Li Yifang
Graduate student, Institute of Comparative Education, National Jinan International University
Among many Asian countries, Singapore is one of the few countries where English is the main communication language. However,
For a country composed of many races, such a decision cannot be made overnight, in order to take into account all races.
Our interest has experienced a lot of communication and coordination, which is reflected in a series of language education policies. Masayuki
There are many races in Singapore, and in order to avoid racial conflicts, the government has always given priority to education.
As a sensitive topic, domestic information about Singapore's language education policy is also scarce, only
One-sided understanding of its bilingual policy and remarkable achievements in English education. China's language education policy is self-proclaimed.
Since then, many changes have taken place. The relationship between Mandarin and mother tongue has developed from opposition to coexistence, and the first foreign language (English
) Education began to extend to the primary school stage in the 86th school year ... These changes deserve our attention.
Think deeply and concentrate. The so-called stones from other mountains can be taken by surprise. Singapore's efforts and experience in language education
It deserves our further understanding. This paper intends to discuss the race and culture of Singapore from the perspective of its language environment.
History and other social background and the development of language policy, and then explore the relationship between Singapore and China since the 1960s.
In order to understand the development and transformation of Singapore's overall language education policy, the main contents of the language education policy implemented.
As a reference for the future development of China's language education policy.
Language environment in Singapore
Singapore is a small country, located in the center of Southeast Asia, with a total area of about 633 square kilometers. Analysis new
There are two main geographical factors affecting the development of Singapore's language: one is located in the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean.
On the main shipping routes, there are natural harbor conditions and it has become an important waterway transportation hub because of its adjacent places.
Frequent ethnic exchanges make it a multi-ethnic and multilingual community; Second, about the terrain and Malay.
The peninsula is an organic whole, and the two are inseparable, covering politics, culture, language, life and historical development.
Aspects, are deeply influenced by it.
Singapore has a short history and was originally a sparsely populated fishing village. 18 19 1 29th, UK
Raffles landed in Singapore, opened Singapore as a free port and became a British colony. This is the calendar of Singapore.
The origin of history. After Singapore became a free trade port, it attracted foreign workers, mainly from China and India.
Nepal and India account for the majority. Indonesia and Malaysia belong to the same species, so Singapore residents are Chinese and Malays.
Mainly Chinese and Indians, they are collectively called the three major ethnic groups. According to the statistics of 1997, the population of Singapore is Chinese.
The largest proportion is 77.4%, Malays account for 14.2%, Indians account for 7.2%, and other races account for 1.2%.
Singapore's multi-ethnic background is one of the important factors that constitute language diversity. Although Singapore's
The population is mainly Chinese, witches and Indians, but there are also many small ethnic groups in each ethnic group. According to people in 1957,
According to the census, there are as many as 25 ethnic groups in Singapore, China, witchcraft and Indian, no matter which one.
Every family has its own language, and the complexity of the language can be seen.
Due to external and internal factors, English is becoming more and more important in Singapore society. About internal factors
Generally speaking: 1. There are many races and languages in Singapore. Among the three major ethnic groups, no language has nearly half of that of other ethnic groups.
People know that choosing any language as the main language will cause dissatisfaction in other languages. Although English was originally a colony,
The language of the people of the earth, but more than half of all ethnic groups understand it, which is more acceptable to all ethnic groups; Second, Singapore's political rights.
Power is closely related to English, and the language and law of the ruling class are mainly English, which also lays the foundation of English.
An unshakable social status. As far as external factors are concerned: First, English is the language of business and international trade, which
It is the economic lifeline of Singapore; Second, English is also the main language of modern science and technology, which is not conducive to the pursuit of the latest science and technology.
It is an indispensable ability for Singapore to spare no effort.
Singapore's Language Education Policy
According to the analysis of scholar W Stewart, in the process of building a multi-ethnic society, the Language Planning Institute
The policies adopted can be summarized into two categories: first, respect only one language; eliminate this language through education and legal means.
