Educational Linguistics: Looking to the East

Abstract

Singapore is a nation where bilingualism & bilingual education have succeeded in terms of both policy & outcome. Singapore's rich language environment (consisting of English, Mandarin, Malay, & Tamil), language policies, & implementation strategies are determinants of its economic growth & success. With its policy of multiracialism & four official languages to represent the four strands of linguistic affiliation of the major ethnic groups, Singapore has embarked on a policy of bilingualism & biliteracy that in 30 years has transformed the speech, reading, & writing behavior of both young & old. The population of Singapore has undergone a tremendous language shift, producing a generation who are English-knowing bilinguals educated in English & their respective ethnic mother tongues. Another part of the dual linguistic transformation was a massive shift from nonstandard Chinese dialects to Mandarin. The situation in Singapore offers a distinctive example of educational linguistics for global interdependence & cross-cultural communication. K. Burch.