Singapore Language Policy

Changes in Singapore’s language education policy

Li Yifang

Graduate student at the Institute of Comparative Education, National Jinan International University

Among many Asian countries, Singapore is one of the few countries where English is the main language of communication. However, as

a country composed of a variety of races, such a decision is not easy to make. In order to take into account all races

's interests, which have gone through a lot of communication and coordination, are reflected in a series of language education policies. Because of

Singapore's multi-racial characteristics, in order to avoid inter-racial conflicts, education has always been classified as a sensitive topic by the government. Therefore, the Singapore language education in my country is There is also little information on the policy, and only a partial understanding of its bilingual policy implementation and significant English education results. Our country's language education policy has undergone many changes since the Restoration of China. The relationship between the national language and the mother tongue has evolved from opposition to the only existing and first foreign language (English

) education. Starting from the 1986 school year, it began to extend to the primary school level... These various changes deserve our deep thought and attention.

It is said that the stones from other mountains can be used to attack mistakes. Singapore’s efforts and experience in language education

are worthy of our further understanding. This article will first start with the language environment of Singapore, explore the relationship between its race, culture

history and other social backgrounds and the development of language policy, and then explore the development of Singapore since the 1960s

The main language education policy content implemented in order to understand the development and transformation of Singapore's overall language education policy

and serve as a reference for the future development of language education policy in my country.

Singapore’s language environment

Singapore is a small country located in the center of Southeast Asia, with a total area of ??approximately 633 square kilometers. Analyzing Singapore's geographical factors, there are two main influences on language development: First, it is located on the shipping route of the Pacific and Indian Oceans, and has the conditions of a natural harbor. It has become an important hub for waterway transportation. Due to the frequent exchanges of people from nearby places, it has formed a multi-racial and multi-lingual community; secondly, it is geographically similar to the Malay people.

The peninsula is connected into one, and the two are inseparable, and all aspects of politics, culture, language, life, historical development, etc.

are deeply affected by it.

Singapore has a short history. It was originally a sparsely populated fishing village. On January 29, 1819, the British Raffles landed in Singapore and opened up Singapore as a free port and a British colony, which was a milestone in Singapore's history. origin. After Singapore became a free trade port, it attracted foreign workers, mainly from China, Indonesia, and India. Among them, Indonesians and Malays are of the same species, so Singapore residents are mainly Chinese, Malays, and Indians, known as the three major ethnic groups. According to statistics in 1997, Chinese accounted for the largest proportion of Singapore's population

accounting for 77.4%, followed by Malays accounting for 14.2%, Indians accounting for 7.2%, and other races accounting for 1.2%

Singapore's multi-racial background is one of the important factors that constitute linguistic diversity. Although Singapore's population is dominated by the three ethnic groups of Chinese, Malay and Indian, there are many small ethnic groups within each ethnic group. According to the 1957 census, Singapore's There are as many as 25 ethnic groups of different sizes in China, Malay and India, and no matter the size of the ethnic groups, they all have their own languages. This shows the complexity of the languages.

Due to external and internal factors, English has become increasingly important in Singaporean society. In terms of internal factors: 1. Singapore has many races and languages. Among the three major ethnic groups, no language is understood by nearly half of the other ethnic groups.

If you choose any ethnic group, Language as the main language will cause dissatisfaction from other ethnic groups. Although English is originally a colonial language, more than half of the people of all ethnic groups understand it, and it is easier for people of all ethnic groups to accept it; 2. Singapore’s political power

and English There is a close relationship. The language and legal regulations of the ruling class are mainly English, which also establishes English's unshakable social status. In terms of external factors: first, English is the language of business and international trade, which

is the economic lifeline of Singapore; second, English is also the main language of modern technology, and it is not suitable for the pursuit of the latest technology

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For Singapore, it is an indispensable ability to spare no effort.

