Singapore Journal of

CDUCAtOOfl.A Bi-annualreview of education July 1979 Vol. XNo. I Published for the lnstitute of Education by Federal Publications (S) Pte. Ltd., Singapore

contents 1 Communication and Identity: MacroSociological Issues in Multilingual Societies Eddie C. Y Kuo

6 Bilingualism in Singapore Lim Kiat Boey

CONSULTANT EDITOR: 9 Is There a Best Age to Learn a Foreign I-anguage? Lau Wai Har Richard Sloane EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Then Lian Mee EDITORIAL BOARD: 12 Five-Year-Olds Crack the Code Marianne Mercer Marcia P. Liu Mohammad Ariff bin Ahmad Sng Cheng Kiat (Art) l6 Day Care: A Discussion of Language and Related Issues Amy Sobrielo Judith Lucas and Marianne Mercer Tah Kok Aun BUSINESS MANAGER: S. Gopinathan 20 The Role and Use of Textbooks as a Vehicle for Teaching English as a Second Language in Singapore Schools Christopher Fry and Marianne Mercer @ Institute of Education, Singapore, 1979 28 Science in English A.B. EIIiott Paterson Road Singapore 0923 Published and distributed by: 35 "Perfectionism" and ELT Objectives P.D. Reynolds Federal Publications (S) Pte. Ltd. No. 1 New Industrial Road 42 The Sea Around Us: Experiences in Creative Drama Singapore 1953 Clive Scharenguivel

49 The views expressed in the Singapore Creating Successful Language Learners Journal of Education are the opinions James Madden of the respective authors and do not necessarily represent those of the Editorial Board. 52 Language Learning through Songs and Poetry Marcia P. Liu

57 Communication in the Classroom Brian Heaton The Editorial Board welcomes contributions (articles, book reviews, 61 Masalah-Masalah Pengajaran Bahasa Melayu Sebagai Bahasa critical reviews of research literature, Muhammad Ariff b Ahmad research papers, etc.) on education and Kedua related issues. Manuscripts should preferably be typed, double-spaced and 69 Perkembangan Ke Arah Masuknya Anasir-Anasir Lain Ke sent to The Executive Editor, Bahasa Melayu Abbas b Mohd Shariff Singapore Journal of Education, lnstitute of Education, Paterson Road Singapore 0923 71 "Imejeri Dalam Puisi-Puisi Chairil Anwar" Mohd Taha Jamil ISSN NO. 0129-4776 Printed by Singapore Offset. 74 Book Reviews Multilingualism has been a key feature in the certain kind of human being will emerge. Acquiring educational policy of Singapore for some four the culture does not necessarily follow the learning decades by now. The importance of mastering a of the language through which the culture is second and even a third language is recognised here expressed, though certainly the learning of a where there is a diversity of languages and culture, second language can open up a new circle of but the language issue has been eclipsed by other friends, experiences and interests. more immediate needs such as the expansion of Movingon to the actual mastery of alanguage, educational facilities to provide a place at school we come to a more tangible area as a great deal of for every child and the development of a curriculum research into how languages are acquired has taken more suited to contemporary needs and demands. place, leading to a better understanding of the Lately, interest in the learning of languages factors that influence language learning and the has revived with the government focusing on the methods that are more likely to be effective. Much need to produce effectively bilingual citizens and too has been written to facilitate language learning. the problems and measures this will entail. Educa- Textbooks and all kinds of materials flood the tional policy has shifted toward a greater emphasis market, and teachers have a wider choice of books on the learning of English as a result of the choice and materials. of more and more parents of schools for their However, there are still many areas of un- children where English is the medium of instruction. certainty which await the findings of further re- However, awareness of this trend and meeting the search. This issue of our Journal highlights the demands of these parents have not led to a switch theme of language. Our contributors have had a to a monolingual situation. free hand in selecting aspects of language that are The government has expressed concern of special concern for them. As a result, our readers about the need to continue with bilingualism, will find a diversity of thought and approach. stressing the function of language as a means of There is no attempt at a thorough, systematic and preserving and transmitting culture. The best of comprehensive study of language as such. Most of both worlds, it is hoped, will be the outcome of our contributors have had many years of teaching bilingualism - English for modernisztion - the languages, and their perspective is that of. the needs of technology and the economy, and an teacher rather than that of the linguist or researcher. Eastern language, Tamil, Malay or Mandarin - for Some of the articles thus discuss the methodology assimilation of the better elemerits of Eastern of language learning, including recent research on culture and heritage. the subject. Others have preferred to examine the Will the schools of Singapore succeed in vehicles of language learning such as poetry, read- turning out this ideal person who reflects the best ing, drama and textbooks. Others have addressed of East and West? How much control of the themselves to the problems and pitfalls of learning environment of the child and society will there 3 second language. One or two articles deal with have to be to meet this objective? Education is some perplexing issues, for example, when should only one form of socialization, teachers and a child start with a second language, and offer schools are one of many agents of socialization some tentative answers. There is a range of subject which affect directly or indirectly the socialization to suit varied tastes and interests, but the unifying of the child. A great deal is still unknown about theme is one of concern as to how best to facilitate how we become what we are, or about how to language learning for the child or adolescent. manipulate the variables and the input so that a C

SINGAPORE JOURNAL OF EDUCATION Eddie C.Y. KUO' University of Singapore

Communication and Identity.- ~acro-~ociol~icallssu& in MuHilingual Societies

Sociological Approach to Multilingualism In studying multilingualism, the sociologist At the outset, it is important to point out that in of language is concerned with both the multi- this paper, following Weinreich (1 953, p.l), lingual community and the multilingual individual. Haugen (1956, p.9) and Mackey (1968, p.555), I On the micro-level, he is interested in the choice of make no distinction between bilingualism and code by the multilingual individuals in different multilingualism. Haugeil justifies this usage by the social domains involving different interlocutors. assumption that the problems involved in bilin 'The focus is on the process of language behaviour gualism do not seem to be essentially different in interpersonal relationships under situational when a third or a further language is added. In constraints. Following basically the tradition of other words, multilingualism is merely a plural Gumperz, micro-sociological studies of language form of bilingualism. Throughout this paper, have been gaining popularity with recent develop- therefore, these two terms will be used inter- ment in ethno-methodology. Such a micro- changeably. approach to language is closer to psycholinguistic A source of confusion of the concept multi- research and is best described as the social psycho- lingualism comes from the fact that it has been logical study of language behaviour. used to refer to the coexistence of two or more The interest of this paper is in the other type languages within a geographical area, a social group, of sociological study of language, the macro- or an individual. Distinctions therefore should be sociological orientation. As a contrast to the rnicro- made whether a specific reference is made to a approach, the focus here is more on the bilingual society, a community, a family, or an individual. As community rather than the individual. The re- a matter of fact, the relationships between the searcher strives to investigate and explain the above concepts form an important area in the characteristics of a multilingual community in sociological study of multilingualism. In this paper, relation to some social structural variables. Macro- my interest is in the societies composed of lin- sociological studies of multilingualism are exempli- guistically heterogeneous populations. Such multi- fied by Fishman's study of ethnic language main- lingual communities may or may not involve a tenance in the United States (Fishman et al., 1966) large number of bilingual individuals, although and Lieberson's study of linguistic diversity in inter-group communication involving a lingua Cznada (1970). franca, which is an "other tongue" for at least one Methodologically, macro-sociological studies language group, seems inevitable. rely heavily on the method of social survey to Traditionally, there are four major approaches obtain quantitative data involving a large number to bilingualism - linguistic, educational, psycholo- of the population for statistical analysis. The mea- gical, and sociological - each with different surement of linguistic variables such as language assumptions and theoretical foci. While the first competence and language performance is typically three approaches enjoy long and fruitful academic based on self-reports made by the respondents. traditions and are supported by an impressive These data are then correlated with other variables amount of literature, the sociological approach is relatively new and as yet "underdeveloped". This approach however is gaining popularity rapidly 'Eddie Kuo is the Senior Lecturer in the Department of both in the fields of linguistics and sociology, Sociology, University of Singapore. =This is a revised version of a paper presented to the evolvinginto a substantial area of "sociolinguistics", "International Symposium on Bilingual Education" held or "sociology of language" as some sociologists at the University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, from 18 to prefer to call it (see, for instance, Fishman, 1972a). 21 December 1976. such as social-political structure in the community with extra facility to communicate with members or social background (e.g. sex, race, religion, of the other-tongue group. Such better ability to socioeconomic status) of the population involved. communicate and to establish contacts with a Understandably, the problem of the relation- wider world is instrumental to occupational pro- ship between self-reported language competence gress and economic advancement. Moreover, and actually observed or measured competence is bilingual ability also leads to a better understand- questioned by both linguists and psycholinguists. ing and even certain sentimental association with Such limitations however are problems common a culture represented by a second language. This to most social research using survey design. To is basically how Lambert and his associates (1968) some extent, such limitations in validity are com- reach the conclusion that "an individual success- pensated by the application of highly sophisticated fully acquiring a second language gradually adopts statistical techniques for model building and various aspects of behaviour which characterise hypothesis testing, as can be found in some socio- members of another languagecultural group" linguistic studies published in American Socio- (p. 473). Bilingualism therefore tends to lead to a logical Review (for instance, Lieberson and Hansen, lower level of ethnocentrism and more social 1974; Angle, 1976) and American Journal of tolerance. Sociology (Lieberson et al., 1975). At the societal level, the coexistence of two While I have no intention of getting into or more language groups in a community generally arguments on the merits and demerits of the use implies the presence of certain communication gaps of aggregate survey data in sociolinguistic studies, between people from different cultural language it should be pointed out that the use of such data backgrounds. The crucial problem is then how to is necessitated by the focus of the sociology of maintain a minimal level of communicative inte- language on some sociological variables at the gration so that society as a whole can function macro-level such as social cohesion, national smoothly. Economically, such communicative identity, communicative integration, and social integration is necessary in the division of labour stratification. and efficient exchange of goods and services; socially and politically, it is needed to maintain social cohesion and political stability. MacroSociological Issues of Multilingualism Consequently, societal multilingualism im- Language, as a system of codes, is essential in plies the existence of barriers in communication interpersonal communication, intragroup or inter- which stem not only from language diversity but group, between individuals who share the same also from cultural differences in values, attitudes, system of symbols. unction all^, language also etc. Since different language groups in a plural serves as a rallying point for group identity among society tend to maintain a certain level of language those who speak the same mother tongue. Such group identity, societal multilingualism also implies feelings of language group identity, primordial as a tendency for intergroup competition or conflict. they may be, can Se highly emotionally charged This also means that the development of a supra- when contacts with members of other language ethnic national identity can be hindered because groups are involved. At the same time, the relation- of competing ethnic loyalties among its diversified ship between language and cultural identity is so population. close that the learning of a language is often A closely related issue is the problem of accompanied by a process of acculturation. Thus, social stratification and social mobility in relation while Lambert and his associates (1968) suggest to language competence and language diversity. that a distinction should be made between "instru- For one thing, language group identity is almost mental orientation" and "integrative orientation" always a stratifying factor in amultilingual society. in second language learning, and Kelrnan (1971) A language group (often at the same time ethnically points out the differences between "instrumental and culturally distinctive) for one reason or another attachment" and "sentimental attachment", simi- assumes a dominant position in economic status larly, we can speak of language serving an "instru- and social standing in society; other groups are in a mental function" of communication and an subordinate position. While it is well known that, "integrative" or "emotional" function of group even in a byically monolingual society, the social solidarity . background of a person can easily be betrayed by Applying the concept of such functional his tongue, it is obvious that class stereotype of dualism of language to the phenomenon of bilin- language groups and language speakers is much gualism. we see that a bilingual is a person equipped stronger and more clear cut in a multilingual society.