Only one language is used as the national language except other languages; Second, multiple languages coexist, choose one or more as.
The official language and the language of communication between different ethnic groups (Guo Zhenyu, 1995: 57). Language Education in Singapore
The government basically adopts the second strategy. The following is a discussion of 1997 before Singapore's independence.
An important language policy years ago, in order to get the overall concept.
1. 1956 The Education Report of All Parties emphasizes equal treatment of all languages.
In 1950s, many languages in Singapore were developed under the guidance of social, cultural and political factors.
Become the four main streams-English, Chinese, Malay and Tamil. According to 1950, the origin of various languages
According to the school enrollment statistics, there are 7295 students in Chinese school1person and 49690 students in English school.
There are 8,579 students in English schools and 65,438+0,205 students in Tamil schools (Dudley, 65,438+0980: 204). In the Ministry of Education
Although the usage of Chinese ranks first in China, English ranks first in terms of employment opportunities.
Therefore, more and more China school graduates are facing employment difficulties, especially during the period from 1954 to 1956.
More serious. Therefore, all party committees were convened in 1955.
Began to investigate the situation of Chinese schools, and its report is the first national language education plan in Singapore, leading the new
The development direction of language policy after Singapore.
One of the most important recommendations of the Report on Education Parties: No matter what language is used in schools,
Treat everyone equally. In order to ensure that the influence of English on mother tongue will not disappear and increase the number of mother tongue schools.
Financial subsidies. Although the reports of all parties have conducted an in-depth investigation on the situation of schools in China, their main objectives are
We are working hard to break down the barrier that English is excluded from other local language schools and build a school that can be loyal to Singapore and has
Malay consciousness education system. The Committee believes that the development of Singapore will inevitably lead to the Federation of Malaysia.
The result of the merger. Language and education future people's action party.
The declaration has a great influence, such as treating English, Chinese, Malay and Tamil equally and respecting each other.
In the form of coexistence and development of schools, the above four languages are designated as official languages, and Malay is stipulated.
Putonghua and other measures.
Second, for political reasons, a multilingual policy based on Malay is adopted.
After the end of World War II, independence movements sprang up in various parts of Asia and Africa, and Singapore was one of them.
Since 1950s, under the leadership of the People's Action Party, we have been fighting for independence. At that time, due to political strategy
Considering that the ultimate goal of the leadership is to seek a merger with the Malayan Federation, they also adopt a relative language policy.
Measures to be taken-that is, the multilingual policy with Malay as the main language.
The Singapore government became a free state on 1959, and the People's Action Party won the majority support after universal suffrage.
Become the ruling party. In the same year, the Constitution of the Autonomous Prefecture declared Malay as the "national language", and the government continued to take various measures.
History promotes and improves the status of Malays and prepares for "merger". Among them, the more important measures are as follows (
Guo Zhenyu, 1995: 60):
1. Establish Malay Language and Culture Association.
2. The Ministry of Education has established the Malay Language Education Advisory Committee.
3. It is stipulated that teachers who teach in official schools must have the first level of proficiency in Malay, and civil servants must have proficiency in Malay.
Have a second level of Malay.
4. Offering Malay language courses in middle schools and establishing Malay middle schools.
1963, Singapore wished to join the newly established "Malaysia Federation" and promote the country more actively.
Language (Malay), such as the establishment of Mandarin Action Council, the implementation of "Mandarin Month" and "Mandarin Week" activities,
Increase the time for the media to broadcast Malay, government announcements and official documents, and start using Malay.
Although Malay education is actively strengthened, in fact, the Singapore government still insists on four kinds of education.
Multilingual policy of equal emphasis on schools in China. Therefore, although Singapore has worked hard to unite Malaysia in policy.
States are consistent, but there is still an irreparable gap in basic language policies. Payable to Malaysia
Only one national language (Malay) is recognized, so the differences in language and education policies between Singapore and Malaysia, as well as the differences between them.