Singapore’s language education policy

According to the analysis of scholar W. Stewart, during the process of founding the country, the multi-ethnic society adopted policies for language plans

, can be summarized into two major categories: first, exclusive respect for one language: using education and legal means to eliminate other languages, and exclusive use of one language as the national language; second, multiple languages ????coexist , and choose one or several as the official language and the language for communication between different ethnic groups (Guo Zhenyu, 1995: 57). Language education in Singapore

The government basically adopts the second strategy.

The following starts from before Singapore's independence and discusses important language policies before 1997 in order to gain an overall concept.

1. The 1956 "Education Report of All Parties" emphasized the equal treatment of all languages

In the 1950s, based on the guidance of socio-cultural and political factors, many Singaporeans Languages ??have developed into four main streams - English, Chinese, Malay and Tamil. According to statistics on the number of students enrolled in various language schools in 1950, there were 72,951 students in Chinese schools, 49,690 students in English schools, and 8,579 students in Malay schools. , Tamil schools were 1,205 (Dudley, 1980: 204). In the education system

Although the proportion of Chinese language usage ranks first, in terms of employment opportunities, English ranks first.

As a result, more and more Chinese schools are Graduates faced employment difficulties, which became more serious between 1954 and 1956.

Therefore, the "All Party Committee" (All Party Committee) began to investigate the situation of Chinese schools in 1955. Its report was Singapore's first national language education plan and led the new

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The future development direction of Singapore’s language policy.

One of the most important recommendations of the All-Party Education Report: All schools should be treated equally regardless of the language they use.

In order to ensure that local languages ??do not disappear when faced with the impact of English, and increase funding subsidies for local language schools

. While the various party reports conduct an in-depth investigation of the situation in Chinese-medium schools, their main goal is to break down the barriers of English being squeezed out by other national language schools and to build a community that is loyal to Singapore and has >

A Malayan-minded education system. The committee believes that Singapore's development will inevitably lead to its merger with the Federation of Malaysia. It will have a great impact on the People's Action Party's (People's Action Party) declarations on language and education in the future, such as equal treatment of English, Chinese, Malay and Tamil, and respect for all languages. p>

Schools with various language sources coexist and develop, designating the above four languages ??as official languages, and stipulating Malay

as the national language and other measures.

2. Due to political considerations, a multilingual policy focusing on Malay was adopted

After the end of the Second World War, independent movements emerged in various parts of Asia and Africa. Singapore Beginning in the 1950s, under the leadership of the People's Action Party, it fought for independence. At that time, due to political strategic considerations, the leadership aimed to seek merger with the Federation of Malaya as its ultimate goal, and also took corresponding measures in language policy - that is, using Malaya as its ultimate goal. A multilingual policy that focuses on the language of origin.

The Singapore government became a free state in 1959. The People's Action Party received majority support after the general election

and became the ruling party. In the same year, the constitution of the autonomous state declared Malay as the "national language", and the government continued to use various measures

to promote and improve the status of the Malay language in preparation for the "merger". The more important measures are as follows (

Guo Zhenyu, 1995: 60):

1. Establish the "Malay Language and Culture Association".

2. The Ministry of Education established the "Malay Language Education Consultative Committee".

3. It is stipulated that teachers teaching in government schools must have a first-level Malay language proficiency; civil servants must have a second-level Malay language proficiency

.

4. Launch Malay courses at secondary school level and establish Malay middle schools.

In 1963, Singapore joined the newly established "Federation of Malaysia" as desired and became more active in promoting the national language (Malay), such as the establishment of the National Language Action Council and the implementation of "Mandarin Month" and "Mandarin Week" campaigns,

increase the time for the media to broadcast Malay, government announcements and official documents, and start using Malay, etc.

Although it actively strengthens Malay education, in fact, the Singapore government still adheres to the multilingual policy of equal emphasis on schools with four

language sources in education. Therefore, although Singapore strives to be consistent with the Federation of Malaysia in terms of policies, there is still an irreparable gap between the two in terms of basic language policies. Since Malaysia

only recognizes one national language (Malay), there are differences in language and education policies between Singapore and Malaysia, as well as differences in

cultural and ethnic policies between the two. As a result, Singapore was forced to break away from the Federation of Malaysia in 1965 and become completely independent.