SINGAPORE JOURNAL OF EDUCATION Moreover, one language niay be more instrumental development may force people into new and than others in career advancement and thus social inescapable contacts with each other as mobility. Consequently, in a multilingual society, workers, customers, and neighbours - all languages can perhaps be equal in law, but never contacts far narrower, perhaps, than the in actual practice. Some are bound to be more range of human relations that can he com- equal than others. municated within one culture; but contacts All the above issues are related to a language far wider than the relations which can be policy, bilingual education being part of it. Political communicated in the absence of a common leaders in a multilingual society must look carefully culture to outsiders. Linguistically and cul- into the language problem as a whole, and formulate turally, then, memhers of each group are a language policy in such a way that social com- outsiders for the other. Yet technological munication can be facilitated, social cohesion and and economic processes are forcing their1 political stability maintained, and national identity together into acute recognition of their strengthened. To the extent that a language policy differences and their common, mutual itself is a political decision resultant from some experience of strangeness, and more con- dynamic processes, both the process leading to spicuous differentiation and conflict may the formulation of the policy and its possible result (pp. 125 - 126). social consequences deserve careful investigation by sociolinguists. Apparently, Deutsch is pessimistic that mere In the following, I will further elaborate on contacts at the societal level without meaningful two major sociological issues in multilingual social communication may lead to tension and societies: (1) communicative integration and (2) conflict. national identity. The problem of the language The maintenance of communicative integra- policy will be treated as an underlying factor tion in a multilingual society depends on either or common to both. Specific examples will be both of the following factors: (l) a widely accepted drawn from Singapore society for illustration. lingua ffanca and (2) the extensive practice of multilingualism. Take the case of Singapore for instance. In my recent study of a sociolinguistic Communicative Integration profile in Singapore (Kuo, 1976), I found that Making one of the earliest theoretical expositions there does not exist a highly communicative lingua of the role of communication in national develop- ffanca in this island-state. Rather, there is a com- ment, Deutsch (1953,1966) suggests that language plicated set of linguae ffancae in practice. In inter- and literacy are important elements in social com- ethnic communication, Malay, especially its munication and mobilization, which are in turn pidginized variant, "Bazaar Malay", is used in the basic measures of national development. He more "traditional sector" in the society. As a con- pe:suasively shows that communication is essential trast, English is the common language among the to the formation of a people, a community and a "more modem" for the more formal and official nationality, and that the degree of linguistic occasions. Yet for the population as a whole, assimilation is indicative of communicative ability, except for the use of the Malay language in Malay- which determines the level of national assimilation Indian communication, neither English nor Malay or differentiation. The problem of communicative is highly communicable (see Kuo, 1976, for more integration, moreover, tends to be aggravated as details). This dual pattern is paralleled by another economic and technological advancements are dual system in the Chinese community, whereby forcing people of different backgrounds to come Hokkien is used in the "traditional sector" in into constant contact with one another. interdialect group communication, and Mandarin According to Deutsch (1966), linguistic and is steadily gaining status for the more formal or cultural assimilation in multiethnic states is a slow official functions. English and Mandarin are thus process that may involve decades and generations. High (H) languages, and Bazaar Malay and Hokkien As a contrast, growth in economy, technology, Low (L) languages in Singapore. and societal structure such as transportation and Without a widely accepted lingua franca, marketing systems can be very rapid. Deutsch sees communicative integration in Singapore depends a great danger in this differential growth pattern in mainly on the extensive practice of multilingualism national development. In his own words, as the guiding principle of the language policy. While this is obvious even for casual visitors to Much of this economic or technological Singapore, the policy af multilingualism is most

JULY, 1979 clearly manifested in Singapore's bilingual educa- Of these two strategies, the first one clearly tional system with four types of language medium aims at eliminating linguistic diversity, and is schools, and in the availability of various languages, usually part of a more general policy aiming at programmes and publications in the mass media eventual assimilation and a "national" culture of (see Kao, 1978). It is significant that Singapore's all ethnic minorities. This appears to be the bilingualism and bilingual education emphasize strategy being implemented in Malaysia. As a the combination of English and one of the other contrast, the second approach is more tolerant of official languages (Mandarin Chinese, Malay, and cultural diversity, and usually reflects an official Tamil). English is therefore being promoted as policy of cultural pluralism. This is clearly the the major lingua 3anca for a greater role in the policy being adopted in Singapore today. future. On the other hand, the availability of mass Kelman (1971) analyzes the problem from a media messages in various languages and dialects sociopsychological point of view. He points out guarantees that most of the heterogeneous popula- that sentimental attachments with respective tion can be reached and mobilized (see Kuo, 1978). ethnicpanguage groups in a multilingual society Furthermore, competent bilinguals are mobilized pose a potential barrier to participation in the to occupy strategic, though not necessarily power- national system and to the development of a ful, positions to play the role of the social broker national identity. He however believes that so long to facilitate communicative integration in society. as the existing sociopolitical structure is effective enough to satisfy the basic needs of the individual and his ethnicllanguage community, the resultant National Identity instrumental attachment may eventually lead to For most developing countries in Asia and Africa, sentimental attachment to the new state and then the task of nation-building is constantly confronted to the emergence of a new national identity. with the problems of ethnic and linguistic diversity. Accordingly, in such new states, language The presence of competing ethnicllanguage groups policies ought to be based entirely on functional in these new states generally means that the estab- considerations: lishment of a new nationhood requires the cultiva- tion of a new national identity. The emerging That is, in selecting languages for various national identity can be achieved either through purposes. . ., central authorities ought to be an expansion and elevation of an indigenous concerned primarily with two issues: (1) ethnicllanguage identity imposing upon other how to establish and facilitate patterns of "less" indigenous and usually minority groups, communication . . . that would enable its or through the development of a new supraethnic socioeconomic institutions to function most identity treating various ethnic groups as of equal effectively and equitably in meeting the standing. In either case, it is expected that the needs and interests of the population; an4 emergence of a new national identity is not likely (2) how to assure that different groups to be natural or spontaneous. The crucial problem within the society. . . have equal access to faced by most new multie'thnic states is thus the the system and opportunities to participate potential conflict between loyalty to one's speech in it (Kelman, 1971, p. 40). community and loyalty to the wider national community. The essential question is how the two Again, let me draw the case of Singapore can be reconciled rapidly and smoothly to facilitate for illustration. In Singapore, English has been the process of nation-building. adopted as the de .fact0 working language (Kuo, According to Stewart (1968), language 1977), a policy that satisfies both "issues" suggest- planning policies of the new states generally fall ed by Kelman. On the one hand, the use of English into two types of strategies: promotes economic progress for both society 1. the eventual elimination, by education or as a whole and its individual speakers. On the decree, of all but one language, which is to remain other hand, English is a non-native language in as the national language, which none of the major ethnic groups is at an 2. the recognition and preservation of irn- advantage over the other two. (The same observa- portant languages within the national territory, tion can be made with English in India and Bahasa supplemented by the adoption of one or more Indonesia in Indonesia.) The use of this "neutral" languages to serve for official purposes and for language helps rule out any substantial interethnic communication across language boundaries within conflict based on the language issue in Singapore. the nation (p. 540). At the same time, the practice of multi-

SINGAPORE JOURNAL OF EDUCATION lingualism in education and mass media com- case of Singapore represents an ongoing experi- munication, as in other aspects of daily life ex- ment that has attracted the attention of many periences, serves to neutralize language cleavages social scientists. as a politically divisive issue. It functions more to assure equality and to avoid conflict rather than Concluding Remarks to directly encourage national identity, since multilingualism also means continued attachments Let me make some final notes to conclude this to ethnic culture and traditional values. Whatever paper. Firstly, the case of Singapore is presented transition (or expansion) is needed from ethnic as an example, maybe a unique one, of multilingual loyalty to national identity, the leaders of Singa- societies. Singapore society is unique in many pore seem willing and patient to let the process ways and thus can provide some enlightening take its slow but steady pace. They can be con- insights to other social scientists as well as socio- fident that as long as economic development and linguists. At the same time, it is so unique that its political stability are sustained, the emergence of a experiences should be carefully interpreted and national identity is only a matter of time - even generalized in any attempt to apply them to other though a long time. multilingual societies. Secondly, there are many The role of the language policy in Singapore more important macro-sociolinguistic issues than in relation to nation-building is thus through the what have been discussed in this paper. Many cultivation of instrumental attachments in the more remain to be explored. Thirdly, although population leading eventually to new sentimental my personal interest is in the sociological ap- attachments to the new state, and hopefully to proach to multilingualism, I would like to em- the emergence of a supraethnic national identity. phasize that the study of multilingualism requires According to Fishman, this is a "state-into-nation- inter-disciplinary efforts from linguistics, psycho- Aty" process of nation-building, involving a trans- logy, education, anthropology, as well as sociology. formation from "politico-operational integration" Each complements one another, and none is to "socio-cultural integration" (1 972b, p. 231). The superior to the 0ther.c References 'The Status of English in Singapore: A Sociolinguistic Analysis," in W. Crewe (ed.), Angle, J. "Mainland Control of Manufacturing and English in Singapore. Singapore: Eastern Universi- Reward for Bilingualism in Puerto Rico."Americon ties Press, 1977. Sociological Review, 1976,41, 289-307. . "Multilingualism and Mass Media Deutsch. K. W. Nationalhm and Social Communication. Communications in Singapore." Asian Survey, Cambridge: MIT Press, 1953. 1978,18, ,1067-1083. Deutsch, K. W. Nationalism and Social Communication, Lambert, W.E., Gardner, R.C., Olton, R. and Tunstall, 2d ed. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1966. K. "A Study of the Role of Attitudes and Motiva- Fishman, J.A. "Problems and Prospects of the Socio- tion in Second-Language Learning," in J. Fishman logy of Language," in J.A. Fishman, Language in (ed.), Readings in the Sociology of Language. The Sociocultural Change. Stanford: Stanford Univer- Hague: Mouton, 1968. sity Press, 1972a. Lieberson. S. Language and Ethnic Relotions in Fishman, J.A. "The Impact of Nationalism on Language Conado. New York: Wiley, 1970. Planning," in J.A. Fishman, Language in Socio- Lieberson, S., Dalto, G. and Johnston, M.E. "The cultural Change. Stanford: Stanford University Course of Mother-Tongue Diversity in Nations." Press, 1972b. American Journal of Sociology, 1975, 81, 3461. Fishman, J.A., Nahirny, V.C.. Jofman, LE. and Lieberson, S. and Hansen, L.K. "Nation Development, Hayden, R.G. Language Loyalty in the U.S. The Mother Tongue Diversity and the Comparative Hague: Mouton, 1966. Study of Nations." American Sociological Review, Haugen, E. Bilingualism in the Americas. University, 1974, 39, 523-541. Alabama: University of Alabama Press, 1956. Mackey, W.F. "The Description of Bilingualism," in J. Kelman, H.C. "Language As An Aid and Barrier to Fishman (ed.), Readings in the Sociology of Involvement in the National System," in J. Rubin Language. The Hague: Mouton, 1968. and B. H. Jerudd (eds.), Cnn Language Be Plonned? Stewart, W.A. "A Sociolinguistic Typology for Describ- Honolulu: University Press of Hawaii, 1971. ing National Multilingualism," in J.A. Fishman Kuo, E.C. Y. "A Sociolinguistic Profile," in R. Hassan (ed.), Readings in the Sociology of Lunguage. The (ed.), Singapore: A Society in Transition. Kuala Hague: Mouton, 1968. Lumpur: Oxford University Press, 1976. Weinreich, U. Languages in Contact. New York: Linguistic Circle of New York, 1953.

JULY, 1979 5 Lim Kiat 8oey7 RELC

Bilingualism in Singapore

In the light of the current emphasis on bilingualism domain of cognitive flexibility. Apparently, having in the Singapore education system, I think it more than one system of reference to the real pertinent to bring to the attention of teachers and world freed the bilinguals from being hidebound parents the findings of research and present think- by the linguistic system on the one hand and ing on the issues of bilingualism. enabled them to manipulate the actual concepts, Most of the studies on the effects of bilin- ideas and things with greater autonomy on the gualism in the early period, that is, before the other. 1960s, were not careful to control such factors as While the findings of the studies referred social class, educational opportunities and extent to above provide reassuring evidence of the ad- of bilingualism of the groups compared. While vantages of being bilingual, there is also evidence noting inadequacies in many of these studies, of the problems that may arise when bilingual edu- Lambert (1978) stated: "There was nonetheless cation is introduced in certain circumstances. In an overwhelming trend in the outcomes: the their study of Finnish migrant workers' children, largest proportion of these investigations concluded Skutnabb-Kangas and Toukomaa2 found that the that bilingualism has a detrimental effect on children had poorly developed L1 skills at the start intellectual functioning, a smaller number found of school, which was in the medium of Swedish, little or no relation between bilingualism and and that although they had average intellectual intelligence, and only two suggested that bilin- ability they achieved very low levels of Swedish gualism might have favourable consequences on language skills. At the same time, their Finnish cognition" (p. 537). first language skills remained poorly developed. The reversal in the trend of adverse findings in The investigators have used the term "semi- relation to the intellectual functioning of bilinguals lingualism" to refer to the linguistic achievement began with the study by Peal and Lambert (1962) of the Finnish children. However, semilingualism in Canada. They compared carefully matched is not to be regarded as a purely linguistic concept, groups of bilingual and monolingual children on because although the children's Swedish was verbal and non-verbal measures of intelligence and considered by teachers and parents to be fluent found that the former scored significantly ahead they could not carry out complex cognitive opera- on both measures. Further analysis of the test tions in Swedish. Thus their surface fluency was a results showed that the bilinguals were more "linguistic facade" and semilingualism refers not flexible in thought and had a "more diversified to the linguistic skills themselves but "to the structure of intelligence" (p. 17). child's capacity to represent complex cognitive These findings have been confirmed by operations through his L1 and L2", that is, to his subsequent studies in many countries around the cognitive functioning in the languages. world (Lambert, 1978), including one in Singapore In the light of this concept of semilingualism (Torrance et al., 1970). In the Singapore and the differential findings of studies of the study monolingual and bilingual Chinese and relationship between bilingualism and cognition, Malay children in primary schools were adrninis- Cumrnins (1978) has put forth two hypotheses tered the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking. The to provide "a framework for investigating the overall results showed that the bilinguals excelled dynamics of the bilingual child's interaction with the monolinguals on originality and elaboration. The studies referred to above have produced Lim Kiat Boey is the Specialist in Language Teaching evidence that becoming bilingual does not reduce Methodology at the Regional Language Centre, Singapore. efficiency of cognitive functioning. On the other hand, bilinguals seem to enjoy an advantage in the 2~itedby Cummins (1978).

