Yang Si Lin

Abstract

Singapore education is embarking on the bilingual policy. The objectives of the bilingual policy are to allow the students to acquire the essential knowledge in the development of modern industrial economy through the learning of English language，and to inherit the culture through the learning of mother tongue language. Through the process of the changes made in the bilingual education, Singapore government has implemented a series of measures to promote bilingualism in Singapore, for example the streaming system, the official languages and cultivating a group of effectively bilingual teachers, so as to provide a conducive environment for the learning of languages.

Singapore despite making remarkable progress in the education system in the recent years, problems in the areas of teaching staff and environment still exist. The problem of insufficient teaching staffs still exist despite the efforts of the education ministry employing both local and overseas Chinese teachers, due to the overwhelming motivation around the world in learning the language.

In Singapore, the English language is the main teaching language in most subjects from pre-school to university, thus students often converse in English in both home and school environment alike. Therefore, this main factor hinders the learning of Chinese language, which resulted in English being our first and dominant language, while Chinese becoming the second language in Singapore.

Therefore, in recent years, Singapore has introduced a series of changes to the education policies. Modular Approach which was customized according to the learners' differentiated backgrounds and abilities was introduced. This paper focuses on the analysis on the development of the bilingual education in Singapore, cultural background and language policy. The paper will not only provide an insight into the teaching methods but also the training provided to the Chinese teachers on the teaching of Chinese as a second language.

Keyword(s) : Singapore Education Bilingual