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Integrating Technology and Innovative Teaching: The Key to Advancing Taiwan's 2030 Bilingual Policy

As globalization and cross-border cooperation become the norm, the demand for bilingual professionals continues to rise. Taiwan is actively promoting the "2030 Bilingual Policy" to enhance its citizens' English proficiency, strengthen international competitiveness, and attract foreign investment.

With English speaking skills becoming a basic requirement for job seekers and students, improving English communication has become a primary challenge for many professionals. The advancements in technology and the application of AI have brought unprecedented efficiency to language learning. However, how to effectively integrate education with technology to maximize synergy remains a critical issue in the online education market.

The Global Trend of Bilingual Education

Bilingual education refers to the use of two languages as a medium of instruction, helping students learn in multilingual and multicultural environments. Many countries have successfully implemented bilingual education, such as the Philippines, Singapore, and Canada. These countries often adopt immersive bilingual education models, with some subjects even taught in English or French. Additionally, some nations have incorporated bilingual proficiency into civil servant promotion criteria, subtly enhancing the national proficiency in two languages.

However, for Taiwan to successfully promote its bilingual policy, it must not only learn from the experiences of other countries but also fully consider local historical, cultural, and social differences to develop a bilingual policy that aligns with the nation’s unique context.

How EdTech Can Support the Bilingual Policy

When formulating the bilingual policy, the Taiwan government has outlined six key focus areas: enhancing English proficiency in higher education, establishing a comprehensive bilingual education environment in national education, strengthening digital learning tools, bridging rural disparities, promoting bilingual public services, and expanding English proficiency testing capacity. These policies aim to significantly increase the number of bilingual professionals in Taiwan.

Education technology injects new energy into the bilingual policy by deeply integrating technology into education, achieving digital transformation, and enhancing learning outcomes. Online teaching platforms, data analytics, and smart educational content libraries are just a few examples of how EdTech can accelerate and effectively achieve the policy’s goals.

How Online Education Platforms Improve Learning Outcomes

Online English education platforms have become a key option for learners seeking new knowledge. However, whether these platforms can maintain, or even improve, the effectiveness of traditional in-person courses remains a concern for many learners. David, CEO of LRDG Taiwan, notes, "Despite the ever-evolving technology on the market, learning outcomes often fail to meet students' expectations. Traditional one-on-one online teaching modes often result in stalled progress due to student laziness or a lack of effective instructional planning. Many students invest significant amounts of money, but without proper attendance discipline or systematic course planning, they end up in a cycle of 'learning and forgetting.' Furthermore, many students equate purchasing learning resources with completing their learning, but rarely dedicate the necessary time to actual study."

Thus, innovation in EdTech should not only focus on developing digital teaching tools but also emphasize enhancing the learning experience and upgrading instructional management methods to fundamentally solve issues related to learning effectiveness.

Balancing Digitalization with Learning Experience

Since the outbreak of the pandemic, acceptance of online learning platforms and digital education has increased significantly, providing a new opportunity for Taiwan’s bilingual policy. Beyond moving courses online, providing interactive resources and assessment tools that enhance learners’ English proficiency has become key to promoting bilingual education.

If online learning platforms only offer reading materials and test questions without interactive elements, learners may struggle to improve their English skills, reducing the effectiveness of carefully designed curricula. To address this, LRDG has incorporated interactive elements such as video interactions, gamification designs, and real-time testing mechanisms into the curriculum planning stage to engage learners and encourage active participation in a bilingual environment. Once learners have grasped fundamental knowledge, teachers introduce further explanations to deepen understanding. This combination of flipped learning helps learners grasp content more thoroughly, improve their English proficiency, and integrate their learning journey into a self-learning system to better track progress.

As online education platforms continue to flourish, the learning experience has become a critical focus for EdTech providers. If learners can effectively improve their English proficiency through a platform, engagement with the platform will naturally increase, leading to stable revenue. From the learner’s perspective, a positive first experience is crucial as it quickly helps them establish trust in the platform and understand its value.

Moreover, continuous progress tracking and evaluation reports allow learners to clearly understand their achievements, fostering a sense of accomplishment and motivation. With constantly updated learning materials, learners can continue exploring new language knowledge throughout their journey. Additionally, timely technical support and customer service ensure that learners can resolve any difficulties quickly, further strengthening their reliance on the platform.

The Future of Online Language Education Platforms: A Key to Taiwan's Bilingual Policy

The wave of AI is accelerating transformation across industries worldwide, and the EdTech sector should capitalize on AI tools to enhance teaching efficiency, such as analyzing course content and saving teachers' preparation time. However, AI should not replace the professional insights and humanized teaching offered by educators. To stand out in the AI-driven competition, future educational platforms should focus on providing a personalized learning experience while maintaining high-quality language instruction and interpersonal interaction.

Furthermore, Taiwan’s bilingual policy emphasizes improving language skills from basic education to civil servants. Thus, educational platforms must carefully vet their instructors to ensure they understand Taiwan's market needs and offer content that meets learners' demands. Continuously gathering feedback from learners and refining products and services will help Taiwan rapidly achieve its bilingual policy goals.