SINGAPORE JOURNAL OF EDUCATION his educational environment" (p. 396). One is the minority from Tamil- or Malay-speaking homes. "threshold" hypothesis which states that it is the Where their first language is well developed, whe- child?s levels of attainment in L1 and L2 which ther it be a Chinese dialect, Malay or Tarnil, inten- affect his cognitive and academic performance. It sive exposure to a second language in an English is suggested that a child must reach certain medium school will not be harmful, but vvlll threshold levels of linguistic competence before develop effective bilingualism. However, for being able to reap the cognitive advantages of children who grow up in unstimulating language being bilingual. environments and have developed low levels of The second hypothesis is called the "deve- first language competence, it would seem more lopmental interdependence" hypothesis, which helpful to the children to enrol them in Tarnil, states that development of skills in a second Malay or Chinese medium schools, so that their language depends on the skills already developed first language competence may be further deve- in the first language. Where the mother tongue has loped before its being lunited by intensive expo- been inadequately developed the introduction of sure to a second language and at the same time a second language may hinder the continued impeding their acquisition of the second language. development of the first. This in turn will limit It may be argued that a Chinese child speak- the development of competence in the second ing a Chinese dialect is intensively exposed to a language. Where the first language has been highly second language anyway when he attends a Chinese developed before the child is introduced to the medium school, since the language of instruction second language, the most efficient means of pro- is not his home dialect but Mandarin. However, moting a high level of functional bilingualism is it must be conceded that the distance between intensive exposure to the second language. And Mandarin and any Chinese dialect is much less this can be done at no cost to first language than that between Enghsh and a Chinese dialect. competence. With a firmer grounding in his first language, he Cummins (1978) goes on to show how his will at least gain mastery over the cognitive struc- hypotheses are borne out by the pre- and post- ture of one language. He will thus avoid the pitfall 1960s studies of the relation between bilingualism of semilingualism, where he is effective in neither and cognition. his first nor second language. What is the relation of the hypotheses to the The aim of effective bilingualism is admirable bilingual situation in Singapore? There has been a but to think it is achievable for the majority is shift in primary school enrolment in recent years, unrealistic. It is imperative and reasonable to resulting currently in 90 per cent of primary one expect the top 10 - 20 per cent of Singapore children attending English medium schools. Ac- citizens to be effectively bilingual; that is, to have cording to Kuo (1976), there are about 4.3 per control over the cognitive structure of more than cent' of the local population who speak Enghsh as one language. For about 60 per cent the control their first language. Presumably such speakers over two languages will be differential - in one come from middle class families where the use of language both productive and receptive skills are language would be highly developed. It is under- highly developed while in the other the receptive standable that these Enghsh-speaking parents want skills tend to be better developed. As for the to send their children to English medium schools bottom 20 per cent, all we should wish for them where they would have no problems of coping is that they can function well in one language, in with the language of instruction. But if these child- order to participate as citizens in a democratic ren's first language (i.e. Enghsh) has been highly society. developed then they can afford to be intensively The pursuit of bilingualism is important and exposed to a second language (i.e. Mandarin) by exciting, but let it not blind us to equally valuable being enrolled in a Chinese medium school. As pursuits in education. The pursuit of social deve- stated above, it is their best means of acquiring a lopment and self-knowledge requires time to high level of functional bilingualism at no cost mingle and interact freely with others in play and to their first language competence. at leisure. The ability to organise oneself and one's What of the rest of the 90 per cent enrolled own time requires that one has free and unorganised in Enghsh medium primary schools? The majority time to plan for oneself. The ability to think for would be from Chinese-speaking homes and a oneself, to read and reflect with enjoyment and profit again requires time to browse and to follow ' Mealtime speakers of a language are assumed to speak it up an interest or line of thinking. Keeping children as a first language. occupied in school from morn till eve or with a

JULY, 1979 succession of tutors through the week is not but I dare say we would like to have happy genuine the best way of educating them. We may succeed human beings rather than merely efficient machines in turning them into effective learning machines in the future Singapore. hS

References

Cummins. James. "Educational Implications of Peal, E and Lambert, W E. "The Relation of Bilin- Mother Tongue Maintenance in Minority-Language gualism to Intelligence." PsychologicalMonographs, Groups." Conadian Modem Language Review, 1962, 76, 1-23. 1978,34, 395416. Torrance, P E. et al. "Creative Functioning of Mono- Kuo, E. A Sociolinguktic Profile of Singupore. Singa- lingual and Bilingual Children in Singapore." pore: Chopmen Enterprises, 1976. Journal of Educational Psychology. 19 70, 61, 72-75. Lambert, W E. "Cognitive and Sociocultural Conse- quences of Bilingualism." Canadian Modem LunguageReview, 1978,34, 537-545.

SINGAPORE JOURNAL OF EDUCATION Richard Sloane Institute of Education

Is There a Best Age to Lean, a Fmign Langwge?

Anyone looking for a hard and fast answer to the this lies in the few recorded cases of so-called wolf question posed in the title will, I am afraid, be children who never learnt to speak unless they disappointed. The evidence is, to say the least, were discovered before puberty and in the cases confusing and contradictory. There are, however, a of the two modern American children, Isabelle few basic facts to hang on to and it is mainly with and Genie. Isabelle was found when she was six these that I want to deal. I propose to argue that and a half and she covered in two years the learning age is a relevant factor in learning a second language, that normally occupies six years. Genie, on the especially for the 40 plus age group, to take a other hand, was not found until she was nearly rather arbitrary limit. fourteen and she is progressing linguistically much Let us begin, however, by discussing the more slowly than normal children. She has the language learning abilities of children. The first ability to learn isolated lexical items but not, it major point here is that it is generally agreed that appears, grammar. pronunciation excellence is only achieved at an Penfield and Roberts (1959) have collected early age. Why should this be so? There seem to be an impressive body of evidence to show that the three reasons: first, perfect pronunciation seems to child's brain has a specialized capacity for learning be one of the primary language abilities which can language which decreases with time and which is only be achieved from fifteen months to puberty innately connected with the plasticity of the brain because of its coincidence with the physical when young. For instance, injury or a disorder maturation of the brain. Second, achieving good like aphasia can destroy the speech areas in the pronunciation is essentially an imitative process dominant left-cerebral hemisphere and both child and after puberty, embarrassment and/or irritation and adult will become speechless. However the about imitating foreigners increases, whereas imi- child will always speak again while the adult usually tation is a source of pleasure for the young child. won't since, in the child, the speech areas are So adults are inhibited; they have a psychological simply transferred to the right-cerebral hemisphere. stumbling-block. Finally, Haugen (1 965) said, So the hardening of the speech centres is relevant. rightly I believe, that to lose one's accent is to Therefore language acquisition is certainly identify completely with another society and way regulated by maturational phenomena, there being, of life and that a foreign accent is the last bastion for example, an observable synchrony between of the foreigner's original identity.' We can see in the motor and language milestones in cases of this point again the problem of psychological general retardation. Also variables such as the adaptability which, in my opinion, is the greatest "mother's ability to cope", loss or absence of single barrier to older people in learning a second either parent, or socio-economic class do not language. change the age at which children speak. So it Now I want to discuss the neurophysiological seems that "after puberty, the brain behaves as evidence for language acquisition, bearing in mind, if it had become set in its ways and primary, basic of course, that this is not necessarily relevant for language skills not acquired by that time, except L2 learning. There is no doubt that there is a for articulation, usually remain deficient for life" critical period, extending to puberty, when the (Lenneburg, 1967, p. 152). child is in a state of readiness for first language There is some evidence also from bilingual learning. It is now that the brain mechanisms that studies. When languages are in contact, the child acquire and control language are developed and if either learns them simultaneously (infant bilingual) the child is not exposed to language then, the or sequentially (childhood bilingual). Both types innate capacity will atrophy and the ability to learn a language will be lost for ever. The proof for 'Quoted in Torrey, 1971, p. 252. attain accuracy and fluency in both languages. spin-off accrues to the language teacher from This is the natural situation but it does not prove studies of L1 acquisition. that all children would attain such a level. Adults, I would like now to consider the problems however, never achieve the same success. adult learners have with an L2. My basic argument, If we accept Penfield's thesis, then, as which goes back to the beginning of this article, applying to L2 learning, we have to conclude that is that psychological and cultural barriers are the younger we start the better. However, Burstall, crucial for older learners with the linguistic pro- in her report on Primary French (NFER, 1974), blem of interference also detracting from the concludes from her massive study that there is no adult's ability to use a foreign language success- intrinsic advantage in starting young. She says that fully. Torrey (197 l), in an interesting article, says it is the time spent on learning, not age, which is first that learning a language means accepting a the important factor. Stern (1976), however, culture and therefore in some degree a personal in his critique of her report, points out that she identity. Or as Pit Corder (1973) says, "The herself stated that environmental conditions were teacher is attempting to extend, to a greater or vital and therefore that there is no reason to lesser degree, the behavioural repertoire, set of suppose that age had anything to do with it. He rules or ways of thinking of the learner" (p. 113). says, "A purely maturational explanation in favour Learning a language means allying oneself with an of older learners would be reasonable only if alien pattern of thought, value and self-expression. envi~onmentalfactors could not account for the There are positive values towards the other culture, relatively disappointing results of the experimental for example, if the foreign country has prestige, group. Many such environmental factors can, how- and negative ones because the culture is not one's ever, be found; they include: the quality of own. It is necessary to adopt mannerisms of teaching, the rigidity of the teaching methodology, speech, strange intonation patterns and non-vocal undifferentiated classes at the primary level, lack gestures of which many may seem ridiculous or of transition from primary to secondary school, arouse hostility. All these are problems, especially and inadequate arrangements for the Pilot scheme for the older learner. Incidentally, there are plenty children at the secondary stage" (p. 291). If I might of examples of research, carried out with univer- come down off the fence for a moment, I would sity students, where identification with another suggest that second language learning at the pri- culture through the language has either assisted mary level, in spite of the lack of hard evidence, is the learner or caused a dangerous split in per- a worthwhile undertaking provided that Stem's sonality (Torrey, 1971, p. 25 1). Think how much environmental factors are borne in mind and harder it must be to adopt an alien culture and compensated for. way of thinking for the first time in one's 50's I now want to turn to the differences between or 60's. the child (Ll) and the adult (L2) learner. It has There are several other factors which may been conclusively proved, first, that older learners play a part in inhibiting the older learner. These have the better memories, a predictable but are the length of time the student has been out of obviously important point. Second, the child a classroom, their feelings vis-a-vis the teacher depends on concrete experience, the adult on the (whether of superiority or inferiority) and the ability to use abstractions and inductions so that problem of inhibition when it comes to interaction reading, for example, is useful for the adult. Third, with other members of the class. This list is cer- the young child treats language as sound, the tainly not exhaustive and experienced teachers of adult as sense. And finally, language is not the adults will probably be able to add other factors. child's primary conscious goal and he is not aware In all fairness I must add two final quotations of the fact of learning. He has four advantages over which could be construed as going against my the adult (L2) learner. He has strong motivation argument. Carroll (1971) found that with a group since he cannot play without language; his learning of learners mainly in their 303, learning did is realistic as opposed to the sterile classroom decrease slightly with age, but he reports that environment of the adult; he gets more practice aptitude was a far more significant variable than in speaking (remember the limited amount of time age. Finally Wilkins (1972) says, indisputably, an adult, or a schoolchild, can speak in a class- "If learning a language is a more difficult thing room) and his practice is spaced - in other words, for the adult, he has a far greater capacity for he doesn't forget because he is constantly being overcoming difficulties than the child" (p. 187). reminded and reinforced. The differences, then, As should by now be clear, the evidence is are fairly crucial but not so important that no contradictory for the best age at which to study

SINGAPORE JOURNAL OF EDUCATION an L2. Some things, however, are clear. There is advantages, even though I do believe that after a plenty of evidence for a critical period of language certain age, learning an L2 becomes increasingly acquisition and also for the child's phonological difficult since the student is liable to become too abilities. Likewise there is enough evidence to deeply entrenched in his own system of values, his prove, I believe, that creating adult bilinguals can own conceptical prejudices. Finally on an anecdotal be a heartbreaking business. However, I agree with note, speaking from my own experience with some Jakobovits (1970) when he says that the question corroboration from other teachers, I would say of the best age to learn a foreign language is not a that students in their late teens and early 20's real one. All ages have their advantages and dis- are the fastest and most efficient learners. e

References

Burstall, C. "Primary French in the Balance," London: Lenneburg, E. H. Biological Foundations of Language. NFER, 1974. New York: WiIey, 1967. Carroll, J.B. "Development of Native Language Penjield, W. and Roberts, L. Speech and Brain Me- Skills Beyond the Early Years," in C.E. Reed (ed.), chanisms. Princeton: Princeton University Press, The Learning of Languge. New York: Appleton- 1959. CenturyCrofts, 197 1. Stern, H. H. "Optimal Age: Myth or Reality?" Canadian Corder, S.P. Introducing Applied Linguistics. Har- Modern Lungmge Review, 1976, 32. 283-295. mondsworth: Penguin, 1973. Torrev, J. W. "Second Language Learning," in C.E. Haugen, E. "Bilingualism As A GoaI of Foreign Lan- Reed (ed.), The Larrrning of Language. New York: guage Teaching," in V.S. Allen (ed.), On Teaching Appleton-CenturyCrofts, 1971. English to Speakers of Other Longuoges. Series I. Wilkins, D. Linguistics in Lunguoge Teaching. London: Champagne, Illinois: NCTE, 1965. Amold. 1972. Jakobovits, L.A. Foreign Language Learning - A Psycholinguistic Analysis of the Issues. Rowley, Mass.: Newbury House, 1970. Marianne Mercer Institute ofEducation

