Ideological Representations of Taiwan’s History: An Analysis of Elementary Social Studies Textbooks, 1978–1995

Abstract

Textbooks play a central role in Taiwanese education. In the wake of the political reform and social protest movements of the 1970s and 1980s that led to Taiwanese educational reform, critics assert that traditional textbooks reinforce the dominant national Chinese cultural identity without considering the specific perspectives and voices of different gender, cultural, and ethnic groups. The study's purpose is to examine how political and ideological issues were represented in nationally standardized grade-four social studies textbooks from 1978 to 1995; how the textbook portrayed the history of cultural and ethnic groups as well as both genders in Taiwan; and whether the ideology changed because of political and socioeconomic pressures. In order to explore this question, two series of textbooks were examined. The first series was published between 1978 and 1989, the second between 1989 and 1995. Two social studies textbooks from each series were examined. The study's theoretic framework centers on the relationship between legitimated knowledge and the textbooks, employing the methodology of textbook analysis. Three themes were examined: (1) Taiwan's historical development, (2) national identity and nationalism, and (3) ethnic and gender studies. Two analyses were applied in each theme: (1) story-line analysis and (2) language analysis.

The depiction of women in the verbal text of a junior secondary Malawian history textbook - an analysis

“…In studies conducted outside of Europe and the United States, Su (2007) in Taiwan, Schoeman (2009) and Fardon and Schoeman (2010) in South Africa and Muravyeva (2006) in Russia, reported similar results. Su (2007) reported that no space was devoted to Taiwanese women's experiences and perspectives as well as their past contributions in Taiwanese social studies' textbooks.…”

“…Studies from other parts of the world, including the United Kingdom (Cain & Inglis, 1989), the United States (Chick, 2006;Schrader & Wotipka 2011), Taiwan (Su, 2007) and South Africa (Schoeman, 2009;Schoeman & Fardon, 2010), spoke of similar under-representation and marginalisation. Equally, the portrayal of women in traditional feminine roles and attributes concurred with studies conducted elsewhere (Cains & Inglis, 1989;Sleeter & Grant, 1991;Commeyras & Alvermann, 1996;Su, 2007;Fardon and Schoeman, 2010;Schrader & Wotipka, 2011). Likewise, the general stereotyping of women as incapable of significant historical acts other than being mothers or wives of famous men resonate with the work done by Commeyras and Alvermann (1996).…”

“…In the light of this, much has been written globally in the recent past about the depiction of women in textbooks in general and in history textbooks specifically (Cains & Inglis, 1989;Sleeter & Grant, 1991;Ruthsdotter, 1996;Commeyras & Alvermann, 1996;Frederickson, 2004;Chick, 2006;Muravyeva, 2006;Su, 2007;Schoeman, 2009;Fardon & Schoeman, 2010;Schrader & Wotipka, 2011).…”

“…Su (2007) reported that no space was devoted to Taiwanese women's experiences and perspectives as well as their past contributions in Taiwanese social studies' textbooks. In an African context Schoeman (2009) argued that the content in the three South African textbooks she studied under-represented women to the point that they were almost invisible.…”

How teachers design and implement intstructional materials to improve classroom practice

“…Compared with the wealth of studies into other aspects of materials, such as the ideological, epistemological, axiological, psychological and educational, it is somewhat under-represented. Carvalho, Silva & Ferrero, 2007;Su, 2007;Travé & Pozuelos, 2008;.…”