Is Standard English Causing Deculturation in Singapore? According to the Singapore Department of

In many other countries such as India and Philippines English has a dominant role in elite class an upper middle class of society. Indonesian language also achieved no.5 ranking in the world amongst all the languages. The use of Dutch is completely vanished in the Indonesian society and students are also taking English language as an optional subject in their studies. English is not playing a dominant role in the Indonesian education and many of the high scored postgraduates don’t have any knowledge of English. From the social perspective Indonesian language is much more acceptable among all the sections of the society and people easily connect Indonesian language with the culture of Indonesia. There is a serious problem attached with Indonesian language and that problem is the lack of vocabulary and the people are using vernacular languages as the replacement (Dardjowidjojo, 1998). Indonesian language has adopted many technical words from English language such as komputer, handpone and telepon etc. (Hakim, 2015). The Indonesian language needs to develop its vocabulary for attracting youth in

As I have already mentioned, Singapore has four official languages: English, Tamil, Mandarin and Malay. It was so historically formed that the official language of Singapore is Malay and the national anthem is also written in Malay language. English is the administration language of Singapore and it is mainly British English, but also contain some American English influences. English remains the first language medium in schools and colleges of the country, and is also the most widespread language in the literature. All signs and official publications are written in English, but there are also versions translated into other official languages. But the population doesn’t speak English, but so-called Singlish with Creole characteristics, Chinese dialects, and Indian and Malay languages.

In more modern times the interaction of English speakers with other languages, through first colonialism, and later the emergence of English as a global language has enriched the vocabulary (‘pyjama’) and led to the evolution of different versions of English around the world, for example the hybrid ‘Singlish’ that has emerged in Singapore.

Having a “standard” for a language such as English, creates a set of biased and unrealistic expectations because connecting language mastery with intelligence, ultimately degrades and oppresses those who speak differently from "the norm." Tan, Anzaldua, and Sedaris all bring up these points of bias and tie together one central idea that intelligence and ability do not directly correlate to language mastery.

Fundamentally, he shows the effects of social factors to the language and describes how Americans` way to speak their language varies by regions. When it comes to education, unlike MacNeil who neutrally observes the change, McGray focuses on Americans` perspective on language that has changed by social and political issues. He claims that American education did not react to the growing internationalism and let Americans be indifferent to other countries, especially languages (McGray 354). For example, 25 luminaries proposed plausible educational reforms, but government officials did not adopt them (McGray 355). Ultimately, the author suggests that to be competitive in national fields, Americans need to realize the seriousness of their indifference to foreign countries and cultures, understand their indifference to other foreign languages, and change the American education system and policies for foreign languages. Similar to McGray and contrast to MacNeil, Simon worries about the usage of modified English. He recognizes that English has inevitably changed by social circumstances, such

In Malaysia, English language is stereotypically considered as a person’s second or third language. Majority of Malaysians’ native language is Malay for Malays, Tamil for Indians, Mandarin for Chinese or colloquial dialects for those from rural areas. In this paper, I would reflect on my English language learning experiences.

Before we begin, it is very important to understand the difference between an official language and a standard language. An official languages is one that is adopted by the government for document and business purposes, this would be most native people’s second language; one that the government sees as advantageous and necessary. Most of the time a standard language could also be referred to as the native language; a common language that the high majority of citizens use to converse outside of the government. Currently there is a major push to be bilingual, to the point where countries are adding or changing the official language(s). Countries that were presented and are using English because of government ordained laws are Kenya, Zambia, The Bahamas, Jamaica, New Zealand, Ireland; an extremely minimalistic representation the total amount of countries with English as an official language. Almost every other country, especially China and India, have their students studying English. It is advantageous for further education, business, and

Some research results suggest that in the course of obtaining a new language builds communication, social relations, and learning obstacles for English language learners, thus prospectively delaying the learning course and being part of the cause to later consequences in educational success (Baker, 2002) Other researchers have also determined in a study of second generation migrant offspring, the way these children are regarded, and the socioeconomic circumstances in which they are raised, is highly significant in their educational success (Baker, 2002). A panel of experts on English-Only Legislation has stated that the English-only movement can have harmful effects for the delivery of psychological, educational, psychometric, and health services

Difficulties that stems because of the fundamental differences that distinguishes one student from another. The popular kid versus the unpopular kid, the athletic versus the non-athletic. And whether we like it or not, these differences often present itself as barriers that would invariably prevent students from getting to know one another. In order to transcend these 'barriers' we must find a common experience that transcends, race, socioeconomic background or gender. We need to overcome these obstacles or Singapore would not be able to be bonded as one. Singlish is a way we can move beyond these surface differences and bind people together. According to a 2005 research conducted by linguists from NUS, 64% of the 1200 secondary school students surveyed expressed that the use of Singlish in their interactions with their peers had better allowed them to connect and understand each

A students ability to speak fluently, particularly in a social setting does not guarantee that the student will have properly developed the ability to use language in an academic environment (Samway & McKeon, 2007).

As mentioned above, Singapore is a much-diversified country, there are four official languages: English, Malay, Mandarin Chinese, and Tamil. English is the common language and is the language of business, government, and the medium of instruction in schools. Public bodies in Singapore, such

This case study will introduce the key contextual language differences between Japan and Singapore and the different language education policies of the two countries.

According to National Institute for Educational Development, though the “renovation” time, nearly 94% of the populations of 15 years of age and over are literate. All of the provinces and cities have achieved the national standard for illiteracy eradication and primary education universalisation. Some advantaged cities and provinces have been progressing to the universalisation lower secondary education. The average number of years attending school for population is 7.3. Primary school enrolment is almost universal, net enrolment in primary education has increased from 87% in 1998 to 92% in 2000. Similarly, net enrolment in lower secondary education has increased from 30% in 1993 to 74% in 2000. Gender differences in primary school are cooperatively small and the quality of basic education has been gradually improving through the introduction of reformed curriculum. During the last ten years higher education has been increased 100%. There are 118 students per 10,000 population in 2000, and increase to 670 in 2007. Vocational training

English ability is gradually becoming more compulsory for various jobs as an international lingua franca because of globalisation (Silver, Hu and Iron, 2002:81). In this globalising world, the English Education in Japan (EEJ) has been censured since the turn of the century (Kikuchi and Charles, 2009:173). The biggest failure is communicative language skill. For example, people who graduated from high school cannot easily have daily talks in English though they have learned it for a minimum of 6 years before (Hosoki, 2011:199). In addition, the TOEFL score in Japan is the fourth lowest out of thirty-one Asian counties (Appendix1), and the speaking score in Japan is the lowest of them (Education Teaching Service, 2017). These failures are described as the result of poor English education.

74%.Government statistics of 2001 also hold that the rate of increase in literacy is more in rural