Five- Year-Olds Crack The Code

In January 1979 preprimary classes were opened principles of learning a second language are con- in a number of Chinese medium primary schools. cerned. Joan Tough maintains that we should be One of the objectives of these classes is to give the improving the child's use of speech language by five-year-olds a better start on the path to "effective looking to the child's natural motivation for bilingualism" in English and Mandarin. Few would learning to use language rather than by trying to doubt that the earlier the child has an opportunity teach him patterns and forms of speech. Edie to listen and to speak in two languages, the better Garvie stresses focusing sessions with the children chance he has of functipning confidently and when the focus is those very patterns and forms of fluently in those languages. These children from speech which Tough decries. It would appear to be truly bilingual homes' would seem to be at a an argument between the formal approach to lan- distinct advantage here since it is highly likely that guage learning and the informal, functional ap- they will have already "cracked the code"' in proach to language learning. However a closer look both languages. They can approach the task of at their materials shows that we are really consi- learning without having to acquire a whole new dering two faces of the same coin. Tough em- set of labels for concepts they already possess. phasizes the functional, notional aspects of learning So how does the preprimary class hope to com- a second language at a young age while Garvie pensate for the fact that the majority of children stresses the structural strategies that can be used. in these classes will have had little or no contact It would seem that the classroom teacher would with English? The school can control the quantity do well to try and blend the two approaches. To and quality of "language time" for the children. find out what this implies we need to examine The structure of the primary timetable has pro- more closely what it is that the two writers advo- vided for the former, the latter is the prerogative cate. of the teacher. The children are "exposed tov3 50 The Schools Council Communication Skills per cent English and 50 per cent Mandarin. The in Early Childhood Project, working from Leeds curriculum guidelines determine what the child University, arose from the experiences of the learns in the classroom but it is the teacher, Preschool Education Project which revealed that through her consideration of how, when and nursery and infant teachers had a great deal of where the child learns his language, who determines interest in but comparatively little knowledge of the quality and kind of instruction. She does so the development and use of language in young through her provision, organization and techniques children. The-methods suggested in the two publi- of language teaching combined with her own cations of the Schools Council project were for- personality and attitudes. What principles and mulated and tested as a result of the work of practice can the teacher employ to ensure that, approximately 1,500 teachers of young children at least in the classroom, the children have a all over Britain. Part of the work was concerned maximum opportunity to crack the code of with teachers of young children learning English English? The following suggestions are culled from 'See the case studies in Andersson and Boyer, Bilingual two primary sources: the publications of the Schooling in the United States, 1978. Schools Council Communication Skills in Early 'A term used by Edie Garvie to describe the period after Childhood Project (Tough, 1976, 1977) and the initial orientation into the first language, akin to Tough's work of Edie Garvie in her book Breakthrough to adjustment and attunement stage. Fluency (1976). At first glance, these two works 3~hisis an unfortunate term in some ways since learning would seem to contradict each other as far as a language is not just a matter of being "exposed" to it.

SINGAPORE JOURNAL OF EDUCATION as a second language. The project's first publica- child's early learning. Garvie explains the situation tion guides teachers in making appraisals of child- for the young second language learner well when ren's language used when talking with one another she describes him as a person who has to be and the teacher as they go about their everyday helped to "crack the new code" and later to classroom activities. The second volume, Talking switch when the need arises (p. 5). and Learning, examines ways in which the teacher However the strategies for helping the can promote the development of the child's skill in children to do this are tackled by the authors using language. The author of both publications is from different viewpoints. Garvie considers the Dr. Joan Tough, the project director. steps of concept development in terms of the Edie Garvie's ideas are based on her work in second language which she labels Identification, the Bradford Infant Centres where she was helping Qualification, Relation, Classification and Mani- non-English speaking children of Asian background pulation. She sees the young learner working to acquire some English before entering primary through the five "tions" in all areas of experience school. where he uses his second language. Tough, in At this point it is important to bear in mind developing her "Framework for Learning a Second that both Tough and Garvie are working with Language" considers first why we should not be immigrant children for whom English is a second adopting these tactics employed by adult second language. Obviously differences exist in how, language learners. Young children, she maintains, when, where and why English is used by immi- have not reached the level of conceptual develop- grant children in Britain and say, Chinese children ment that makes possible the kind of thinking and in Singapore. This does not deny the usefulness motivation employed by the adult when acquiring of their suggestions but does imply that such a new language. She urges teachers to make use of suggestions need to be reviewed for their adapt- the conditions which encourage children to learn ability for use with young Singaporean children. their first language in the activities of the class- For instance, in the preprimary classes, where room. She examines the purposes for which child- 50/50 exposure to Mandarin and English is the ren use language in the classroom (and there is no aim, one can expect few children to come from reason to suppose that Singaporean children differ English speaking homes; therefore there is less from British children in what they use language likelihood that the children will use English for) and concludes that they come under four amongst themselves. Immigrant children, on the main headings: self-maintaining, directing, report- other hand, will join classes where the medium of ing and reasoning. She suggests that the teacher's communication between most of the children will objectives should be to establish the use of English be English. There is an added problem for the for each of these purposes, labelling them children in the preprimary classes in that both languages of instruction, Mandarin and English, 1. language for helping the child to become may be second languages. adjusted and attuned, 2. language for self-help, Tough and Garvie approach the problem of teaching English as a second language in similar 3. language for joining in activities, ways to some extent. They review the stages of 4. language for finding out, language development in the young child and note 5. language for extended learning. the differences between first and second language While accepting that this framework reflects learning. Tough brings out these differences clearly excellently the uses to which the child will put his and recommends that we should be attempting to second language in the classroom, the samples of make use of those conditions which encourage dialogue supporting Tough's framework (recordings first language learning in the second language of actual conversations in the classroom) demon- learning situation. Garvie (1976) emphasizes that, strate that the factors which are required may not although the young child has learnt his first lan- yet be present in the Singaporean preprimary class: guage remarkably well under these conditions, as a) a teacher who is well versed in making teachers we must be aware that "the learner comes appraisals of children's language and who to the learning of his second language as a deve- can grasp opportunities easily for helping loped being" and for this reason he must be children employ certain language in activities, specially motivated to learn his second language b) a well-established and tried programme of (p. 4). Both authors recognize the problem of activities for the children, "interference" of the first language with the c) a teacher:child ratio which allows for fre- second language and note that this will affect the quent teacher :child dialogue. Edie Garvie, on the other hand, accepts that (p. 38) and that language learning is very closely these conditions are not always possible. She looks bound up with all other learning that is going on. more closely at what it is we want young children We say that children understand before they speak to learn and suggests that since language learning but Donaldson regards this as an oversimplification is both a matter of making discoveries and forming since the correct understanding of a word on one habits, that the teacher should be providing "a occasion certainly does not guarantee the inter- field of learning" in which there is a certain pretation of that word on another occasion. amount of direction and "focus". It is this idea Research carried out at Edinburgh University has which is reflected in the curriculum guidelines for shown that, by varying the situation, different the preprimary classes in the form of "Centres levels of understanding in the child can be achieved of Interest". carvie herself advocates the centre of (thereby questioning some of Piaget's work). interest as a means of focusing on part of the Findings such as these would indicate that for the whole language field. Given a centre of interest, young child who is developing communication or to use Carvie's term a ''category of experience", skills, it is the language in the situation which is say "My Family", a natural limit is provided for all important. If this is the case for a child's first the language to be learnt. A closer examination language, then it must be taken into account when of Carvie's Language Checklists which arise from a young child learns his second language, i.e. a the focusing done by the teacher on an aspect of child learns language best when it is acquired the curriculum or category of experience reveals through his activities. a structural/functional approach to the analysis The five-year-old in the preprimary class has of language, which, when combined with Tough's to learn to "crack the code" before he can learn Framework for Learning a Second Language, later to switch codes whenever the need arises. To would seem to produce a very useful checklist of help him do this the teacher would do well to try items for the teacher to cover. At this stage how- to combine the best of well tried strategies for ever it must be emphasized that on no account infant teaching with up to date principles of how should the language that is relevant to a particular young children best acquire a second language activity be sacrificed for the preplanned items that with which to learn. In the preprimary class both the teacher may have in mind. In other words if English and Mandarin will act as vehicles for the perfect tense is required then it should be further learning to take place. This means that the used. The child should not be denied the chance teacher needs to provide the children with the of learning it just because he has not "done" motivation for learning the second language by the present tense. Practice shows that often a child setting up communicative learning situations in will acquire whatever language we want, provided and around the classroom. Any activity, be it that the situation is stimulating enough and the creative activities, block-building, playing in the language to be used really relevant to the task sandpit, or enjoying books in the reading corner, in hand. At no point would either of the authors has a potential for dialogue. It is for the teacher to suggest that language learning for young children grasp the opportunity to encourage children to use become so structured as to exclude all those well the second language in these activities. With a established infant teaching strategies which revolve centre of interest to provide focus for language around play. Rather through the informal play learning, the teacher can be sure that the children activities which the teacher makes provision have a chance to become familiar with a limited for, she can help the child focus attention on lan- number of vocabulary items and to some extent a guage by talking with him about whatever he is limited number of structures. Five-year-olds can doing. Through more structured activities, such crack the code and break through to fluency if as those suggested by Edie Garvie, specific voca- they are sufficiently motivated to use the second bulary, structures and formulae can be practised. language. Until the five-year-old has cracked the In her book, Chil.dren's Minds (1978), code, his overall learning progress will be limited. Margaret Donaldson explores the changes of think- Perhaps, with some of the above ideas in mind, the ing that have occurred during this century as to preprimary teacher will be better equipped to take how children acquire language. Research carried on the task. c out at Edinburgh University in the last ten years is proving that "it is the child's ability to interpret situations which makes it possible for him, through active processes of hypothesis testing and in- ference, to arrive at a knowledge of language"

SINGAPORE JOURNAL OF EDUCATION References Garvie. E. Breakthrough to Fluency. Oxford: Blackwell, 1976. Andersson, T. and Boyer, M. Bilingual Schooling in the United States. Austin, Texas: National Tough, J. Listening to Children Talking. London: Laboratory Publishers, 1978. Ward Lock Educational, 1976. Donuldson, M. Children's Minds. Glasgow: Fontana, . Talking and Laming. London: 1978. Ward Lock Educational, 1977.

JULY, 1979 Judith Lucas and Marianne Mercer Institute of Education

Day Care: A Discussion of Language and Related Issues

Rationale 4. organize homogeneous classes in terms of So far two day care centres have been opened by the stage of development as well as the chrono- the People's Association to cater for the children logical age of children. of working parents. It is expected that many more The recommendations that follow in each of such centres will be opened in the future to meet the areas are based on both accepted child deve- the growing need. lopment theory and a knowledge of what is feasible In addition to the problems of organizing and practical in the Singapore context. In he and implementing a developmental daily pro- with the recent report of Dr. Goh Keng Swee and gramme and providing adequate and appropriate the Education Study Team and recent research in facilities for such centres, several other concerns the area of language in early childhood education, necessitate comment and an exchange of ideas it is strongly recommended that at the ages of from interested professionals. Although Singapore three, four and five, language be accepted as the cannot afford to let the decision making process medium through which children learn and not as be hindered by divisive and prolonged dialogue, something to be learned in itself. The primary the success of a programme does depend on the responsibility of a day care programme must be clarity of its objectives and the degree to which to provide opportunities for the child to grow in those objectives are understood and accepted by the areas of social/moral, emotional, physical, not only those who implement the programme and cognitive/intellectual development. but also by those who are beneficiaries of it. Clear The acquisition of language is an integral objectives, in turn, result from constructive part of overall development and therefore it must discussion and planning. be seen as a means to an end. It is through lan- This paper will consider areas within the guage, i.e., listening and understanding, then com- scope of competence of the authors and is based municating orally and later in writing, that child- on related experience of early childhood education ren learn to interpret experiences. Research has in several countries. Their opinions may not be shown that without vocalization of experience, definitive but hopefully will initiate discussion children's thinking skills are not adequately deve- that will result in a comprehensive, child-oriented loped. Thus the choice of a medium of instruction philosophy and programme for day care that is an becomes crucial to the effectiveness of the learning appropriate Singaporean model. programme. The paper limits itself to the discussion of Work in second language situations in other three topics but this does not preclude other countries highlights the problems and learning important issues. The topics are language, teacher constraints that ensue when children are faced training and parent involvement. These three areas with the task of learning in a language other than will be considered with the proviso that the day their mother tongue. A prospective bilingual care programme aims to: child's first experience in a formal learning situa- tion, i.e. day care, can closely predict his eventual 1. promote the total development of children, failure or success in the educational system. 2. make adequate provision in terms of staff While there are many examples of parents, facilities and equipment to cater for this deve- particularly well educated professionals, teaching lopment, young children to speak and sometimes read and 3. encourage the development and maintenance write two languages, these are isolated situations of positive homelcentre reiationships in recog- where the motivation and skills of the parents and nition of the fact that parents are the prime the high aptitude of the children were important influence on the child and controlling factors.

SINGAPORE JOURNAL OF EDUCATION The implications for bilingual education of cipating. The results may have far reaching irnpli- such examples indicate a need for socio-linguistic cations for Singapore and other countries facing research (with control groups) that is cognizant of: similar problems.

