A Problem-Solving Approach to Indigenous Language Teaching: an Example of Truku Seediq Instruction Employing the ‘Silent Way’

Abstract A major obstacle to revitalising the indigenous languages of Taiwan is the lack of effective teaching approaches for these languages given the social, political, and linguistic context. The purpose of this article is to explore the effectiveness of an unconventional language teaching method, the ‘Silent Way’, in elementary Truku Seediq classes. In the Silent Way approach, teachers rarely speak but use problem-solving activities to create opportunities for learners to utilise diverse cognitive strategies and engage their perceptual and analytical powers; learners are expected to become independent problem-solvers in the target language. Based on video-recorded data of eight weeks of one-on-one classes, this article assesses two learners’ language development both quantitatively (using the mean length of utterance) and qualitatively (using teacher reflections and the researcher’s class observations via video). The results suggest that this problem-solving approach has unique advantages for indigenous language teaching in the multilingual context of Taiwan.