臺灣是個多族群與多語言的國家。自國民政府於1949年遷臺以後直到1988年解嚴為止一直強力推行獨尊國語的政策並且取得一定的成績，但也由於強力推行的結果使得在地的本土語言：臺灣閩南語、臺灣客家語和臺灣原住民族語受到深淺不一的傷害而導致大量的語言使用人口的流失現象，其中又以原住民族語最為嚴重，尤其是在都市地區。

　　政府有鑒於多元文化與多元語言為世界教育之潮流，也深感以往強力推行國語所導致的嚴重後果，遂於民國九十年開始把本土語言教育納入中小學語文教育的體系。迄今本土語文教育施行將近十年之際是應該對本土語言教學進行總「體檢」。
本計畫以臺灣國民中小學之本土語言教育為議題，旨在探討本土語言教育之成效，企圖在以下五個面向：教育行政措施、師資陣容、教材與教法、學習的成效、與社區（含家長）之認同與配合蒐集資料並進行研判。研究方法包括：文獻與檔案之蒐集與分析、線上與紙筆問卷調查、焦點座談研究對象包括：學校與本土語言教育有關之行政人員與教師、現職本土語言教師和支援教師、學生和家長。研究成果經彙整後將提供給本土語言教育政策決策單位做參考。

　　Taiwan, which is separated from the south-eastern coast of the Mainland China by 150 kilometers of the Taiwan Strait, is an island with an area of 5,981 square kilometers and a population of about 23 millions. This pulation consists mainly of four ethnic groups: the Minnanren (Southern Min people), the Mainlanders, the Hakka and the Austronesian aborigines. According to Huang’s (1991:21) estimate, the
percentage of population of each group is as follows:
Minnanren 73.7%
Mainlanders 13%
Hakka 12%
Austronesians 1.7%

　　From 1949, when the Nationalist government moved to Taiwan, to 1988, when martial law was lifted, the language policy of the government was Mandarin-only. With all the government resources poured into the implementation of this policy, an excellent result was achieved, an estimated 90% of the population on the island were able to speak Mandarin. This high achievement, however, was not completely riceless. As Mandarin speakers were rapidly increasing, all three indigenous languages were heavily diluting with the Austronesian languages taking the lead, Hakka closely behind and the Southern Min in the third. Keenly aware of this bad consequence and also the universal tendency toward multilingual and multicultural education, the government has since 1990 launched the indigenous language teaching program at elementary and junior high school levels. Now since this program has been implemented for about a decade, it is time for a general survey of the indigenous language teaching situation in Taiwan in the following five areas: school administration, teacher supply, teaching methods and materials, efficiency in teaching, and the students’ and the parents’ attitude toward the program. The instruments used in the present survey include: the school administrators’ questionnaire, the teachers’ questionnaire and the students’ questionnaire. The information gathered will then be reported to the educational authorities for the adjustment of the current policy and practice in indigenous language teaching.