1. the linguistic environment of the sample, Language - Recommendations 2. the effects of introducing second languages at different ages and stages of development, e.g. Maluy, Tamil and English Speakers - At age three particularly cognitive, communication should be in the child's mother 3. the effects of different second language tongue. Before the fourth year English or other programmes and - second language songs and finger plays could be 4. the results of the degree of reinforcement of introduced to familiarize children with the sound second language in the home. system. The second language could be introduced gradually during the fourth year to those children The purpose of such research would be to indicate who have consolidated the vocabulary and stmc- the extent to which children's development is tures of their mother tongues. With many children affected by the acquisition of second languages. In this consolidation might not take place until the addition, the research should show the level of end of the fifth year and provision would have to proficiency possible in simultaneous second lan- be made for appropriate developmental activities guage learning situations. This research may in the mother tongue. These children could be demonstrate whether the focus should be on combined with Enghsh speakers who were learning language development per se or on overall develop- Tami! or-Malay as a second language. ment. However, although research with sample Chinese Speakzrs - At age three communi- groups is necessary to provide information that cation can be in Mandarin if it is supplemented may lead to new directions in the bilingual educa- by dialect. The fourth year should be a period of tion of young children, the authors believe that learning and consolidation. The children need to subjecting all Singaporean children to this expe- be given at least one year to practise structures rience without adequate local data to back up such and vocabulary before having to deal with another a decision is unjustified. With these points in mind second language. It is generally agreed that child- it is further recommended that children's initial ren are usually in command of the structure of learning experiences, particularly at the three- their mother tongues by age five. This period may and four-year-old levels, be in the mother tongue. be prolonged in those cases where Mandarin differs In the Singapore context this is possible for significantly from a child's mother tongue or children from ~amil,'Malay and Enghsh speaking where there are developmental problems. It is to homes. However, the case of the Chinese child is be hoped that this period of early education will not so straightforward. The spectrum of language enable the Chinese child to become reasonably diversity in the Chinese speaking population means fluent and comfortable with Mandarin. that a variety of situations may exist, e.g. 1) one Children with a special aptitude for language language/dialect for all members of the family, as identified by teacher evaluation (NOT TESTING) 2) any combination of languages/dialects (Hokkien and who have mastered Mandarin sufficiently may and Teochew grandparents, Enghsh speaking be introduced to Enghsh during the fourth and father, Mandarin speaking mother, etc.). The diver- fifth years. Teachers, SU~~MSO~Sand centre staff sity of familial situations, economic considerations should be extremely resistant to parental pressure and the availability of suitably trained teachers to force Enghsh on children before they are ready. have necessitated a government policy that pre- It is far better for children to be effectively com- cludes teaching through "dialects". Therefore, it municative in one language than ineffective in is necessary that Mandarin' be the medium of two or three. There is an inherent danger in the instruction for Chinese children. one-day-English, one-day-Mandarin approach. It is It is further suggested that, as there is a that by halving the exposure time to each lan- notable lack of research in this field, the day care centres should be used for case studies of bilingual education with the Malay, Tamil and Enghsh '~tthe time of writing, the authors have no recent infor- mation on the numbers speaking other Indian languages groups used as control groups. This study should who might be enrolling in day care programmes However, be multi-disciplinary with relevant government it is doubtful if the government can do more than cater institutions and independent organizations parti- for the major languages.

JULY. 1979 guage, the child's competence in both languages by a majority of Malay speaking children will may be restricted. As a result his effectiveness in require Malay speaking aides and a teacher who is verbalizing and possibly reasoning could be less fluent in Malay and English. than that of a child who has used one language. There appears to be a definite correlation between B. Teachers need to be testedfor aptitude and language proficiency and cognitive development. suitability for working with this age range. Extent The child may be able to use both languages but of experience and formal academic qualifications his structures would be too limited for deve- are less important than personal qualities and lopmental programme requirements. It is believed attitudes towards children in this age range. Sub- that a good parent education and involvement stitute parenting (i.e. mothering), approachability, programme will ameliorate some of these problems. empathy, the ability to give and receive affection There is much talk about LET (Language spontaneously and high intergroup sensitivity are Exposure Time) when considering the amounts of relevant qualities. time allocated to the different languages children have to learn in Singapore. This usually results in Training Programme - Skills Apart from a certain amount of the school day being reserved fundamental early childhood education and child for exposure to English or Mandarin or one of the development principles, teachers need to acquire languages. However LET is not so relevant in the specialized skills. They must learn how to assess day care situation. The children's day is not seg- children's progress by using a developmental mented into rigid lessons and the atmosphere chart. The chart lists stages of development in the should be far less formal than the normal school. basic areas, i.e. social/moral, physical, emotional Adults move freely among the children, talking, and cognitive development, and relates them to helping and guiding. In this kind of learning envi- chronological age. This skill will assist teachers ronment the constant factor should not be time to plan appropriate activities for all ability levels allocated to the language but rather the language and to make recommendations on the readiness of of the "instructor". Therefore it becomes impor- children for second language learning. tant for the adult to remain "constant" in his Another skill is the ability to encourage language. In this way children learn, as they do children to talk about what they are doing without naturally in a bilingual or multilingual hone interfering with the learning process. This means setting, to switch languages, depending on whom teachers must be clear as to the difference between they are talking to. intervention and interference in learning. The It is debatable whether a poor model of dialogue between child and adult plays a vital part English, say, is beneficial in any way to children's in helping children verbalize activities. Without learning of English. It is better that the fluent this verbalization, cognitive skills can be retarded. Mandarin speaker retains Mandarin when speaking Teachers should be able to design plans, both to a child rather than resorting to substandard long and short term, which allow for enough flexi- English because it is "English time". bility in the daily programme to maximise learning opportunities as they occur. The key to a good child development programme is flexibility with- Teacher Training out forgetting the importance of structure for Teacher training for the day care centres has achieving long term goals. already begun with trained experienced teachers With reference to the section on parental from the kindergartens undergoing special re- involvement, teachers' sensitivity training would training courses. With the previous recommen- seem to be a necessary component of the course. dations, e.g. language and parent involvement, It is expected, on the basis of an English Proficiency future courses will need to consider the following: Test, that many of the teachers will also require a compulsory supplementary course to improve Selection Criteria A. The number of teachers re- their own spoken English. This course should run quired will depend on: concurrently with the main course. 1. the number of centres and children, Finally provision should also be made in the 2. a desirable chi1d:teacher ratio, teacher training programme for helping teachers 3. the language requirements of children - e.g. to accommodate handicapped children. By accom- a) a centre in a predominantly Hokkien area will modation is meant training in preparing suitable require more Hokkien speaking teacher volunteers/ equipment and activities, integrating children in Mandarin speaking teachers, b) a centse attended the classroom, assisting the development of friend-

SINGAPORE JOURNAL OF EDUCATION ships and also providing simple counselling for Eventually the parent organization could be parents of handicapped children (and perhaps for given the responsibility for the development of members of the community who have reservations the parent education programme. It is hoped that about including handicapped children in their as family members develop skills, e.g. reading programme). stories, intervening and helping children in their activities, a volunteer programme will be developed utilizing these skills. Volunteers in the classroom Parent Involvement and Education will, of course, improve the child: adult ratio in Educational research and literature throughout the classrooms thereby providing more opportunities world affirm the role of the home as the primary for child-adult interaction. influence on a child's attitudes towards education, The possibility of training parents with parti- his behaviour and his scholastic success. It would cular aptitudes in this area as paid teacher aides seem, however, that most educators and admini- should be considered. This approach has proved strators have traditionally refused: successful in the American Head Start Programme as a means of conveying, in a constructive and 1. to deal realistically with the results of this favourable light, the policy and objectives of the research and centre. 2. to develop programmes that include effective As day care has broad cultural and socio- parental involvement. logical as well as educational impllcations, it is vital that the community be knowledgeable to Parents enrol their children in day care facilitate its effective cooperation. It is difficult to centres for convenience and because they feel that imagine such a programme being successful at all the child will profit from the experience. Parents without community support. expect the centres to be run by well-trained pro- fessionals who share their ideas and expectations Conclusion about education. However, as few parents are educators or specialists in early childhood educa- Meetings with members of the People's Association tion, it is unrealistic to expect parents and teachers and the staff of the National Youth Leadership to agree on educational programmes. It is, there- Training Institute have shown that there is a real fore, of the utmost importance that parents have concern and desire to have day care centres that opportunities for observation in the centres, inter- cater for the developmental needs of children. action with teachers and guidance in understanding There is also an awareness of the immensity of the programme objectives and methods. This should task and the need for professional dialogue that not be a haphazard arrangement but a planned, will assist in shaping the type of programme that well organized and stimulating orientation. Parents' will truly benefit the young children of Singapore. concerns and questions should not be treated The main aim of this paper is to encourage that lightly. Suggestions for programme improvement dialogue. In conclusion, the authors wish to stress should be duly considered and implemented as that the above recommendations are meant to appropriate. This has to be an ongoing effort whose stimulate constructive discussion and the consi- leadership is turned over to a parent organization deration of alternative approaches in achieving as soon as possible. policy objectives. C5

JULY, 1979 Chr~stopherFry and Marianne Mercer Institute of Education l The Rde and Use of Tkwtkwks as a Vehide for Teadrihg EH!as a Second bnguage7 l

In considering the role of the textbook in the except in brief descriptive or comparative surveys. context of Second Language Teaching, we are Moreover, there has not, to our knowledge, been obviously bearing in mind at the same time other any research conducted on the strategies and vehicles which are intended to propel the learner techniques employed by both teachers andlearners along on his journey towards proficiency in Eng- in using the textbooks to further students' pro- lish. Other vehicles do exist., as exemplified in the ficiency in English. illustration above.' The particular model we are examining here Quite a lot has been written already about is the approved Enghsh coursebook used in govern- transportation in the form of instructional media ment schools. In Singapore, the textbook is manu- such as television, radio, tapes, wallcharts, dic- factured according to certain specifications pro- tionaries, films, etc. hi relation to Second Language posed by the Ministry of Education. Although Teaching. Occasionally, for short distances, they there is an amount of flexibility in the size, shape, are used in schools today. For long hauls, however, model, colour and general appearance of the body- the textbook is usually regarded by principals and work and interior, the basic mechanical arrange- teachers as a safe stand-by. It is comparatively ment3 must conform to certain guidelines before reliable, economical in terms of effort and well it is approved and granted the seal of road- equipped with many parts. This is probably why it tends to hog the road in Singapore just as much as it does in other countries where English is 'NO distinction is made here between EL1 and EL2. In practice almost all students learn English as a Second taught as a second or foreign language. (or Third) Language. In spite of the dominating position in com- parison to other vehicles of instruction, ironically 'And in the recent exhibition of language teaching mate- rials at the British Council. the textbook seems to have escaped evaluation by writers of papers on Second Language Teaching 3i.e. content organisation

SINGAPORE JOURNAL OF EDUCATION 2 worthiness. After all, it is the Ministry of Educa- and therefore, read.2 As for role-playing in dia- tion who knows the route and who maps out the logues, we doubt whether many teachers actually itinerary for students. use these in practice. We have observed that many For the travel-sore reader who is becoming teachers in Singapore are reluctant to encourage tired of our metaphor, let us move on to some conversation in class, perhaps using group work, more literal features of the typical ESL textbook because of organisation problems and fear of class used in Singapore'. In this paper we do not wish di~ruption.~ to condemn the textbook per se as a teaching In any case, it is far easier to set students device. Its advantages include the following: written work from the textbook. What this written work actually teaches, however, is another ques- a) it can be a scheme of work for the teacher, tion. b) it provides a lot of basic material for lessons which the teacher has not the time to prepare, c) it is a visual record of progress for both Teaching and Testing teacher and students and, therefore, it acts If we agree that a textbook is probably more as a memory aid, useful in developing written skills than oral skills, d) it is convenient in terms of size, weight and then we must question to what extent the typical ease of handling and transporting. textbook does just this. Developing skills implies What we do wish to indicate in this paper, identifying and teaching the skills. What actual however, is that it should be viewed in perspective teaching is present in most coursebooks? and in relation to other teaching aids. We also A comprehension passage followed by a set hope to point out the dangers of overusing it or of comprehension questions, vocabulary or misusing it as well as to suggest ways of exploiting grammar exercises with blanks to be filled in by it to its full potential. the student, plus grammar conversion exercises (for example, change the verb from X tense to y tense), feature predominantly in Ministry approved Overusing the Textbook textbooks. Although these types of activities may As the textbook has many advantages, there is a be quite useful for testing the acquisition of skills, built-in danger that it will be followed by the they do not in themselves teach the skill^.^ This teacher and the class page by page, lesson after distinction between testing and teaching is im- lesson, year after year. The textbook may become portant. Although we do not deny that tests can a psychological prop or a crutch to the teacher. be used for teaching purposes in some circum- A false sense of security may be created because stances, the textbook on the whole provides little he or she eventually becomes unwilling to do any- explicit teaching in itself. Unfortunately, some thing to supplement the textbook units or to pro- teachers rely on the textbook to do this very job vide variety for the students. It eventually may of teaching and do little to supplement the printed lead to both mechanical and perfunctory teaching word except for the odd question or two. It is to and learning. The Enghsh lesson becomes a mono- be expected that students do not perform as well tonous routine in which there is neither joy nor as we would like them to do in tests: they simply interest for either teacher or learners. have not been taught sufficiently.

The Textbook as Written English One glaringly obvious but frequently overlooked point is that the textbook is written, not spoken, We accept that there is a lot of difference between, say, and that students read it, not listen to it. One may J.B. Heaton's Create and Communicate (Singapore: Longman Malaysia, 1977) and A.R.B. Etherton's Contact: also ask how successfully a coursebook can teach A Secondary English Course (Singapore: Longman Malay- oral English. Therefore, there is an implicit danger sia, 1974). However, the underlying principles are the that if the textbook is used too frequently, stu- same. dents will be stunted as far as the development of oral skills is concerned. 2~eethe later section on speech practice. Some textbook writers have.clearly seen the 3~hedevelopment of oral skills in English, however, is danger here and have included pronunciation ex- another paper. ercises plus stimuli for role-playing in dialogues. 4Does, for instance, a blank filling exercise on the super- The pronunciation exercises, however, are written lative teach the superlative?

