This study investigates whether Taiwan's policy of requiring Aboriginal students to pass a Certification of Aboriginal Culture and Language Proficiency (CACLP) exam in order to receive preferential admissions treatment can motivate them to learn their endangered ethnic languages. The policy was introduced in 2002 and requires students to pass the CACLP or see their preferential score bonus decline over time. Survey results found that students were mostly motivated by integrative rather than instrumental reasons, such as proving their ethnic language proficiency. However, the CACLP may not guarantee continued learning of ethnic languages. Longitudinal studies are still needed to fully evaluate the policy's effectiveness.

1. Can Conditional Preferential
Policy Motivate Taiwan’s
Aboriginal Students to
Recognize Their Endangered
Ethnic Languages?
Che-Wei Lee
University of Pittsburgh
Duane Champagne
University of California, Los Angeles
58th Annual Conference of the Comparative and International Education Society
Wednesday, 12 March 2014, 8:00-9:30am, Building/Room: Sheraton Downtown
Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel, 123 Queen Street West, Toronto, Ontario M5H 2M9, Canada

2. Research Question
This study investigates whether Certification of
Aboriginal Cultural and Language Proficiency
(CACLP) established as one of the qualifications
for the preferential treatment admissions policy
in college entrance exam can motivate Taiwan
Aboriginal students to recognize and learn their
endangered ethnic languages.
Copyright © 2014 by Lee and Champagne 2

3. Brief Overview of Taiwanese
Aborigines
• 14 officially recognized tribes
• 52 thousand out of 23 million (= 2.25%)
• Urban residence = 44% (western and northern
Taiwan)
• Preferential policy in senior high school and
college/university admissions
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4. What Is Conditional Preferential
Policy?
An extra form where the score of the candidate
with the Aboriginal identity is augmented by a
fixed number of points [Granted based on blood]
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+ ( / ) − ( / )
Certification of Aboriginal Culture and Language
Proficiency (CACLP) [Conditional award or cultural
incentive?]
Qualifier = 33.3% Disqualifier = decline 5%
per year till 10 %

5. Policy Debates:
Blood Aboriginality vs. Cultural Aboriginality
• Backlash: Dominant ethnic Han students and parents vs. Taiwanese
Aboriginal Counterparts
• Flash Point: Prior to 2002, indigenous students are qualified based on
their blood lineage, who particularly shared the same educational
circumstance.
• Conditional Preferential Policy: After 2002, the government
introduced a new policy requiring Aboriginal students pass a
Certification of Aboriginal Culture and Language Proficiency (CACLP)
in order to qualify for the preferential score, which is extra 35% for
the qualified students and 25% for those who fail or do not take it.
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6. Copyright © 2014 by Lee and Champagne 6
Motivation and Language
Learning
“Motivation refers to the choices people make as
to what experiences or goals they will approach or
avoid and the degree of effort they will exert in
this respect” (John Keller 1983, p. 389).
The motivations in second language acquisition
can be divided into integrative and instrumental
orientations (Robert C. Gardner 2010).

7. Language Shift
Brenzinger and Dimmendaal (1992) argue
that “language shift does not necessarily
result in language obsolescence” (3), but it
mostly occurs in “a language’s ceasing to
be spoken” (Harrison 2010, 279), or even
reversed, thereby demanding revitalizing
action.
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8. Survey Methodology
• An Aboriginal-based high school
• All 267 Aboriginal Students aged years
• Grade 10 = 97; Grade 11 = 106; Grade 12 = 64
• Questionnaire (response rate = 100%)
• Follow-up interviews by random sampling
• Gender (male = 143; female = 124)
• Ethnicity (Paiwan = 257; Rukai = 5; Amis = 1;
Atayal = 1; Taruku = 1)
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9. Major Findings
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Item Variable Results
Willing to take CACLP test GPA ranking Top 10 > 21-30
Self-evaluation of CACLP
test
Grade 12th > 10th graders
Impact of CACLP on the
right to enter higher
school
Parental
ethnicity
Only mother is
Aboriginal > only
father is Aboriginal
Impact of CACLP on other
disciplines learning
Gender Male > Female
Agreement on the use of
CACLP as the qualification
for extra scores
Grade 12th > 11th graders
12th > 10th graders

10. Motivation to Obtain CACLP
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Item %
To enter a higher school by additional scores 39.7
To prove your own ethnic language proficiency 33.2
The influence of tribal clansman 8.0
Driven by ethnic consciousness 0.8
Out of curiosity 6.1
Cooperate with governmental policy 2.3
Increase the opportunity of practicing ethnic languages 2.7
Other motives of attending CACLP 7.3
Integrative motivation (60%) > Instrumental Motivation (40%)

11. Conclusions
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• Integrative Motivation >
Instrumental Motivation
• CACLP hardly guarantees continued
learning of ethnic languages.
• Longitudinal and national studies will
be needed to evaluate the
effectiveness of the CACLP.

12. Reflections on CACLP
• Policy maker’s perspective: conditional
patronizing or ideological control, e.g.,
coercive value, cultural evidence,
incentive, identity
• Rethink the role of indigenous language:
problem, right, and resource
• Clarify the purpose of preferential policy
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13. Copyright © 2014 by Lee and Champagne 13
Carole Goldberg, Duane Champagne, and Che-
Wei Lee in the Paiwan Tribe, Pingtung, Taiwan
30 May 2008
leejeiwei@gmail.com