EXPLORING LANGUAGE IDEOLOGIES AND ATTITUDES TOWARDS ENGLISH VARIETIES: A STUDY ON TEACHERS IN INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS IN SINGAPORE

Abstract

The spread of English has led to the emergence of new varieties spoken worldwide. These Englishes are traditionally grouped into three circles, namely the Inner Circle, the Outer Circle and the Expanding Circle (Kachru 1985). Diversity in Englishes has given rise to the controversy over what is considered ‘correct’ or ‘standard’, as well as increasing calls for recognition of world Englishes. The current narrative surrounding the English language teaching sector is its strong subscription to language ideologies that disadvantage teachers who do not speak an Inner Circle variety. In international schools, teachers are expected to foster an appreciation for diversity and a global outlook. However, teachers find themselves challenged by the linguistically diverse environment, where some varieties are promoted more than others. This study aims to uncover the attitudes and beliefs that teachers hold towards the English language, which will influence their classroom practices and students’ attitudes. This study presents language attitudes towards English varieties from the perspectives of Singaporean and non-Singaporean teachers in international schools. The data are drawn from a survey and interview sessions where three Singaporean teachers shared more about their experiences. It is discovered that teachers with similar regional backgrounds tend to hold similar beliefs and attitudes. Teachers exhibit open-mindedness about world Englishes. However, overall ratings of attitudes suggest that the English varieties and their speakers are ideologically positioned based on the Circles model. Singaporean teachers are observed to hold conflicting attitudes towards Singapore English, consistent with the proposed endonormative stabilisation phase of this variety. Singapore English pronunciation is demonstrated to have a large impact on how Singaporean teachers evaluated the variety and assessed its acceptability in international schools. However, many teachers have positive evaluations of Singapore English, indicating a potential for the variety to be fully accepted in international schools.