First Advisor

Glen, Nancy

First Committee Member

Kauffman, Deborah

Second Committee Member

Broadnax, Wesley

Third Committee Member

Tsai, Chia-Lin

Degree Name

Doctor of Arts

Document Type

Dissertation

Date Created

8-2025

Department

College of Performing and Visual Arts, Music, Music Student Work

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the Taiwanese music education system through the lenses of postcolonial theory, critical pedagogy, and culturally responsive teaching—beginning with its establishment during the colonial periods under the Japanese Empire (1895–1945) and the Chinese Nationalist regime (1945–1987), and extending to an analysis of the current curriculum. This study was guided by the following research questions:

Q1 How do current Taiwanese elementary school music textbooks address cultural responsiveness through an analysis of the cultural origins of songs, composers/artists, and instruments included in the curriculum?

Q2 What are the views of Taiwanese elementary school music teachers on the history of colonization, including the Japanese Empire (1895-1945) and the Chinese Nationalist regime (1945-1987) and their pedagogical approaches to teaching music from these periods?

Q3 How do Taiwanese music teachers approach cultural responsiveness in their classrooms based on the average instructional time dedicated to music from different cultures, including Han-Taiwanese, Indigenous Taiwanese, New Immigrants, Chinese, Japanese, Western, or other countries?

Q4 What challenges might teachers face when implementing culturally responsive theory in music class?

This research began with an overview of the historical development of Taiwan’s music education system, examining how it was initially established as a tool to promote the political ideologies of the Japanese Empire and, later, the Chinese Nationalist regime. It then investigated the current curriculum through an analysis of two selected Taiwanese music textbooks and interviews with 10 Taiwanese music teachers using postcolonial theory, critical pedagogy, and culturally responsive teaching as analytical frameworks.

The results showed the current music education lacked critical reflection on colonial history and failed to adequately represent students’ cultural identities or foster meaningful cultural development due to Westernization. The textbooks heavily emphasized Western content, which comprised 54% of the song selections, 67% of the featured composers and artists, and 89% of the instruments. Regarding music from colonial periods, while all teachers incorporated such music into their classes, eight deliberately avoided discussing its historical context—reducing music learning to surface-level content delivery. In classroom content, all participants reported diverse student populations, primarily Han-Taiwanese students, along with Indigenous Taiwanese and students from New Immigrant families. However, there remained a clear dominance of Western music, accounting for an average of 51% of instructional time. In contrast, Han-Taiwanese music occupied only 19%, Indigenous music 6%, and music from New Immigrant cultures just 3%. Moreover, when teaching Indigenous and New Immigrant music, teachers often failed to meaningfully connect the content to students’ out of school experiences. When discussing the challenges of implementing culture responsiveness into the classroom, teachers expressed a range of concerns: insufficient teacher training, language barriers when teaching music from other cultural traditions, resistance from administrators and parents, limited class time for additional materials, and a lack of relevant resources.

By highlighting these issues, this study called for a more culturally responsive music education system in Taiwan—one that reflected and affirmed students’ identities through critical reflection on the impacts of colonization and the adoption of culturally responsive practices. It is hoped this research could also serve as a guide for scholars in other postcolonial contexts to explore how colonial legacies and Western influences shaped their education systems and students’ cultural identities.

Abstract Format

html

Keywords

Taiwanese music education; postcolonial theory; critical pedagogy; culturally responsive theory; Westernization; cultural identity

Places

Greeley, Colorado

Extent

140 pages

Local Identifiers

Syu_unco_0161D_11355.pdf

Rights Statement

Copyright is held by the author.

Digital Origin

Born digital

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