Differences in cultural and racial policies led to Singapore being forced to leave Malaysia in 1965.
Completely independent.
Third, the separation of star and horse, and the adjustment of language policy again.
On the surface, leaving Malaysia has little influence on Singapore's language policy, and it still maintains a dual identity.
The Chinese policy and the national language are still Malay, which is the official language alongside English, Chinese and Tamil. however
When Singapore decided to leave Malaysia, its language policy also changed a little.
First of all, since 1966, Malay is no longer regarded as the main teaching language in the national school system, and it has also been lost.
Play the role of the main working language; Secondly, the media turned their attention to other languages. For example, 1997
Over the past seven years, the two major English daily newspapers have regularly published the methods of learning Chinese and the two Chinese newspapers with the largest circulation.
There are bilingual teaching contents in Chinese and English every day, and English classes are often broadcast by the broadcast media.
These measures, such as Cheng's, are obviously different from those when/kloc-0 advocated Malay as the national language in the early 1960s. this
At that time, the national language status of Malay was only symbolic.
During this period, two changes are worth noting: English has become the main working language and the mother tongue has been preserved.
The importance of. Because English is a neutral language in Singapore, it is not beneficial to Singapore because it is not biased towards any ethnic group.
Becoming an international business center and a regional financial center has provided considerable help, so it has gradually become local.
Main working languages. On the other hand, Singaporeans realize that preserving their mother tongue can not only develop the cultural foundation.
Source, provide sub-national integration and cultivate "emotional belonging".
Four. Evaluation and reform of bilingual policy
The most important document that influenced Singapore's language education policy in 1970s was 1978 Teaching.
Report on the Ministry of Education (1978). 1978
In August, 2008, an education research group led by Dr. Goh Keng Swee, Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore, visited Singapore's teaching.
Review and evaluate the education system and language policy. The research group put forward the Report of Ministry of Education 1978.
And make a detailed and authoritative comment on Singapore's language education policy. One of the most important discoveries.
As follows:
1. The literacy rate is low: at least 25% of the sixth-grade pupils fail to meet the minimum literacy standards.
2. During the period of 1975- 1977, 62% of the students who took the primary school graduation examination failed to pass the first place.
Or a second language test.
3. The school does not perform well in various ways to measure the performance of ability-testing, reading newspapers and books.
4. Several strategies to improve language ability are not effective after evaluation.
In short, this report finds that the bilingual policy is not universal because of the high demand for language ability.
Effective implementation. The Singapore government believes that it is necessary to provide students with different learning abilities, attitudes and interests.
Students arrange different learning courses, so they begin to implement the educational system reform, that is, in primary and secondary schools.
Shunt system.
According to the new education system, the curriculum in the first three years of primary school mainly focuses on language learning, so that students can learn at this stage.
It can lay a good foundation for learning mathematics, science and other courses in the future. After the third grade of primary school,
Students are assigned to "general bilingual courses" and "extended bilingual courses" according to their test scores and bilingual ability.
Chinese course (expanded) and monolingual course (monolingual). Middle school and primary school are separated.
School exams will divide students into "special", "fast" and "general"
Students in (normal) courses, special courses and fast courses learn two languages and take GCE exams at the end of the fourth grade.
O' level exam, those who pass can enter the pre-university school; Ordinary course students with poor ability,
At the end of the fourth grade, they will take the GCE‘N' N' level exam, and those who pass the exam can take the' O' level exam after studying for another year.
Those who fail the exam will take part in vocational training or employment.
Verb (Verb's abbreviation) Language Standardization —— Language Text Transformation
Klaus, a scholar, divides language plans into two categories: one is "language corpus"
Planning refers to the design and processing of language, including the determination of new words and the compilation of dictionaries.
The design of new pinyin or writing style, etc. ; The first is the language status plan.
