Seetha Lakshmi

Picture books in Tamil are used extensively by Singaporean early childhood educators and parents to help develop reading skills and critical literacy amongst young children. Although the purpose of using these books is to assist young children learn Tamil language, these picture books are set in contexts that are alien to the environment in which Singaporean children live in and do not pay attention to the practices and beliefs of Singaporean society. While children’s literature should promote universality of beliefs and cross-cultural understanding, this paper asserts that children’s language acquisition is dependent on language-settings that resonate with communities and the wider society in which children are part of (Bronfenbrenner, 1979).

Since children move through a series of life transitions which necessitate the use of language to gain access to social support and coping skills, understanding the interconnectedness between people and their environment will help them understand how Tamil is identified and used in the Singaporean context (Lakshmi, S & Saravanan, V, 2011). Hence, how can Tamil language picture books help promote the use ofStandard Spoken Tamil (SST) and which type of picture books are needed in the Tamil language to help Singaporean children distinguish SST from the Tamil language varieties used in Tamil Nadu? After assessing fifty Tamil language children picture books published in Singapore through process-based analysis, (Hearne, 1993; Johnston, Bainbridge & Shariff, 2007), this paper emphasises the need for picture books to promote SST in a climate where Singaporean Tamilians no longer view themselves as part of a Tamil Diaspora but see themselves as a community that is Singaporean in identity, belief and practice.

This preliminary study about the language maintenance, shift in Singapore Tamil families. In Singapore, Tamil is one of the official languages and it has its place in the mass media. It has been taught as one of the mother tongue languages at second language level in Singapore. Although there are ample opportunities for Tamils to maintain and develop their mother tongue language, Schiffman (2003) mentioned that there was a problem in maintaining the language among Tamils. According to him, even though the school system gives children the capacity to use the language, they still need opportunities to do so, and with the lack of territorial domain for Tamil, and given the small size of the population, opportunities are far and few between. And finally, desire, the weakest link. Saravanan (1998) questioned about the declining Tamil usage among the elite, in favour of English. How much has this declined; how much has Tamil ceased to be the socially dominant language among Tamils, especially compared to English? Canagarajah (2008) shared his arguments on the language shift and family among the Sri Lankan Tamil Diaspora and he stated that cultural awareness had greater impact in that Tamil Diaspora. This study presents its analysis on the language maintenance and shift among the Tamil families in Singapore through interviews and focus group data. This engaging, enriching, and enlightening process facilitated a deeper understanding about the Singaporean Tamil Families and their ‘linguistic ownership’ (Wee, 2012) and beliefs for the researcher. The findings and the related recommendations provide insights to the community and have an impact in the pre- and in-service training of the Tamil teachers, who are expected to be the gatekeepers of the language in Singapore. It is believed that it will have an influence over language development of Tamils in the Tamil Diasporas, residing outside Singapore.

Tamil Language is one of the longest surviving classical languages. Its literary and linguistic affluence dates back to some 2500 years. It has its official status in Tamil Nadu, India where it originated from, and it is one of the official languages of Singapore and Sri Lanka. In Malaysia, it has nurtured students for two centuries, actively progressing through Tamil Primary Schools as the main medium of instruction and as a subject in secondary schools. It enjoys the status as family language and community language in the Tamil diaspora in many countries. Although Tamil language’s presence can be felt strongly in its native land and overseas, its usage is continuously evolving. This paper outlines the changing trend of Tamil language in Tamil Nadu, Singapore and Tamil diaspora societies. Although the native speakers, especially young native speakers, are immersing themselves in Tamil language, Tamil diaspora communities do face challenges. Youngsters are challenged in acquiring the language and sustaining their functional language competence. This is because the language is losing its status as the medium of interaction in the Tamil community as there is pressure to adapt to the host country’s lifestyle and achieve the goals of survival.

This paper discusses the importance of teaching spoken Tamil through Tamil Learning and Teaching in classrooms and how to motivate students to communicate and interact in Tamil. This essay also presents the audio and video recordings and observations conducted in the selected primary and secondary school classrooms. It can be inferred that a bilingual education system and Tamil language education helps students to understand their own culture, identify and use Tamil language as a lifelong language (Saravanan, V., Lakshmi, S. & Caleon, I. (2007 & 2009). In the bilingual environment where English is dominant, it is a challenge to improve students’ competency in the written form of Tamil language. This paper elaborates on suitable classroom activities and tasks that encourage the use of Tamil and pedagogical training. This paper also presents research conducted on the usage and sustenance of Tamil language (Sobrielo, A., 1985; Schiffman, H. F and others). The paper also details educational policies and their implementations in Singapore and the contributions made by Singapore policy makers at the international level.

This presentation discusses the challenges faced in maintaining and sustaining the mother tongue language in diasporic Tamil communities. Mother tongue language is a great asset and benefits a child from birth. When the medium of education is different from a child’s mother tongue language, it becomes the duty of the parents and the heritage language teachers to use the language as a functional resource. In today’s twenty first century context, acquiring mother tongue language has many benefits like using it as a functional and communicative resource and treasuring it as a linguistic identity and ethnic solidarity. This presentation shares the educational research projects based experiences of Singapore Tamil classrooms using data that had been collected and analysed qualitatively from primary and secondary school classrooms. Recommendations to the Tamil community include understanding the nature of hybrid identity and second language or heritage language situation, making meaningful and motivating linguistic and cultural investments on youth, conducting sustainable teacher training, preparing interesting reading resources for children, facilitating immersion in language (from the first to the fifth year of a child) and strengthening the unity in the community.