(Special Issue) Challenges in the Teaching of Native Southeast Asian Languages in Taiwanese Junior High and Elementary Schools: Analysis of Supporting Instructors’ Perception

The new immigrant language curriculum has been officially included in Taiwan’s education system following the 12-Year Basic Education Curriculum guidelines enforced in 2018. Accordingly, the government plans to train immigrants from Southeast Asia to teach their mother tongue. The trained immigrants will then be hired by junior high and elementary schools as supporting instructors. This study evaluated the occupational training policy for supporting instructors of Southeast Asian languages in Taiwanese junior high and elementary schools; this study employed a qualitative research design and performed purposive sampling to conduct in-depth interviews with 14 participants (seven supporting instructors experienced in language teaching and seven supporting instructors who were receiving training and had no experience in language teaching). Subsequently, these supporting instructors’ perception of challenges in teaching were analyzed. This study concluded that although supporting instructors recognized that the oc