Multilingualism in Singapore

Raban, B., Ure, C. (1999). Literacy in three languages: A challenge for Singapore preschools. International Journal of Early Childhood, 31(2), 45-54. doi: 10.1007/BF03166896

Preschool is twenty student to two teachers, primary school is 40-44 students for one teacher. Reading and writing is expected at the start of primary school, students who do not have these abilities are left behind.

“preschool children were being explicitly and successfully taught to read and write in English and in Chinese as well as Malay or Tamil or whatever other home language they may have acquired (e.g. Arabic)” (p. 47)

The national language is Malay and children in preschool are not strong in English or Chinese.

“they reported that 95% of the children, by the end of K2, were proficient in spoken English language and literacy and 80% were reading some Chinese characters” (p. 52)

“20 per cent of the population are bilingual and these families have bilingual children” (p. 52)

Second year preschool students are taught school behaviours. Primary school is English language, with a minimum of three hours Chinese tuition. Some elite schools have bilingual sessions.

“The preschool professionals we spoke to felt that parents needed to be better informed about their child's development, but declared that parents said they were too busy to attend meetings or talks which are organised for them by the preschool. The parents need to be convinced of their role in their children's learning.” (p. 49)

“while the preschool teachers in Singapore see that they are pushing children hard, they find at the same time that both parents and primary schools continue to want more” (p. 50)

These attitudes may change.

“we understood that schooling isn't compulsory because everyone attends” (p. 48)

Wikipedia: Singapore

Official languages: English (first language), Malay (national), Mandarin Chinese, Tamil

Official scripts: English alphabet, Malay alphabet, Simplified Chinese, Tamil script

Personal Reflection

I read this article not expecting what I was about to read. I have been in Singapore and knew it to be a multicultural, multilingual country. It was a strange experience being in a city where signs were in multiple scripts, PA announcements in multiple languages and everybody spoke excellent English. At one point I saw a TV sitcom which featured a Chinese-background woman married to an Indian-background man, the humour arising from the mix of cultures, and the whole show was in perfect English. I guess the surprise from this article is that I wasn't expecting this sort education system, one I know of from comments about Chinese and Japanese education systems. It is very different and the reliance on literacy starts earlier than in my own education. Most likely this article will not be used in the final summary at all.