By Laremy Lee
(I submitted this for a school ignment and thought I’d share it with everyone for thoughts/comments, if any.)
Since the founding of Singapore, English has been the medium of instruction in schools for a largely pragmatic purpose as described by then-Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong in his National Day Rally Speech, We learn English in order to communicate with the world. The fact that we use English gives us a big advantage over our competitors (Goh, 1999). This denotes the key role that the English language has played in helping Singapore attain her level of success in the world today.
In recent years, however, politicians have decried falling standards of English in Singapore, the solution being a push to encourage Singaporeans to adopt a Standard form of English. This has been apparent not only in campaigns such as the Speak Good English Movement, but also reinforced in political messages from our leaders, causing scholars like Chng (2003) to remark on a speech by then-Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew that [t]he intention and the power of policy makers to manipulate and shape a specific linguistic reality in Singapore is clearly evident (p. 48). Then again, this statement begs the question of: how much of the impoverished linguistic reality that has been painted thus far is really true?
The falling standards of English might be a paradigm we have to move away from, for as Gupta (2001) argues,
its easy to be misled by Singapores political discourse of failure when a Singaporean politician bemoans a decline in the standards of English it should never be forgotten that there has been an immense rise in the standards (and use) of both.
Deterding (2007) reinforces the argument for the rise in standards by stating that figures from the Ministry of Education showexam results in English language have been gradually but consistently improving among the population as a whole (pp. 91 92). Nevertheless, the increase in the use of the English language could be the key to the perception of why standards of English have been falling: the majority of the population might simply not be equipped to use Standard English, and I suggest that this is very much a consequence of their learning environment.
Although the majority of Singaporeans pick up the use of conversational English through communication with their friends or their family, the strictures and structures of English are learnt during English lessons in school. However, I dare say that it is also in schools that Singaporeans unlearn the standard use of English, due in part to teachers of other academic subjects who may unknowingly impart one or two linguistic idiosyncrasies to unsuspecting students.
My proposed solution to this requires another paradigm shift, but this time, in terms of the teaching of English: since the English language is the medium of instruction in all Singapore schools, let us not view English teaching as the sole responsibility of the English teacher, but as a shared responsibility by all teachers. My vision to achieve this is for all pre-service teachers of non-English academic subjects to also undergo English Language Content Enhancement, so that they can also attain a certifiable standard of English, in order to improve standards of English in oral communication across the board.
Though some might deem this proposal as an idealistic recommendation, I beg to differ; I think this is a recommendable idea for the teaching of the English language in Singapore, which will, hopefully, become a reality one day.
Thank you.
Bibliography
—————–
Chng, H. H. (2003). You see me no up: Is Singlish a problem? Language Problems and Language Planning, 27(1), 45 62.
Deterding, D. (2007). Singapore English. Edinburgh, UK: Edinburgh University Press.
Goh, C. T. (1999). Prime Ministers National Day Rally Speech. Retrieved 12 Sep 2008, from the National Archives of Singapore website: http://stars.nhb.gov.sg/stars/public/viewPDF.jsp?pdfno=gct19990822a.pdf .
Gupta, A. F. (2001, Jun). English in the linguistic ecology of Singapore. Paper presented at the GNEL/MAVEN Conference The Cultural Politics of English as a World Language, Freiburg. Retrieved 13 Sep 2008 from A. F. Guptas webpage: http://www.leeds.ac.uk/english/staff/afg/freiburg.doc .
Duration : 0:3:20
Read more…
Technorati Tags: Education, English, moe, singapore, singlish, teachers, teaching
http://www.ef.com/schools
marhaban
Vera from Russia talks about Worldwide School of English in Auckland, New Zealand.
Students from Korean talk about their experience at the Byron English Language Academy, an English school in Byron Bay, Australia
CIE is an English language school located in the heart of beautiful Oxford, England. We offer small classes, a city centre location, and personal support during your studies. We invite you to visit our website: http://www.cie-oxford.com