JULY, 1979 The Textbook and the Teaching of Grammar sentences since some are so contrived3 that they We give special attention to this aspect of text- border on unacceptability. E.g. books, seeing as most are modelled on a grammati- cal or structural syllabus. What does go for explicit Rewrite in the passive: Tom smokes ten cigarettes a day. teaching in the grammar section of many course- Ten cigarettes are smoked by Tom a day? books is highly questionable in some cases. We Change the following using the apostrophe with the noun: would define the teaching of grammar as the The tail of the cat. teaching of English structures and sentence The pen of Henry. patterns. Many textbooks, however, appear to define the teaching of grammar as the teaching of Also teachers should check whether more the specialised terminology used to describe those than one item is acceptable in the blank-filling Enghsh structures and sentence patterns. In exercises, e.g. other words, textbooks frequently focus on a description of Enghsh rather than on English Are there (some, any) people in the room? itself. We are all painfully aware of what this Remember that if two answers are acceptable, the results in. Students' minds are swimming with teacher will have to explain WHY they are both indefinite pronouns, past perfect tenses, sub- acceptable and that this may contradict what you junctive moods, conditional sentences, adverbial have been earlier persuaded by the textbook to clauses, etc.' Our hearts go out to the many teach as a hard and fast rule (e.g. "SOLW" is used students who are very proficient in Enghsh ex- for positive statements, "any" is used for negative pression (and, therefore, in our terms, in grammar) statements and interrogative sentences). but who collapse at the sight of an exercise such as "Point out any adverbial phrases in these sentences Another feature of many textbook exercises and say which word they modify ."2 is that they are deliberately set to trap students. Although we would not like to state cate- Put "a", "an" or "the" where necessary, gorically that the learning of all terminology is useless (older children sometimes like to analyse for example, is bringing three (or four if we count language as well as speak and write it and may ask the absence of an article) commonly confused the teacher questions about grammar - as the forms together in the same exercise. This is obvious- textbook defines it), we consider that the emphasis ly an open invitation for students to make errors in textbooks on the rote learning of linguistic rather than to avoid making them. If this exercise jargon is misjudged. Unfortunately, the insistence does teach anything, then it is not very prudent on using this terminology in the instructions of teaching. school tests and examinations forbids us to In general, however, a cursory glance at the persuade teachers to completely ignore it. sheer space devoted to oral or written exercises Perhaps it is all a question of degree, extent in most coursebooks confirms our opinion that and timing. We shall return to this subject later in textbooks devote far too much time to testing a more constructive light. rather than teaching. Although textbooks are usually quite careful Let us now take a more constructive approach in the use of vocabulary in other sections, this to the use of the school textbook while asking consideration is sometimes completely forgotten the reader to bear a number of points in mind: when the writer provides explanations of the func- a) We are not in this paper suggesting altema- tions of grammatical features. Even the simplest tives to the textbooks such as preparing one's own explanations in terms of vocabulary are quite difficult to understand. E.g. "We use the present perfect tense to show our interest in the present '01 is it adverbial pronouns, past perfect sentences, or future result of an action already completed." conditional clauses, subjunctive tenses and indefinite This is really a very difficult concept for Secondary moods? One students to grasp. (This example is from a 2This is a genuine example from an approved textbook. Secondary One coursebook.) We wonder how many native speakers can tackle this. The exercises following the grammar section 3~nfact, all are random, unconnected, mechanically are designed to give practice or test the student in contrived sentences. his mastering of structural patterns. Teachers 4~ndif he continues to smoke, no doubt the bucket should be wary of some of the stimulus or response will soon be.kicked by him!

SINGAPORE JOURNAL OF EDUCATION aids, using dramatisation, language games or group The reading of the text activities. In so doing, we would be expanding a Although pupils are required to prepare for oral short article into our own textbook on Second examinations by practising reading texts aloud, Language Teaching! We are, therefore, con- this should not be confused with reading for com- centrating on the exploitation of the textbook as prehension' (extracting information, making a teaching device. inferences, predictions, etc.). By asking pupils to read aloud, teachers are decelerating students' b) The textbook is only ONE instructional potential silent reading speed. Furthermore, it is aid amongst many and there are other ways to doubtful whether students absorb much of the complete the school .syllabus in conjunction with underlying content of the passage when they are the textbook. The textbook is not the syllabus, as concentrating on the articulation of the surface laid down by the Ministry of Education, itself. It print.2 This is not to say that reading aloud by is only modelled on it. Teachers can, therefore, pupils in class never has any uses, e.g. with dia- supplement the textbook with other materials logues, materials to be read aloud, etc. or aids. The majority of adults read silently and so it could be agreed that the ability to read silently is c) In general, a coursebook unit may contain the most important skill teachers should be more material than teachers can possibly use in the developing in their students. However, there is no time available. As a result, teachers have to employ reason why a teacher should not occasionally read some form of selection criteria. As this paper is parts of the text aloud, not only for the sake of devoted to the teaching (not testing) of English adding variety to the lesson but also if he or she as a Second Language, we would encourage teach- realises that there is a section of the text whichmay ers to select the potentially most useful sections introduce the pronunciation of new vocabulary for learning purposes. which is phonically irregular. The macro-skills of silent reading d) In lessons where the textbook is employed, teachers should be careful to try and strike a The primary skills can be summarized as the balance between the receptive skills of listening ability to locate, extract and retain particular and reading and the productive skills of speaking pieces of information from particular sections of and writing. particular texts in a particular amount of time. Secondary skills include the ability to perceive Below is the general core format of Ministry cause and effect relationships, to make inferences, of Education approved textbooks. suppositions or predictions, etc. 1. Reading and Comprehension (plus vocabu- Some suggested methods for developing these lary) skills 2. Grammar plus orallwritten exercises. New and/or revisionary topics 1. Teach students to locate and extract informa- 3. Speech practice (pronunciation, etc.) tion rapidly. For a warm-up exercise, instruct 4. Composition students to tell you (in perhaps five or six seconds) where particular pieces of information are con- tained, e.g. Reading and Comprehension "Today we are going to read a passage from The reading passage plus comprehension questions Unit (Lesson) Ten. Now, quickly, look at the list are stimuli for teaching, not teaching per se. It is of contents at the front of the book and tell me that the teacher sees how the other sections of the what page the unit (lesson) begins at . . . . Now niques and exploiting the passage and questions look at page 47. I want you to tell me which para- in a particular way who will achieve the instruc- graph describes . . . ." tional objectives of the lesson. In so doing, the teacher will have considered not only what these 'we are sure you can all read "When the fig dreened to objectives should be but also the best means to the nisty strop, it mirented slooply" perfectly fluently ensure that learning takes place. What follows without your having comprehended anything at all. below is a suggested approach to the textbook to 'What, when one child is reading aloud, the minds of the teach the students general reading and comprehen- other thirty-nine children are dwelling on, we dare not sion skills. consider.

JULY, 1979 Teachers could also train their pupils to ment and semantic context in which they occur. become familiar with the structure of the text- Do not concentrate so much on definitions or books for the purpose of individual study. As explanations3 since many words are not easily some students will be rather slow at this kind of defined (can you define the verb "wait"?) or if exercise at first, especially at primary level, per- they are, the definitions frequently are as compli- suade students to look for information by moving cated if not more so than the word you are trying their eyes zig-zag fashion down the page rather to define (e.g. to cause = to produce an effect). than start reading the first line, then the second Instead encourage the use of the words in different line, and so on horizontally. contexts. By this means, the contextual restrictions Locating information in a text can start right of the lexis will become more apparent4 Again, at the beginning reading stage with children being the beginner reader should be taught to acquire asked to circle, underline, point at words and vocabulary in this way. In addition visual clues phrases which contain certain information. At this are present in the textbook in the form of pictures. stage, children are learning the sub-skills of reading, e.g. that words carry information, that there are Grammar relationships between words. You have two jobs to do here: 2. Decide yourself which information is im- a) to teach your students to use Enghsh struc- portant and which is not important. As a general tures and sentence patterns correctly and rule, the comprehension questions given at the end appropriately, of the sections ask significant questions but not b) to teach your students the linguistic ter- always so. Supplement the textbook questions minology to help them pass school tests with your own. and examinations. Deal with (a) first. 3. As students are often instructed to read a I passage without knowing for what purpose they 1. Except for one or two exceptions, we find are expected to read it, they have no clear idea most textbooks being used in schools sadly lacking sometimes as to what information they should in their demonstration of the particular structure retain and what information they should filter being taught in a natural, realistic communicative out. To overcome this, ask your questions or give situation. For some reason, a lot of textbook directions BEFORE they read particular sections writers seem to believe that English speakers of the text. By this method, students are directed communicate in random, isolated sentences rather to focus only on what you consider to be im- than in dialogues or pieces of continuous prose portant in the text, e.g. writing. This is certainly one section of the course- book which frequently needs supplementing with "I now want you to read the fourth and fifth other teaching materials. If necessary it cin be paragraphs and to tell me (a) what . . . . and (b) replaced altogether. why ...... " The only tip we can give here is to suggest that the teacher sees how the other sections of the 4. Be very cautious about students' answers. unit can assist and combine to help teach grammar The ability to answer comprehension questions, in context. For the initial exposure to the new especially if the answers are a direct quotation from the text, does not guarantee comprehension.'. Supplement your questions with instructions for Try this yourself. EXTRACT : . . . The salt is extraluded by deep students to paraphrase or summarise sections of of consumatid heat. . . . . the text.2 Question : How is the salt extraluded? Answer : (It is extraluded) by gleep of 5. In general, let the students read the passage consumatid heat. in conveniently-sized chunks depending on both 2~o~will then also have the bonus of students speaking the level of your pupils and how the passage can in connected speech - a rare phenomenon - as opposed be suitably broken up. to single sentences. . 'unless you are training your students to be dictionary 6. Always teach new vocabulary in the context compilers. in which it appears. Pupils can frequently deduce 4~.g."pregnant" - carrying a baby. Therefore, "The the meaning of words from the structural environ- fueman went into the building and came out pregnant."!

SINGAPORE JOURNAL OF EDUCATION d grammatical topic (at the receptive level), the of glee and panting expectation and excitement in teacher can refer back to the reading passage at the the most well-motivated class. beginning of the unit to see if the structure can be When you do introduce the terminology, demonstrated there. Later, the teacher can look keep it as simple and as brief as possible. There is forward to the composition section at the end of no need to go into such detail as the coursebook the unit and see if students can be engineered to sometimes suggests. The terms "adverb" or . use the structure at the productive level. "adverbial clause" are sufficient: you do not have To summarise, therefore, if all else fails and to qualify these as adverbs of manner, time, etc. or you really have to rely solely on the textbook, concessive, causal, temporal adverbial clauses, etc. adapt the reading passage and the composition Avoid defining the parts of speech, seeing as section for the teaching of grammar. Remember, definitions are so fallible. Traditional grammar however, that this will again lead to a situation may try and convince teachers that a verb is a where pupils are restricted to written Enghsh "doing" word or an action word. (BUTb'Swimming unless the teacher can ensure that the structure is an energetic sport.") Or that a noun is a naming will also be demonstrated and then subsequently word. (BUT "Do it for my sake.") used by students in speech.' It is much more profitable, however, for students to recognise the structural characteristics 2. As a general guideline, when teaching English of the parts of speech, e.g. a noun is a word which structures, the teacher will have to focus on goes into the slot."Many - s like chocolate" and a) form has the feature of "+ S". Similarly a verb is any b) function word which goes into the slot "Many boys - c) meaning chocolate" and has the feature of "+S" or "+ ed".'

We have already indicated that many course- 4. Cut down the number of exercises that books seem to attach little or 110 importance to students should complete: valuable teaching time meaning and concentrate on artificial sentences is lost here to testing. Before you assign an ex- sometimes dubious in terms of real life occurrence. ercise, thoroughly check the sentences for accepta- The teacher should also be wary that the course- bility in English and see whether alternative book pays sufficient attention to the function of answers are admissable. Remember also that the item. This, in brief, refers to when a structure although it may appear much easier to set written is appropriately or correctly used. Some course- exercises of this kind than to devise situations books focus far too much on the form of the item whereby your students use the grammar topic in without bringing out the function sufficiently. a simulated context using connected sentences, E.g., students might be taught that the indefinite your students may reap the unhappy harvest of article is a, an. ("put a, an before the following being taught to communicate in isolated, artificial nouns") but they do not adequately bring out the sentence^.^ This is surely not true practice in using function (when is the indefinite article used?) of grammatical structures. The sentences as they a, an as opposed to the definite article or no article stand, however, are mechanical and contrived. at all. Finally, do not let the sheer quantity of However, again, use your common sense exercises persuade you that the exercises are the when bringing out the function of a structure. The most important section of the unit. The quantity demonstration of the item in several linguistic is perhaps there simply because they are compara- environments is frequently more effective than a tively easy for the author of a coursebook to pat explanation. Especially at primary level, the write. functions of grammatical topics can be best dealt with implicitly rather than explicitly and analyti- cally.

3. If you must use terminology such as "inde- 'Note also inattention to speech may cause the trans- finite articles," "past perfect continuous," "con- ference of errors in spoken English into errors in written junctions" and the like, then do so at the end of English. a lesson rather than at the beginning. Commencing 'with finite'verbs. your lessons with "Right, class, today we're going 3~fthat. Putting one word in a blank does not train a to do concessive clauses," (says she, writing it on student to produce even one sentence outside the class- the board) is hardly going to elicit spontaneous cries room.

