Bilingualism policy in Singapore elite schools
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25170/ijelt.v5i2.1557Keywords:
mother tongue, the English language, elite school, Chinese teaching pedagogyAbstract
The Singapore government has been promoting the mastery of the English language as well as the mother tongue since 1987 in the hope that Singaporeans can be fluent in both the working language and one related to their native roots. From then on, all Chinese schools are required to teach in the English language, and English is officially known as the first language of all students. This paper aims to study the policy’s background, specifically in the area of Mandarin, and find out whether this policy has managed to achieve its goals, how it has affected Singapore students’ language development in elite schools, how to improve the policy to benefit students in the future as well as provide some implications for enhancing Chinese teaching pedagogy.
References
Glasser, W. (1976). Positive addiction, New York: Harper & Row.
Koh, L. (2006). MM Lee to students: 2nd language vital for future. The Straits Times. Retrieved March 29, 2007, from http://web.lexis-nexis.com
Lim, P.S. (2007). On streaming, motivating and educating students. The Straits Times. Retrieved March 29, 2007, from http://web.lexis-nexis.com
Loh, K.W. (2004). Decide on priority and put more passion into it. The Straits Times. Retrieved March 29, 2007, from http://web.lexis-nexis.com
Pang, A. (2004). Beyond Mandarin: Singapore as a language centre? The Straits Times. Retrieved March 29, 2007, from http://web.lexis-nexis.com.
Richard, B.N. (1982). Language teaching issues in multilingual environments in Southeast Asia. Singapore: SEAMEO Regional Language Centre.
Tang, T.W. (2006). Bonus points serve to promote bilingualism. The Straits Times. Retrieved March 29, 2007, from http://web.lexis-nexis.com
Teo, L. (2004a). Language learning reforms approved. The Straits Times. Retrieved March 29, 2007, from http://web.lexis-nexis.com
Teo, L. (2004b). Chinese groups honour SM Goh. The Straits Times. Retrieved March 29, 2007, from http://web.lexis-nexis.com
