Mother Tongue Education in Singapore: Concerns, Issues and Controversies

Autor/in	Ng, Chin Leong Patrick
Titel	Mother Tongue Education in Singapore: Concerns, Issues and Controversies
Quelle	In: Current Issues in Language Planning, 15 (2014) 4, S.361-375 (15 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1747-7506
DOI	10.1080/14664208.2014.927093
Schlagwörter	Foreign Countries; Native Language Instruction; English (Second Language); Chinese; Bilingual Education; Bilingual Education Programs; Educational Policy; Sociolinguistics; Language Maintenance; Language Planning; Public Policy; Program Implementation; Program Administration; Barriers; Performance Factors; Politics of Education; Social Influences; Cultural Influences; Political Influences; Elementary Secondary Education; Singapore + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Ausland; Native language education; Muttersprachlicher Unterricht; English as second language; English; Second Language; Englisch als Zweitsprache; China; Chinesen; Bilingual teaching; Bilingualer Unterricht; Politics of education; Bildungspolitik; Soziolinguistik; Sprachpflege; Sprachwechsel; Öffentliche Ordnung; Leistungsindikator; Educational policy; Sozialer Einfluss; Cultural influence; Kultureinfluss; Political influence; Politischer Einfluss; Singapur
Abstract	In 1966, the Singapore Government implemented the English-knowing bilingual policy which made it mandatory for all Chinese students to study English as a "First Language" and the Chinese language (CL) as a "Mother Tongue Language" in Singapore schools. Using key literature relevant to Singapore's bilingual educational policy and adopting a wider sociohistorical, sociocultural and sociopolitical analysis [May, S. (2006). "Language Policy and Minority Rights." In T. Ricento (Ed.), "An Introduction to Language Policy" (pp. 255-272). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing], this paper critically evaluates mother tongue education in Singapore. It argues that maintaining additive bilingualism in multilingual Singapore is problematic because English, a majority language with greater political power, privilege and social prestige in the local linguistic landscape, has come to replace the range and functions of Chinese, a minority language within the linguistic ecology of Singapore. The inevitable result is that speakers of Chinese experience a "shift" to speaking the majority language and there is a fear that Chinese will erode further as an increasing number of younger Chinese Singaporeans display a lack of interest in learning their mother tongue due to a dominant English education and the overwhelming presence of English in Singapore's society. This paper draws attention to the need to accord protection to the CL in order to maintain additive bilingualism in Singapore. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10