3. Singapore and Malaysia separate, and language policy is adjusted again

On the surface, leaving the Federation of Malaysia will not have a big impact on Singapore’s language policy, and it will still maintain dual status

Language policy, the national language is still Malay, and is listed as the official language together with English, Chinese and Tamil. However,

When Singapore decided to secede from the Federation of Malaysia, the language policy also changed slightly.

First of all, since 1966, Malay is no longer regarded as the main teaching language in the national academic system and has lost

its function as the main working language; Second, the media shifts focus to other languages. For example: in 197

In 1977, two major English-language dailies regularly published methods of learning Chinese, and the two Chinese-language newspapers with the largest circulation,

in their daily bilingual editions The teaching content of Chinese and English is published, and the broadcast media also regularly broadcasts English courses. These various measures are obviously different from the early 1960s when Malay was advocated as the national language. At this time, Malay's status as the national language was only symbolic.

There are two changes worth noting during this period: English becoming the main working language, and the emphasis on the preservation of mother tongue

. Since English is a neutral language in Singapore and does not favor any ethnic group, and has provided considerable assistance to Singapore

in becoming an international business center and a regional financial center, it has gradually become a local language

< p>Main working language. On the other hand, Singaporeans realize that the preservation of their mother tongue can not only develop the roots of culture, provide sub-national unity, but also cultivate an "emotional sense of belonging."

4. Evaluation and Reform of Bilingual Policy

The most important document that influenced Singapore’s language education policy in the 1970s was "Teaching in 1978"

The Report on the Ministry of Education 1978. In August 1978, the Education Research Group led by Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister Dr. Goh Keng Swee conducted a review and evaluation of Singapore's education system and language policy. The research team produced the "1978 Ministry of Education Report"

which provided a detailed and authoritative review of Singapore's language policy in education. The important findings

are as follows:

1. Low literacy skills: At least 25% of sixth-grade primary school students fail to meet the minimum literacy standards

< p>2. Between 1975 and 1977, 62% of students who took the primary school leaving examination failed to pass their first or second language examination.

3. The school performs poorly in various ways of measuring ability performance - tests, newspapers and book reading.

4. Several strategies to improve language proficiency have not been effective after evaluation.

In short, this report found that bilingual policies have not been universally

implemented effectively because the language proficiency requirements are too high. The Singapore government believes that it is necessary to arrange different learning courses for students with different learning abilities, learning attitudes and learning interests

, so it has begun to implement the reform of the academic system, that is, at the primary and secondary levels

Diversion system.

According to the new education system, the curriculum in the first three years of primary school is mainly based on language learning, so that students at this stage can lay a good foundation for learning mathematics, science and other courses in the future. the basis of. After the third grade of primary school,

students will be assigned to "normal bilingual courses" (normal), "extended bilingual courses" (extended), " "Monolingual course" (monolingual). At the secondary school level, students are divided into "special" (special), "express" (express) and "normal" (normal) courses based on the primary school leaving examination. Special Students in express courses and express courses learn two languages ??and take the GCE

'O' level exam at the end of the fourth grade. Those who pass the exam can enter a university preparatory school; students in ordinary courses with poor ability can enter the university preparatory school.

< p>The GCE 'N' level exam will be taken at the end of the fourth grade. Those who pass the exam can study for another year and then take the 'O' level

exam. Those who fail will participate in vocational training or employment.

5. Language standardization issues - the transformation of language corpus

Scholar Kloss divides language plans into two categories: one is "language corpus plan" (language corpus)

Planning) refers to the design and processing of language, including the determination of new vocabulary and terminology, the compilation of dictionaries

, the design of new pinyin methods or writing methods, etc.; one is the "language status plan" (language status plan) status

planning), making appropriate treatments and adjustments to the status and function of language in society to achieve certain established goals (Guo Zhenyu, 1995: 67-68 ).

