Salvaging Mandarin education in Singapore through community

• Autores: Cher Leng Lee, Chiew Pheng Phua
• Localización: Current issues in language planning, ISSN 1466-4208, Vol. 24, Nº. 2, 2023, págs. 221-240
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Singapore is a multiracial nation with a majority ethnic Chinese population. Since its independence in 1965, it has adopted an ‘English-knowing’ bilingual policy to achieve economic, social, and political objectives. For the past two decades, there has been a rapid increase in the percentage of ethnic Chinese Primary One students coming from primarily English-speaking families. This has caused the government to move the teaching and learning of Mandarin in a new direction. Mandarin has only become a less-taught language after 1979, causing a shift in home language for the primary school students. Acknowledging this sociolinguistic change, the government adjusts the curriculum and places emphasis on the complementary role of community-based learning. One needs to take into consideration the changes in sociolinguistic profile of this multiracial nation to appreciate the rationale of how the less-taught language – Mandarin has been managed.