A sociolinguistic analysis of the 'Bilingual approach to the teaching of Chinese language' in Singapore

Abstract

The role that a language plays in the acquisition of another language is a tricky issue in language research and pedagogy, confounded by cultural and socio-political factors. Through looking at the responses of 130 Singaporean Chinese to a project called the a??Bilingual Approach to the Teaching of Chinese Languagea?? announced by the Singapore Ministry of Education, the study reflects on language-culture relationship and language purity. In addition, a description of the respondentsa?? language attitudes towards bilingualism is provided. The methodology employed is both quantitative and qualitative, with data from surveys and in-depth interviews. Finally, some suggestions regarding the teaching approach are proposed.