Language The project of this article involves the issue of language standardization. Since Singapore was composed of immigrants in its early days

, the languages ??used were all "foreign languages". After long-term use, these languages ????naturally blended with other languages. The two languages ??"interfere" and "borrow" each other, resulting in localized features that are different from the original language. Therefore, there are "Singapore Chinese"

and "Singapore English" appear (Guo Zhenyu, 1995: 68). Since Singapore is an open international city

if we insist on using local language as the standard, it will lead to linguistic isolation from the outside world. Therefore,

this language standard must be followed Foreign (original) norms do not involve active design or reform of characters,

but only policy decisions on which foreign norms or foreign character reforms to adopt as local standards< /p>

. The following introduces the language standard issues involved in the four official languages.

The "This Article Project" involving the Chinese language has caused the most problems and has the greatest impact, among which the use of "simplified Chinese characters" and the promotion of "Hanyu Pinyin" are particularly noteworthy. . Singapore began to use simplified Chinese characters in the 1960s as part of a bilingual policy. Since the most difficult thing about Chinese is learning writing skills, simplified Chinese characters can save time in writing and learning. Therefore, replacing traditional Chinese characters with simplified Chinese characters can simplify the learning of Chinese language (Dudley, 1980:217-218).

In terms of Pinyin, in the early years, the Singapore Chinese Language Teaching Department used "pay attention to symbols" as the standard. Since the mid-1970s

with the announcement of China's "Hanyu Pinyin" method Implementation, the Singapore Education Authority has also decided to fully adopt it, stipulating that Chinese students must use the Chinese pinyin of their Chinese names as the English names used in schools, in order to reduce the influence of dialects. However, this measure brought great backlash. For many Chinese, Chinese names are usually pronounced in dialects. Therefore, whether their surname is Tan (Chen) or Teo (Zhang), their surname has been changed. Become

part of your identity. Changing from Tan to Chen in Hanyu Pinyin, or from Teo to Zhang, although both are Chinese "Chen"

or "Zhang", for them, it is a forced change of surnames that have been used for generations and infringes upon their basic human rights. However

Despite facing opposition from public opinion, the Singapore government still insisted on implementing it in primary schools in 1980 and expanded it to

primary and secondary schools across the country (Guo Zhenyu, 1995: 70).

The transformation of this Malay article mainly follows Malaysia and Indonesia. Both India and Malaysia use Malay as the national language, and each has its own language planning agency, which is responsible for the standardization and modernization of the Malay language. The agency in Indonesia is called It is the Institute of Language and Literature, and the institution in Malaysia is called the National Center for Language Development. . In order to coordinate the two parties' language plans for Malay, the Indian and Malaysian governments organized a "Majlis Bahasa Malaysia/Indonesia" (Majlis Bahasa Malaysia/Indonesia), which is responsible for coordinating language development between the two countries.

Exhibition decisions. Singapore fully accepts the Language Council's decision in principle and will implement it in schools, mass communications, and relevant government announcements and documents.

Due to the small number of speakers and low political and economic benefits, the Tamil language has not received much attention from the government in Singapore

. Madras in India is the center of the Tamil language and has a great influence on language planning issues

For example, direct borrowing from English was quite frequent in the past, and will gradually be replaced by translation in the future. The writing reform carried out in Madras has influenced the Tamil language in Singapore through periodicals, magazines, etc.; the local Tamil newspapers also play a very important role in communication. Role.

The language standard issues involved in English are mainly the English dialect - "Singapore English". The government authorities advocate that

international standards of English must be implemented, that is, BBC English represented by the British Broadcasting Corporation shall prevail.

Grammar and pinyin should also be based on British local standards and norms. . However, research by some linguists such as Tongue (1974) and Platt (1975) found that although English in Singapore and Malaysia is not standard, it has its own characteristics and social functions

, there is no need to completely deny the status of local English, and even appropriately acknowledge its existence. Despite this, the Singaporean government is still actively promoting standardized English, such as recruiting native English speakers to serve in primary and secondary schools and training local teachers, and regularly organizing in-service courses and symposia. To improve English proficiency, the Ministry of Education also provides school teachers with courses on improving English use through the Language Planning Center.

