Saturday 4:45 - 5:35 PM
TTI, 306/7
EST: State of the Art in Taiwan 

With the increasing, need for international communication, English has become a lingua franca, particularly in the dissemination of scientific and technological information. In Taiwan, where English has been playing a more and more important role in higher education, scientific research, and high-tech industries, a growing interest in and a pressing need for EST can be perceived. 

This paper presents the state of the art of EST in Taiwan. It first looks into the educational, professional, and occupational phases of EST. The major issues involved, including the current status of EST, technology and information transfer, academic competence and the scientific-academic community, second language acquisition and first language literacy, learner needs and learner profiles, EST research, and teacher training, are then addressed. Finally, the paper identifies the special features of EST in Taiwan in terms of situational demands and constraints, human resources, materials resources, and learner characteristics.