JULY, 1979 Spoken English being contrasted, you will then have to teach them Most of the sections examined by us consist of how to make that sound. The teacher may have to minimal pairs, that is, pairs of words which are use some form of phonetics reference bookZ in identical except for one feature only. An example order to find out for himself or herself how a is "ship", "sheep". particular sound is articulated and give instructions Again watch for errors in the coursebook. accordingly. One commonly used book which intends in a unit to contrast the "S" and "sh" sounds cites "said"/ Compositions "shade" as a minimal pair. The observant reader will notice that this is a bad slip on the part of There are many skills involved in the teaching of the writer. The pair should have been "said"/ composition and it certainly involves the produc- "shed" (with only one different pronunciation tion of grammatical and lexical skills acquired pre- feature). The pair "said"/"shade" is likely to viously. In our view, methods of teaching com- encourag? the popular but wrong pronunciation position - from controlled, to guided, to free - of "said" as /seid/ instead of the correct /sed/. are much more generally apparent to both teachers A more general point but fundamental to and textbook writers than methods of teaching, the principles and methods of teaching correct say, grammar and comprehension. pronunciation is the fact that the words are read The teaching of composition is a subject by the student, as well as listened to. Especially which has merited a lot of attention in the last as the coursebook frequently writes in bold print few years simply, we suspect, because of the em- the particular sounds being contrasted in the phasis on written as opposed to spoken ~nglish.~ words, there is a risk that the lesson will become One of the advantages of students writing com- a lesson in phonics (learning to read by associating positions is the fact that it is probably one of the a symbol with a sound). Although phonics has an few occasions when students write Enghsh in con- important place in the classroom, this is not the nected sentences as opposed to writing single time nor place in a section on listening and speak- sentence answers to questions or putting a word in ing skills.' the blank. In your execution of a lesson on speaking In addition to making use of the grammatical skills, let the textbook be a tool to the teacher but structures and vocabulary encountered earlier, not to the students. Ask the students to close their students can be encouraged to use sentence con- books so that they can only listen to the pairs of nectors which may not have been taught explicit- words before they are asked to repeat them. ly in previous units. These include sentence Also extend the lesson beyond the isolated adverbials such as "moreover", "in addition", "on word. The correct repetition of a word in isolation the other hand", "however", "as a result", "con- is by no means going to ensure that students will sequently", etc. which are very important in the pronounce it correctly in connected speech. Build cohesion of written discourse. up from the word into phrases, clauses and sen- It is also an opportunity to discuss levels of tences - short poems featuring alliteration and formality. In general terms, the variety of Enghsh assonance (repetition 'of consonant and vowel used in speech differs from that used in explicit respectively) are very useful for this purpose. writing. "He did some super things" may be As the context frequently neutralises any acceptable in spoken English but "He demonstrated potential ambiguity ("'We saw a ship go sailing by" some marvellous tricks" would be more acceptable would never allow "ship" and "sheep" to be con- in written Enghsh. fused) choose as far as possible sentences where Although you should persuade students communication might break down. E.g. to use a more formal variety of English in written work as opposed to conversational English, pre- "Pass me the toy (shiplsheep), please." At this stage, the pupils might be instructed to 'consider also the number of words which contain the look at the textbook and to indicate whether the same sound but are spelled differently, e.g. rough, blood, word used by the teacher in a sentence comes cup, mother. from the first or the second column. 'such as J.D. 0' Connor's Better English Ronunebtion Remember also that aural and oral discri- (London: Cambridge University Press, 1967). mination is only a starting point to your teaching. 30ne wonders, however, how many times a teacher or If your students are unable to articulate one of the anybody else for that matter has been required to write a sounds (and it is usually only one of the sounds) composition since leaving school!

SINGAPORE JOURNAL OF EDUCATION paring the composition first ORALLY has great Using your textbook is like driving a car with advantages. Firstly, you can circumvent any errors yourself as the driver and your students as the in pronunciation which may transfer into writing.' passengers. The destination of your students is Secondly you can check on the correct use of proficiency in English. As you become more grammar and lexis. Thirdly, you are giving your skilled as a driver, so will you become much more students an opportupity to speak in Enghsh familiar with the vehicle you are driving, in this instead of listening to the teacher or pushing a pen. case the textbook. Here are some general tips for To avoid the danger of only informal styles the road: of speaking being produced, you could create a more formal situation in the class whereby a more 1. The textbook doesn't drive you. You drive formal use of language is demanded. One suggestion the textbook. At all times remember that you are is for the teacher to behave as a stranger; perhaps in charge. a visitor from another planet, a newspaper reporter, 2. You are the mechanic. Most textbooks come an interviewer, or a policeman. In this way, stu- with the designer's faults which are not always dents will be obliged to use language more explicit- apparent on the assembly line. Check for those ly and thus more formally. The teacher can first faults and maintain the vehicle regularly. extract the information piecemeal and then ask the students to put it together in connected speech. 3. Run it in slowly at first until you are farnilar Hopefully, this way, the errors which may appear with its true performance and road-handling capa- in writing will be of a more mechanical nature city. Get to know your vehicle well. (spelling, punctuation, etc.) than structural. 4. Make additions where necessary to help it One obvious tip: if you do not consider the run more smoothly. composition exercise or topic useful, don't use it. Devise another. 5. There are many obstacles on the road. Try We do not wish to dwell any further on the to avoid these, by steering well. Don't let your subject of compositionZ because, as stated pre- vehicle get out of control. viously, we consider that in general, coursebooks 6. Observe the Highway Code (the practices handle this aspect of developing language skills and principles of getting your passengers safely quite satisfactorily. and surely to their destination). Avoid speeding and overloading. Conclusion 7. Know your route and the landmarks. In this necessarily brief paper, we have attempted 8. Pause for refreshments. You might not fall to put the textbook in perspective by indicating asleep at the wheel but your passengers in the back that it is but one of many aids which are used in might! English language teaching. We have hoped to persuade the reader, and 9. If you lose your way, seek help and use your in particular the teacher, or teacher-in-training, common sense. that the textbook is not always a valuable teaching 10. Remember that the textbook is not the only aid as opposed to a testing aid, and that where vehicle on the road. there are defects it should be used with foresight, care and selective discrimination. If your vehicle breaks down in some places (or We have also given the teachers some guide- even if it doesn't), consider the merits of other lines to work with when they make use of a parti- vehicles. cular section of a coursebook unit. Selamat jalan! g We should like to emphasise at this point that the important factor in any teaching situa- tion is the teacher, not the textbook or any other aids for that matter. Even the poorest materials can be turned to advantage by the enterprising '~nexample would be the failure to pronounce the fmal teacher. In relation to the textbook, we believe /t/or/d/ consonant in past tense usages. This may become that the successful teacher views the school course- a grammatical mistake in writing, e.g. "Yesterday we play book as a means to an end, not an end in itself. football." In conclusion we should like to return to our '1t is not intended to describe general methods of com- metaphor used at the beginning of this paper. position teaching but to suggest ways of using the textbook.

JULY, 1979 A. B. Elliott Institute of Education

Science in English

If we think of ourselves - human beings - as one human being living in the present. In his life, species in the huge collection of different species thinking and activities, there are diachronic inter- of living things, we can observe that we are in actions in time (contributions from the past and some ways similar to other organisms, other contributions to the future), and there are syn- animals, other mammals and other primates . . . chronic interactions with contemporary human but in some ways we are strikingly different from beings (both directly and indirectly, and both as these other living organisms. 'And one of the most donor and as recipient). important ways in which we are different is that During the period of childhood, the indivi- we have a highly developed and efficient means of dual who grows up in a homogeneous community communication between individuals. This differ- is simultaneously acquiring the means of com- ence may be related (although we cannot say munication (language expressed through the which is cause and which is effect) to the long modes of hearing, speaking, reading and writing) period of immaturity in human beings, where the and the substance of the accumulated wisdom of young are born helpless and then spend anything the past and the present (the knowledge and habits from twelve to twenty years in "childhood", of his society expressed in its culture, ideals and during which time they learn and acquire skills skills). This wisdom can be communicated in- and understanding before becoming sexually creasingly efficiently as the growing child becomes mature and capable of supporting themselves. better able to use the spoken language (hearing During this period of childhood, through and speaking) and the written language (reading which every adult human being must first pass, and writing); and increasingly the child receives the individual progresses from the communicative communication fiom others. But even in earliest ability of the newborn infant, which is mediated childhood the individual contributes also by mainly through touch and perhaps sound, to the communicating to his fellow human beings, and extremely elaborate communicative ability of the ultimately as an adult he will contribute to other mature and well-educated young adult, which is human beings, both present and future. His use of mediated mainly through language. When this language will be the means by which his thought, adult stage is reached, the individual has available understanding and innovative proposals can be to him the entire body of human experience as communicated to others, but it is also of more recorded in recent millenia, and also the total fundamental importance in that through language contemporary range of human experience and he will. be stimulated to better thought, under- expectation. Also, in relation to the present and standing and proposals by communicative inter- the future it is open to the individual to contribute action with these activities in other people. This is to and to influence this human experience and ex- particularly obvious in the field of science where pectation by communicating with his contem- the thinkas in the front line of advance are so poraries and with future generations. "No man is mutually influential that apical discoveries and an island" - he is a social animal. theories are often made simultaneously by different workers and must be regarded as products of the The Monolingual Child total climate of thought of all the workers in the field. We might look at the interactions between This web of communication which enables an individual and his society, and if, as in so many man - the social animal - to achieve so much is parts of the world, his society is homogeneous and chopped into sectors by the fact that the world monolingual we might see the relationships shown has so many different languages. The adult who in diagram 1. Here we look at one individual has matured in one language community can com-

SINGAPORE JOURNAL OF EDUCATION Diagram 1 MONOLINGUAL SITUATION

PAST All the ind~viduals (some) of the past

PRESENT All the individuals of the present

FUTURE The lndlvlduals of One lndlvldual - the future

Diagram 2 SINGAPORE SITUATION

Parents and Home Environment PAST -A Influences from the past via teachers, books, etc. PRESENT Environment outside School environmentI. 4...-...... with Science school ...... B teaching and study B in English 1 FUTURE lc Science and skills Influence on *...... B...... ---Oneindividual individuals of +A passed on to the future Culture passed on to next generation individuals of the future

municate only with difficulty and through trans- up in a home environment where some language lation with individuals and communities using other than English is used. other languages. The diagram (Diagram 2) now begins to look Our concern is with Singapore, where the rather complicated. And if all the possibilities, situation is far from homogeneous, and where permutations and combinations of language were two long-established languages - English and included it would become very complicated. Most Chinese - meet and interact. children in Singapore are exposed in tlw formative It is widely accepted that the normal psy- pre-school and primary school years to three, and chological development of an individual proceeds often four, languages. best if there is close physical and communicative l. language A in the diagram may be any one contact with parents, and through the parental (or two) of the Singapore languages. language with the cultural heritage. This happens 2. Language B is commonly Hokkien, but may in the home. If this development proceeds nor- be Mandarin, Malay, etc. We must include too that mally the individual can then go on from a posi- very mixed argot which is commonly used by tion of security to investigate the wider world, to children playing together; it has a base of English meet contemporaries and peers (whose heritage but is much modified by the other Singapore need not be identical), and to acquire further languages. knowledge and understanding. This happens in 3. Language C is English. It must necessarily be the world outside the home, and especially in the English of an internationally understandable school. variety. It is used by children and adults for study- ing science, for working in technical and technolo- The Multilingual Child gicel situations, and for the planning and execution of all scientific aspects of national development. We can now reconstruct our diagram to It is used also in other situations, but it is this use show the special Singapore situation as it applies of Enflish for science which is our topic at the to the majority of our children - those who grow moment.

JULY, 1979 29 We should note here that this use of English sion is probably simply situationally determined. is a decision conditioned by our economic situa- The language which is used is a response to a per- tion, and not a decision enforced by the quality son (e.g. grandmother), a situation (e.g. school), or content of any of the languages in question. an auditory stimulus (the language in which the The potential exists in all human languages to be child has been add~ssed),etc. the media used for the communication and deve- But there is another consideration to be lopment of science. For us, the necessity of using taken into account. At the. time (usually about English arises from the fact of our economic the age of five or six) when the child has accepted dependence on trade and industry, and the need and learned the use of the language (or languages) for us to have access to and to communicate with of his environment, he has an ability to produce people in other countries who use English in the statements using the framework of the syntax of fields of science, technology and industry. each language. He will later extend his syntactical understanding, but he does possess at this time many of the basic grammatical patterns. He can Problems Inherent in Bilingualism accept with understanding statements which he In the complexities of this situation the mere has never heard before provided they are gram- decision to use English for science will not enable matically presented. But he still operates with a us to surmount the difficulties of operating within limited vocabulary. The fluency and accuracy with the framework of Diagram 2. We will need to do which he will later, as an adult, express his thought some hard thinking about the means we can adopt and receive ideas from others will depend not only to e'nsure that all the channels marked "C" on the on the communication being couched in correct diagram are open channels along which truth can grammatical form but also on vocabulary - the be freely communicated from person to person numerous and different words which he can draw without confusion or misunderstanding. In other, on for his own expression, and which he can com- connections Singaporeans have often been remind- prehend when offered by other people. We must ed that "We never get anything for nothing." And ask ourselves whether the truly bilingual adult this is as true in relation to language as in relation has at his command twice as many words as his to any other commodity. The ability to use more monolingual friend, or whether, since in the than one language is an ability which is achieved nature of things his bilingual situation will have only at great cost in time and effort. It usually led to each lexical item having had only half as also imposes some limitation on the extent of the much reinforcement, he will tend to forget (in lexis and the number of registers available to the both languages) a proportion of the words which multilingual person in each language. he hears and uses less frequently. If this is so, then It is easiest for a person to acquire two lan- his capacity to communicate in each language will guages if both are learned during childhood in the be reduced by the fact of his ability to use two period from birth up to about the age of five, languages rather than one. We may take the view during which time the inherent human ability to that some loss of qumztiw in each language is accept and use language is most manifest. If, as acceptable in order that communication, using is suggested by psychologists applying information a slightly restricted vocabulary, may be possible theory, the human ability to identify a language in both languages. But we should not delude our- stimulus is a process of successive classification selves that we can ever get "something for nothing" using a binary system, then when two languages - command of a second language to such an ex- are present each identifying process has added to tent that the total vocabulary is double what it the preliminary decision as to which language is would have been available had the same number of being used. This need add very little time (or years been spent in using only one language. trouble) to the process of using language. On this In real life, of course, we cannot make an view it is understandable that the young child can experiment on any one person. But we do have cope with two languages at the time when lan- many individuals whom we can observe who have guage is being acquired. It can be observed that the become, to varying degrees, bilingual. What we ease with which the young child switches from one usually see is that the bilingual person tends to language to another is associated with the recogni- "specialise" in his use of language. He may have tion of the environment and contexts in which one language which he uses in talking with his each language is appropriate. It may be a source of parents, another language when he talks to his amazement to the parents that the child does not children, and perhaps another language still which confuse the languages, but in fact the child's deci- he uses when he is at work. The professional man