6. Announcement of the National Academic System

According to statistical data, the number of primary school freshmen registered in Chinese-language schools has dropped from 46% in 1959

0.7% in 1984. In December 1983, the Ministry of Education proposed that since less than 1% of primary school freshmen

registered for Chinese-medium schools, and there were no students registered for Malay and Tamil schools, the public < /p>

All students will be informed that English will be their first language in 1987, in line with the implementation of the national academic system. This measure

has aroused a considerable degree of controversy, mainly from the criticism from Chinese-speaking educators who believe that the level of Chinese language will

fall as a result. The government claims that if enough parents ask their children to enter Chinese-language schools, they will reopen schools with Chinese as the first language and English as the second language; and increase the number of schools with Chinese as the first language and English as the second language. Language

Primary school.

7. Report on Improving Primary School Education

In March 1991, the Ministry of Education issued the "Report on Improving Primary School Education" (Improving

Primary School Education Report) has had a profound impact on primary and secondary education. According to the survey

The education system at that time had several deficiencies that urgently needed improvement: 1. Students with poor learning ability need more time

to learn bilingualism; 2. Primary school students transferred to different The rate of diversion courses continues to be high, and it is necessary to delay diversion for one year

; 3. The monolingual diversion students entering the Vocational and Industrial Training Council are not fully prepared, and there are many dropouts. In view of

this, the main recommendations of the report on improving primary education are as follows:

1. Provide three stages and seven years of primary education (including one year of preschool education, primary one to primary four Basic stage

, orientation stage from Primary 5 to Primary 6).

2. Revisit the time allocation for primary one to primary four courses: English accounts for 33%, mother tongue and moral education account for 27%

, and mathematics and other courses account for 20% each.

3. Adjust the primary school leaving examination and replace the "failure-passing test" with "placement test".

4. Primary 3 is postponed to the end of Primary 4, and three language streaming courses are provided in Primary 5 and 6.

They are EM1 (both English and mother tongue) First language level), EM2 (native language as a second language level),

EMO (native language learning through oral mode).

Conclusion

It can be seen from the above that Singapore’s language education plan is profoundly affected by political, ethnic, economic, cultural and other factors

Comprehensive analysis shows that Singapore’s language policy today is based on the following points: 1. The four official languages ??of Chinese, English, Malay and Tamil coexist; 2. Adhere to the bilingual policy, English It is the same language that students of all ethnic groups must

learn; 3. English is the working language and has the de facto status of national language (de facto

national language); 4. Students of all ethnic groups need to learn their mother tongue as a medium to preserve traditional culture.

After more than thirty years of change, Singapore has broken through the barriers between races and found a balance in language policy

Although it cannot meet the needs of all races, most of them can I can accept this arrangement. Singapore's experience in handling language policy over the years

is worthy of being used as a reference for our country to think about such issues.

References

Chinese part

Yun Weili (1995). locale. In Yun Weili, ed.: Society and Language in Singapore. Singapore: Chinese

Language and Culture Centre.

Guo Zhenyu (1995). Language policy and language planning. In Yun Weili, ed.: Society and Language in Singapore. Singapore

Singapore: Chinese Language and Culture Centre.

English part

Dudley De souza (1980). The politics of language: Language planning in

singapore. In Evangelous A. (Ed.), Diachronic perspectives

(pp.203-232). Singapore: Singapore University Press.

Gopinathan S. (1994). Language policy changes 1979-1992: Politics and

< p>pedagogy. In Gopinathan S. (Ed), Langauge, society and education in

Singapore: Issues and Trends. Singapore: South East.

Singapore Legislative Assembly Debates (1956- 58). Official Report,

(Vol. 2,) 1st Series, p.71.