抄録
In the Courses of Study revised in 1998 and 1999, it was stipulated in junior high schools that "in principle, students should take English as a compulsory subject in foreign languages" (hereinafter referred to as the "English Principle"). In addition, the subjects "German" and "French" were deleted and integrated into "other foreign languages" and "foreign languages other than English" in junior high schools and senior high schools, respectively. This shift, which seemingly prioritized English, faced criticism mainly from advocates of multilingual education. However, the origins of this decision-making process remain unclear. Therefore, this paper clarifies why (1) the English Principle was established in junior high schools and (2) German and French subjects were deleted from junior high and senior high schools, based on the minutes of the Curriculum Council held prior to the revision of the curriculum. We found that (1) the English Principle was adopted as a compromise between those who were in favor of making English compulsory and those who were against it, and (2) the deletion of German and French was made in consideration of the fact that many students study Chinese and the philosophy of familiarizing students with more languages than just German and French.
