English language education and educational policy in Singapore
This chapter provides an overview of English language education and policy in Singapore in relation to a world Englishes perspective, considering policy, practices, and ideologies. It takes a critical view of Kachru’s model as applied to Singapore English(es), noting the complexities of internal variation among Singapore’s English users, and how Singapore has moved from the Outer to the Inner Circle and thus demands a more nuanced framework. Analysis takes a discourse-analytic approach, anchored in Ruiz’s conceptualization of language orientations and applied to Singapore’s secondary English language syllabus. It considers how these orientations frame the narrative of policy, are operationalized into learning targets, and inform teacher practice. To understand further the position of English and Englishes in Singapore, the chapter draws on the Douglas Fir Group’s framework for second language acquisition (SLA), considering the mutually interactive forces of the macro (ideological), meso- (sociocultural/institutional) and micro-levels (human social interaction) involved in language-learning contexts.
Reconsidering language shift within Singapore’s Chinese community: A Bourdieusian analysis
The official narrative told by national census data in Singapore is that of massive language shift within one generation from a myriad of Chinese dialects towards Mandarin and English as dominant home languages. This story of shift is often told in ways that suggest the community completely and pragmatically transformed its practices and allegiances (Jaffe 2007) in alignment with government policy. However, such notions are premised on narrow ideological assumptions of language with fixed attendant linguistic practices. The choices that people make about their language practices and how they identify with language is much more complex that the term “language shift” captures. We employ Bourdieu’s conceptual tools of field, capital and habitus – especially field – to understand the “messier” realities of historical language shift in Singapore alongside a persistence, even a renaissance, in the use of dialects despite government policies and quadrilingual discourses. We anchor our discussion on the Speak Mandarin Campaign, the keystone of continuing government efforts to influence the habitus within the linguistic field. We provide two specific examples: the continued agitation for the use of dialects in the mass media, and the government’s failed attempt to influence a change in family surnames. Singapore’s story problematizes the notion of language shift in multilingual communities. It also raises interesting questions about the nature and impetus of language shift, the socio-political discourses surrounding these shifts, and the complex interplay of government policy and community and personal choices.
Learning to lead reading comprehension discussion
In this article, we describe and reflect on a collaborative, school-based professional development project (an ‘intervention’) intended to encourage innovation in classroom teaching. Specifically, the intervention included a collaboration between university-based researchers/mentors and primary school teachers in Singapore who were interested in discovering new strategies for reading comprehension instruction. The results show that by working together, over time, teachers were able to innovate by adopting new strategies for leading reading comprehension discussions and adapting the new strategies to fit the local teaching context. Crucially, the innovation found that ‘learning’ the new strategies was insufficient; teachers needed professional support from the teacher trainers and their collaborating colleagues as well as time—over three years—to develop their expertise and their confidence in the implementation of the new strategies.
The discourse of linguistic capital: Language and economic policy planning in Singapore
This paper examines the historical and current connections between English language education policy and economic development policy in Singapore. Policy statements on English language education policy in Singapore are used to demonstrate the ways that English is given a role in economic development and modernization by government officials and educators. The discourse of policy statements on the economic utility and cultural value of languages is discussed with reference to Bourdieu’s concepts of capital and field. Comparative reference is made to policy statements on so-called “Mother Tongue.” The analysis provides background on language policy in Singapore and locates current reform efforts within that discourse.