BETWEEN TWO WORLDS : POST-INDEPENDENCE EDUCATIONAL CHANGE AND CHINESE LANGUAGE TEACHERS IN SINGAPORE

Abstract

This thesis attempts to interpret the impact of educational change, which is explored historically in Chapters 1 and 2, on the Huaxiaosheng or the Chinese-educated as a social category. Chapter 1 outlines the status of the Huaxiaosheng as "problematic" through a combined literature review of both academic and non-academic works. Chapter 2 focuses on the social group of Chinese language teachers, attempting to explore how the ideology of bilingualism results in a self-perception as a social minority and how in their worldview; they locate themselves vis-a-vis the significant other, the Yingxiaosheng or the English-educated. Chapter 3 attempts to examine how the "pure" Huaxiaosheng identity of the older generation of teachers is derived from their social location in the common experiences of Chinese education. It attempts to capture their emotional responses to the gradual attenuation of Chinese education, which are registered in their personal biographies as pain, shock or passive acceptance. Chapter 4 explores the special case of the "converted" teachers and their bitterly painful teaching experiences. Their pain has found a collective avenue of expression through the body of local works known as "Literature of the Wounded". Chapter 5 explores the generation gap caused by mutually perceived differences between the younger and older teachers. It suggests that the generation gap is caused by more than just the difference in age, since it involves a different common social location of educational experiences. It also attempts to explore their self-identities which have been placed on a continuum. Chapter 6 concludes with reflections on the position of the older generation of teachers.