Planning), according to the status and role of language in society, do appropriate processing and adjustment, in order to achieve a.
Some established goals (Guo Zhenyu, 1995: 67-68).
The language project involves the standardization of language, because Singapore was composed of immigrants in the early days.
The languages used are all "foreign words", which will naturally interact with other languages after long-term use.
"Disturbance" and "borrowing" have different localization characteristics from the original language, so there is "Singapore Chinese"
The emergence of "Singapore English" (Guo Zhenyu, 1995: 68). Because Singapore is an open international society.
Cities, if they insist on taking the language with local characteristics as the standard, will be isolated from the outside world because
This language standard must follow foreign (original) norms, that is, it does not involve active design or text reform.
On the contrary, we just decide what kind of foreign norms or foreign language reform to adopt as local standards in policy.
. The following are the language standards involved in the four official languages.
Chinese involves the most problems of "this paper plan" and has the greatest influence, among which it is particularly noteworthy.
It means the use of "simplified Chinese characters" and the implementation of "Chinese Pinyin". Singapore has been in use since the 1960s.
Simplified Chinese characters is a reform to implement the bilingual policy in line with the policy. Because the most difficult thing in Chinese is writing ability.
Simplified Chinese characters can save time for writing and learning, so replacing traditional Chinese characters with simplified Chinese characters can simplify Chinese learning.
Language learning (Dudley,1980: 217-218).
In terms of pinyin, Chinese teaching in Singapore was mainly based on "attention symbols" in the early years. Since the 1970s,
Since the mid-term, with the promulgation and implementation of the "Hanyu Pinyin" method in China, the Singaporean education authorities have also decided to adopt a comprehensive approach.
It is adopted and stipulated that China students must use the Chinese phonetic alphabet of their Chinese names as the English names used in schools.
Reduce the influence of dialects. However, this measure has brought a great rebound. For many people in China, Chinese names are used to it.
Dialect pronunciation, so whether the surname is Tan (Chen) or Zhang (Zhang), their surnames have become identities.
One part is Chen, who changed from Tan to Hanyu Pinyin, and the other part is Zhang, who changed from Teo to Hanyu Pinyin.
Or "Zhang", but for them, it is a forced change of the surname used from generation to generation and a violation of their basic human rights. however
Despite the opposition of public opinion, the Singapore government insisted on implementing it in primary schools in 1980 and extended it to.
National primary and secondary schools (Guo Zhenyu, 1995: 70).
The conversion of Malay characters mainly imitates Malaysia and Indonesia. Both India and Malaysia use Malay as their language.
Mandarin, and each has its own language planning agency, responsible for the standardization and modernization of Malay, in Indonesia.
It is called "College of Language and Literature" and was founded in Malaysia.
The institution that comes to West Asia is called the National Language Development Center.
In order to coordinate the language plans of the two sides in Malay, the Indian government organized a "Malay seal"
The Language Committee is responsible for coordinating the language development between the two countries.
The decision of the exhibition. In principle, Singapore fully accepts the decision of the Language Committee and implements it in schools and mass communication.
Broadcasting and related government announcement documents.
Tamils have never been accepted by the Singapore government because of their small population and low political and economic benefits.
Attach importance to. Madras is the center of Tamil language in India and has great influence on language planning.
For example, direct borrowing of English used to be quite frequent, and it will be gradually replaced by translation in the future. A sloop with a long bow and a sloping tail.
Drake's writing reform influenced Tamil in Singapore through periodicals and magazines. Local light rice
Newspapers also play a very important role in communication.
The language standard involved in English is mainly English dialect-"Singapore English". Government agency owner
Zhang must implement the international standard of English, namely BBC English represented by the BBC.
Grammar and Pinyin are also based on British standards and norms. However, some linguists (1974),
Pratt (1975) and others found that English in Singapore and Malaysia is not standard, but it has its own characteristics and social achievements.
