Liang was a Professor of English and the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts at the NTNU from 1949 to 1966. As is expected of all professors, he delivered lectures, did administrative work, and engaged in scholarly research. As if that was not enough, he returned home to compile dictionaries to make a living. He established the English Language Training Center and the Mandarin Training Center, making NTNU a leading institution for research on English literature, English language education and Chinese language learning.
Liang Shih‐Chiu’s bilingual training can be traced to his primary education. Liang’s father was among the first students of Tongwen Guan, where he was taught foreign languages and studied in the style of the New Education. In 1912, the father enrolled Liang Shih‐Chiu at Peking Public Third Elementary School, where he began learning to spell in English.
In 1915, Liang Shih‐Chiu was admitted to the Tsing Hua Academy to prepare him for study in the United States. American textbooks were used in the morning lessons, which were taught in English by American teachers with the help of Chinese staff with English ability. The subjects covered included American Civics, History of the West, Physics, Politics and Sociology. Lessons in the afternoon were taught in Chinese with Chinese textbooks by Chinese teachers for subjects such as Chinese, History, Geography, Morality, and Philosophy.
In a 1955 letter to university president Liu Chen, Liang proposed reforming English language teaching methods and attached a plan to improve English language education. This plan was a catalyst for Taiwan Provincial Normal University (NTNU) and the Asia Foundation to reform English language teaching using linguistic science in order to improve the listening, speaking and writing ability of students of English. By the autumn of 1955, an English Language Training Center was established.
Students were selected from the freshman class of the English Department to be trained at the Center. The faculty included noted professors from NTNU’s English Department, such as Lin Yu‐k’eng, Lu Hsiao‐tung, and Fu Yi‐chin; the Asia Foundation also sent four specialists from the United States: Dr. Norman Jacobs, Mr. Edward Conyngham, Mr. Harry J. Lamley, and Mr. Donald Arthur Gibbs. The Center was shut down when funding for the project ended in 1962. Nevertheless, the teaching methods that were developed out of this collaboration continue to be used in NTNU’s English Department, contributing immensely to the training of English teachers.
In 1955, Taiwan Provincial Normal College was restructured as Taiwan Provincial Normal University. In addition to the establishment of the English Language Training Center, a Graduate School of English was also in the works. To train more specialists, in 1956, the Ministry of Education approved the University’s plan to establish a Graduate School of English and a Graduate School of Chinese. Liang Shih‐Chiu was to head the Graduate School of English. This graduate school would be Taiwan’s first institution devoted to research on English language. With support from the board of the China Foundation for the Promotion of Education of Culture, it received funding for four scholarship placements, as well as a bursary for graduate students. Under Liang Shih‐Chiu’s direction, NTNU’s Mandarin Training Center was also established in 1956.
