Effect of Singapore's Language Education Policy on Chinese Singaporeans’ Identity - (original) (raw)
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Since independence in 1965, the Singapore government has established a strongly mandated education policy with an English-first and official mother tongue Mandarin-second bilingualism. A majority of local-born Chinese have inclined toward a Western rather than Chinese identity, with some scholars regarding English as Singapore's "new mother tongue." Other research has found a more local identity built on Singlish, a localized form of English which adopts expressions from the ethnic mother tongues. However, a re-emergent China and new waves of mainland migrants over the past two decades seem to have strengthened Chinese language ideologies in the nation's linguistic space. This article revisits the intriguing relationships between language and identity through a case study of Chineseness among young ethnic Chinese Singaporeans. Guided by a theory of identity and investment and founded on
Attitudes towards Mandarin–English bilingualism: a study of Chinese youths in Singapore
Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 2016
Not only does Singapore have a unique ethnic and multilingual makeup, it also boasts unique language policies, especially with regard to the learning of the official languages. Previous studies of Singaporean youths have largely focused on the differences in attitudes and code-switching between linguistic varieties (e.g. Colloquial Singapore English [Singlish] and Standard Singapore English) as well as looking at the specific languages of Singapore's multilingual community. This paper seeks to examine how Chinese-Singaporean youths differ in their perception of the benefits (general, communicative, cognitive and pragmatic) and disadvantages associated with Mandarin-English bilingualism and their Chinese-Singaporean identity. 165 Chinese-English bilingual youths from secondary schools, Polytechnics/Junior Colleges, University undergraduates and young working adults were stratified based their gender, socioeconomic status and self-rated language proficiency. Our findings suggest that bilinguals' self-rated proficiency is generally the best indicator of local Chinese youths' attitudes towards Chinese-English bilingualism and identity, regardless of their current occupation, gender or socioeconomic status.
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Singapore has received a large amount of scholarly interest with regards to the structural and sociolinguistic properties of its local variety of English. In contrast, there is comparatively less empirical data on individual linguistic repertoires and usage patterns. Building on previous research into the linguistic and sociological background of young Singaporean adults, our study examines 450 students recruited from three distinct educational institutions: a university, polytechnics, and vocational training schools. A detailed language background questionnaire reveals the degree of multilingualism, patterns of language use, as well as language attitudes towards different languages. The data suggest that the notion of the typically multilingual Singaporean needs to be challenged: bilingualism and trilingualism are more widespread than more multilingual repertoires. Students also report generally positive attitudes towards both English and their mother tongue; attitudes towards the vernacular (Singlish) are also generally positive, as Singlish evidently continues to serve as an important marker of Singaporean identity. We find important differences between the three student cohorts examined here and are able to relate them to their social and ethnic backgrounds.
Language shift, mother tongue, and identity in Singapore
International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 2000
A review ofthe development of Singapore reveals that äs a result ofa host ofinteractingfactors, there has appeared an intricate pattern of Islands of people within the island-state, which are constantly realigning themselves. At a basic level, three major Islands, the Chinese, the Malays, and the Indians, wereformed based on ethnicity withfurther Islands formed within each based on the regional language spoken. Education further made the pattern of Islands even more intricate. In the early days of Singapore, education was offered in the regional languages, which reinforced the ethnolinguistic Islands. In addition to the regional language, the British colonial government introduced English-medium education, which resulted in the creation of a new, socially powerful island comprising those who had had English-medium education. With time, two major Islands stood out in clear Opposition, the English-educated forming the privileged group, and the Chinese-educated forming the disadvantaged group, resulting in political unrest. The Singapore government adopted the policy of unitary language-medium of education (English) to resolve Ms. However, with English becoming more popularly used, rather than being restricted to the privileged few, the language äs used by the mass took on a localflavoring, leading interestingly to yet further Islands in Singapore today. Those who can code-switch between the "uneducated" variety of English in Singapore (Singlish) and the educated or internationally accepted variety inhabit one island, while those whose repertoire is limited to only the uneducated variety inhabit yet another island.
In response to an increasingly globalised world, Singapore's education system has undergone a series of developments to adapt to the ever-changing global climate, leading to realignments of local education with regard to spoken and written languages. With the rise of China as an economic giant alongside the USA as the prevailing superpower, the Singapore education system promotes the bilingual policy to ensure that students are equipped with linguistic and communicative competencies, enhancing students' appreciation of both Western and Chinese cultures. Yet, with both languages and education playing major roles in students' socialisation, language policies could have pervasive impacts on one's beliefs, values and identity.
Chinese identities in multilingual Malaysia
2018
Background. Malaysia is a multilingual country with a rich linguistic diversity both on the level of four standard languages and even more spoken vernaculars including two creoles. Material & method. This paper discusses the linguistic situation of Malaysia from the viewpoint of ethnic Hakka Chinese. Analysis. Speakers acquire their family language and other Chinese languages, Mandarin, Ma-lay, English, Malaysian English, and Bahasa Pasar from early on. Education in Mandarin diminishes the use of the family language; today, children often grow up with Mandarin as their first language, but eventually pick up the family language to some degree. Malay-sian English has high prestige, providing a supra-national identity. Conclusions. Ethnic Chinese Malaysians have a layered identity based on ancestry, Chineseness, and Malaysian citizenship. Linguistically , this is reflected in the use of the family language, the adherence to standard Chinese, and (Malaysian) English, but the attitude is mainly practical. The smaller Chinese languages are used for family, friends and business contacts. Bahasa Pasar, Malay and English (including Malaysian English) serve interethnic communication. Spoken language choice (including loanword use and code-switching) depends on the speech act participants and the actual situation; this leads to a situation in which various languages share resources which can be used interchangeably among these languages.