Yes, you don't have to completely deny the status of mother tongue English, and you can even properly acknowledge its existence. Despite this, Singapore politics
The government is also actively promoting standardized English, such as recruiting native English speakers to work in primary and secondary schools and training local teachers and teachers.
On-the-job courses and seminars are held regularly to improve English, and the Ministry of Education also provides learning through the Language Planning Center.
School teachers' courses on improving English application, etc.
Announcement of the national educational system of intransitive verbs
According to statistics, the number of primary school freshmen registered in Chinese schools has dropped from 46% in 1959.
0.7% of 1984. 19831February, the Ministry of Education proposed that due to the shortage of primary school freshmen 1%,
Registered Chinese schools, no students registered Malay and Tamil schools, so the public
Tell all students that 1987 English will be the first language, which is the implementation of the national academic system. This measure
Caused considerable controversy, mainly from the attack on Chinese educators, thinking that the level of Chinese will
This decline. The government claims that if enough parents ask their children to enter Chinese schools, they will reopen them.
Schools with Chinese as the first language and English as the second language; Increase the number of Chinese and English as first languages.
Elementary school.
Seven, improve the primary education report
199 1 In March, the Ministry of Education published the Report on Improving Primary Education (Improvement).
Primary education report has a far-reaching impact on primary and secondary education. According to the survey
The education system at that time had several shortcomings, which needed to be improved urgently: 1. Students with poor learning ability need more time.
Learn bilingualism; 2. The rate of primary school students transferring to different diversion courses continues to be high, and the diversion needs to be delayed for one year.
; 3. The monolingual students who entered the Vocational and Industrial Training Council were not fully prepared, and many of them dropped out of school. according to
Therefore, the main recommendations of the Report on Improving Primary Education are as follows:
1. Provide three-year and seven-year primary education (including one-year preschool education, primary one to primary four basic stages).
, small five to small six orientation stage).
2. Revise the curriculum allocation time from primary one to primary four: English accounts for 33%, and mother tongue and moral education account for 27%.
Mathematics and other courses each account for 20%.
3. Adjust the primary school graduation exam and replace the "failed exam" with "placement exam".
4. The third grade diversion has been carried out until the end of the fourth grade, and the fifth and sixth grades provide three language diversion courses.
, EM 1 (English and mother tongue are the first language level), EM2 (mother tongue is the second language level),
EMO (oral form of mother tongue learning).
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From the above, we can see that Singapore's language education plan is deeply influenced by political, racial, economic and cultural factors.
It's far. On the whole, Singapore's language policy today is based on the following points: 1. Chinese, English,
Malay and Tamil coexist as four official languages; 2. Adhere to the bilingual policy. English is a compulsory course for students of all ethnic groups.
A common language for learning; 3. English is the working language and has the actual status as a national language (in fact,
National language); Students of all ethnic groups need to learn their mother tongue as a medium to preserve traditional culture.
After more than 30 years of reform, Singapore has broken the barriers between races and found a balance in its language policy.
Although it can't meet the needs of all races, most people can accept this arrangement. Singapore for many years.
The experience of dealing with language policy is worth learning from when thinking about this kind of problems in China.
refer to
China part
Cloud meager profit (1995). Language environment. Singapore society and language. Singapore: China
Language and culture center.
Guo Zhenyu (1995). Language policy and language plan. Singapore society and language. new
Singapore: the language and culture center of China.
English part
Dudley De Sosa (1980). Politics of Language: Language Planning
Singapore. In the gospel a. (editor. ), diachronic perspective
(pages 203-232). Singapore: University of Singapore Press.
Gopinathan S. ( 1994)。 Language policy change 1979- 1992: politics and
Pedagogy Language, Society and Education
Singapore: problems and trends. Singapore: Southeast.
Debate in the Legislative Assembly of Singapore (1956-58). According to official reports,
(Volume II) 1 Series I, page 7 1.