationality may take the exams, provided they have a college degree that is approved by the MOE.”

Finally I just want to point out a mistake in the Taipei Times article.

The certification system is Taiwan’s latest gambit in its growing competition with China for the global Mandarin-teaching market.

In the past, there was no official Mandarin teaching proficiency test in Taiwan except the computerized Chinese Proficiency Test (CPT), which was launched by the Center for Chinese Language and Culture Studies at National Taiwan Normal University.

The Chinese Proficiency Test is designed to test learners of Mandarin as a second language. It is not designed for testing teachers.