SINGAPORE JOURNAL OF EDUCATION may often be observed to discuss his professional confusions. A thorough familiarity with the two activities in one language, and his cultural history words "daily" and "diary" before they are seen in another. While such a dichotomy may be purely in print will lessen the confusion between them. pragmatic, it must inevitably interfere with full This argument will hold only if the speech to interaction between the two aspects of his life. which young children are being exposed is rea- His situation has been likened by some writers to sonably correct. A speech error which comes to that of a tree whose branches have been cut off mind is the tendency (following the open syllables from its roots. There is some cause for concern if of the Chinese) for Singapore speakers of English this is indeed happening. to leave out (or perhaps to leave unaspirated) the The highest level of organisation of language consonantal endings of words. This leads to is discourse - the logical and allusive presentation "minus" being pronounced as "rninu' ", "freeze" of ideas in sequence. It is a moot point whether as "free' ", etc. Dependence on speech as an intro- the ability to organise linguistic discourse is a pre- duction to Enghsh can be effective only if teachers requisite or a concomitant of intelligent thinking. are prepared to be meticulous in avoiding such The question of whether bilingualism affects the errors as this'in their own speech. If we look at ability to order discourse is, on either ground, our two diagrams, and consider the problems an important one. It has been suggested by lin- inherent in teaching science and technology in guists that "vocabularies canalise thought", and Enghsh to the student depicted in the second that language must be accepted in its role as "a diagram, we can imagine that the nature of the mediator of human behaviour". It might be that difficulties experienced will vary. At primary level bilingualism bestows benefits by opening up new the pupil lacks chiefly the basic framework of the canals with new mediators of behaviour, so that English language; at tertiary level his difficulty is there would be gain here to offset some of the more with the plethora of long technical words disadvantages which are so obvious. But research which he has to comprehend. Let us consider, still needs to be done, and we do not yet know the since it will have a bearing on both extremes, the answer to this nor to many other related questions. situation of the pupil entering secondary school We can, however, get down to ground level in the context of the second diagram. He has a again, and look at some of the problems which are home language and perhaps one or more other in practice associated with the teaching of science languages in which he has been accustomed to in English in Singapore. operate his daily activities. In English he has a small vocabulary, and a relatively small ability to The Need to Speak Before Writing discuss life's experiences. There are problems which will face both him and his teacher. When, in some countries, it has been considered necessary for scientists to be able to study their Extrapolating from an Existent (or Non-Existent) subject at an advanced level in English, it has Base sometimes been suggested, and even put into practice, that they should learn to use English only A good teacher, given a monolingual situation, in the modes of reading and writing, and without would naturally base his teaching on the foun- learning to hear and speak. This is indeed possible. dation of the knowledge which his pupil brings We have all heard the amusing stories of the with him into the classroom, extrapolating from "Chinese scholars" from Europe who have learned the experiences of daily life to the generalisations to read Chinese, but cannot understand one word of science. If he tries to apply this method in of the spoken language. It must be a laborious and teaching the bilingual or trilingual child, he will therefore undesirable experience. In any case, immediately face difficulties in that the child has since English is a "phonetic" language, albeit the experience of life but lacks the Engltsh words imperfectly so, there can be little question that to describe his experience. Linguistically the tea- it is wise for us to base our use of English first on cher is in danger of extrapolating from a non- an ability to hear and speak and then later on existent base. This becomes very obvious if text- an ability to use the written language. It might books based on a typical Enghsh child's experience perhaps be argued that we should place more are used. Such books, for example, commonly emphasis on the spoken word in our earlier studies introduce the mathematical concept of sets by of science, since there are two advantages attached talking about a team of football players (which a to this - a saving of time, and an avoidance of Singapore child would understand) and a flock of some later difficulties, mispronunciations and sheep (which a Singapore child would probably

JULY. 1979 The Framework of Logical Discourse not understand). The idea of the flock of sheep which does help the European child to understand Even more important than the "command" words the nature of a set, is nothing but a hindrance and of textbook instruction are the words which form even a factor inducing despair to the Singapore the logical fiamework of English - the words child. If we suggest that such examples should be which connect phrases and clauses and which omitted, this is not to say that no information lead the reader with expectation from one item about tlie foreign environment should be taught. of the 'discourse to the next. At their simplest The tropical child needs to be told about snow, these are the little conjunctive words such as just as the child in northern zones needs to be told "and", "or", "but", etc. Those with logical impli- about tropical islands. The argument is that the cations and more complex functions which con- basic examples should be drawn from the child's nect the thought of one discourse item to the next own experience, and should be examples which he are more difficult to explain and to use; such is capable of describing in English words. leasin in^ words are "if ', "as", "so", "because", "since", example of just such a use of the Singaporebased "although", "however", etc. A monolingual example was provided by the Singapore teacher child enters secondary school with a good stock who explained to his pupils that distilled water of these words, for he has heard them used since could be seen inside the lid of the rice cooker. infancy: "If you do that, it will break!", "You didn't eat your meat. So you can't have any cake!", etc. The multilingual Singapore child may l'&e Vocabulary of Textbook Instruction of course have heard and become accustomed to The very language used in instruction in the text- quite a large list of these words. But it is equally book may present difficulty, and this is particular- likely that he will have only a very small number ly so with imperatives (commands) where the of them which he can use normally and easily - child reader of the book is told to "consider", perhaps less than ten of them. 'L compare", "evaluate", etc. Lacking a clear under= But the discourse of science depends abso- standing of what each command really means he lutely upon these words. Considering only those hopefully "does something", and at the same time connectives which relate entire sentences to each he begins to develop the habit of sliding over the other, it has been found (Winter, 1971) that in a difficult word and extracting only an imprecise large corpus of scientific writing, there was on .meaning, thus becoming careless instead of meti- average one of these connectives for every eight culous in his reading and thinking. This is a sentences. So in every eight sentences there were problem which can be tackled on the individual two sentences which were logically related to each level by preliminary (and it must be admitted other by a word of this type. Analysis showed that rather timeconsuming) preparation. A more if the connective words were classified, then the general solution might be sought by controlling connectives which denoted logical sequence were the extent of the vocabulary used. For example, the most numerous group, and provided about one "pick", "choose", "select", and "identify" are third of all the examples. The next most frequent sufficiently close in their meaning for us to con- - the connectives signifying contrast - provided sider deliberately using one and eliminating the about one quarter of all the examples. The other other three from lower secondary texts, types of connectives followed in the order shown below:

Types of Connective Examples Logical sequence: thus, therefore, yet, hence, so, etc. Contrast: however, in fact, yet, nevertheless, etc. Doubt: probably, perhaps, possibly, etc. Addition (noncontrastive): moreover, similarly, also, etc. Expansion: for example, especially, etc.

SINGAPORE JOURNAL OF EDUCATION l Vocabulary of Science The two words which head the list are of pre-eminent importance. In the study quoted The various sciences have each generated "thus" accounted for 11% of the total use of such their own huge vocabulary of nouns, adjectives connectives, and "therefore" accounted for 9%. and verbs, which have been adopted by scientists Although the remairiing words of this type are to express exact identities and procedures. They used with less frequency they each supply a signi- are frightening enough to the Enghsh speaking ficant modicum of meaning. If we exclude these non-scientist. How much more frightening are they words from our writing we immediately find our- to the student who is a beginner in both science selves limited to simple statements of fact. Any and English! attempt to explain how one happening is related It has been sometimes suggested that stu- to another, to make comparisons, to try to match dents should be given the meanings of Enghsh things, to project thought into the past or the stems and prefures, which are usually based on future, requires the use of these words. The bilin- Latin and Greek roots. This is at least a scientific gual or multilingual Singapore child entering approach to the problem. One linguist who advo- secondary school is faced with textbooks written cated this method made a list of 14 English words in English which use these words liberally. The whose roots and prefutes would provide the key scientist's nature is to think and write logically, to no less than 14,000 scientific words (Brown, and to connect his discourse with such words. In 1964). As an example, the first word on his list one lower secondary textbook examined - a text- was "precept" in which ,"pre-" means "before" book which appeared to be simply and well and "cept" is from the Latin verb "capere" written - there were more than sixty different meaning to "take" or "seize". It can be seen how such connective words used. knowledge of this word and other prefures could If the pupil does not understand these words be of help to the student in understanding such he is not worried. He does not even stop to won- words as "intercept", "accept", "capture", etc. der. He simply takes hold of the two factual items The same principle is applicable to many words in offered to him, and pays no more attention to the the secondary science textbooks. Thus the know- connection between them. Any reader can try the ledge that "chlorine" is so called because it is a experiment for himself. Simply take a paragraph "green" gas can help the student to accept the of reasoned discourse and strike out all the con- more difficult word "chlorophyU" which is the necting words of the type shown above. The "green colouring in plants. passage wiU still appear sensible. It will make a Despite the awesome number of scientific series of statements. But looking at the words terms which exist in English, they are usually crossed out the reader should be able to see that logically derived. They are frightening, they are a what has been lost in removing them is the scien- burden, but ultimately and especially to the tific meaning of the passage and the mutual inter- tertiary student of science, they do not present dependence of the statements in it. Here is an such a fundamental problem as the frame-words of example: "As the angle of incidence increases so discourse. The difficulty which the scientific the emergent beam increases in strength." Now terms pose is a difficulty in naming, whereas the eliminate "as" and "so". The passage still reads connective words discussed above, which are sensibly: "The angle of incidence increases. The necessary for the understanding of discourse, pose emergent beam increases in strength." But without a difficulty in expressing and understanding con- the connective words the concept of the relation- cepts. There is a chance ( and a danger) that the ship and the information that the two changes industrious student may memorise the nouns and happen "in parallel" has been lost. verbs of science and present apparently correct If this problem is tackled by attempting to factual answers to questions, while still not under- improve pupil understanding, it must be acknow- standing the arguments and ideas of science. It is ledged that these words are peculiarly difficult to for this reason that mere lack of descriptive voca- teach, and full understanding normally comes bulary must be considered to be less serious than only with frequent use. If the problem is tackled poor understanding of the structure of discourse. by simplification of the format in which science is Only some of the problems associated with presented, the teacher and the textbook writer the teaching of science in Enghsh in a n~ultilingual face uncomfortable decisions in having to sacrifice situation have been outlined above. There are some scientific exactitude in order to achieve pupil many problems which must be faced by scientists, understanding. linguists and teachers in Singkpore, as in any such

JULY, 1979 multilingual community. Rigorous thought is of describing, giving instructions, reporting proce- needed, and it is suggested that we might approach dures, and communicating facts. What we need is the problem with the following searching ques- the communication of ideas. Only if we can find tions: language which is understood by both parties to the exchange can the ideas in the mind of one 1. How can we limit and grade the vocabulary scientist be communicated to another. And only with which we communicate scientific knowledge? by the use of this sort of communication, from mind to mind, can we hope to advance and deve- 2. How can we frame the precise concepts of lop in the field of science. L3 science in terms which are at the same time true and also comprehensible?

3. How can we stimulate innovative scientific References thought within the limitations imposed by the constraints of our Enghsh competence? Brown, LI. Programmed Vooobudory. New York: Meredith, 1964. With the last question we return full cycle Winter, E.O. "Connection in Science Material," in to the comments at the beginning of this article. "Science and Technology in a Second Language," The language which we need for the teaching and CIL T Reports and Papers, 197 1, 7, 4 1-52. understanding of science is not merely the means

SINGAPORE JOURNAL OF EDUCATION P. D. Fleynolds' University of Hong Kong

"Perfectionism "and EL T Objectives

This paper examines the influence of one tendency the people with whom one wishes to commu- in the teaching of English as a secondlforeign lan- nicate, and teaching students to read all kinds of guage on the achievement of English Language material fluently in the foreign language" (p. 11). Teaching objectives. The tendency is denoted Brooks categorizes objectives more broadly: "For "perfectionism" in the paper, i.e. the tendency an authentic language course there are different among teachers of English to impose a standard of kinds of objectives that claim attention, and these ideal "correct English" on all students. include the personal and the national, the utili- Stated objectives of learning Enghsh as a tarian and the aesthetic" (Brooks, 1964, p. 108). foreignlsecond language are listed according to We can subsume both sets of objectives for various documents, notably the UNESCO/FIPLV studying English as a foreign language under two Study of 1975 and the SEAMEO/RELC Report more general ones. The first is more academic and of 1972. The most common objectives are isolated. is directed at the language itself. The other is more "Perfectionism" in the teaching of Enghsh is instrumental and is directed at acquiring some further described and illustrated, mainly with kind of competence in the language as a pre- reference to Hong Kong. Its causes are examined. requisite for gaining a further objective. The first The paper points out how this tendency acts as objective could not justify national effort and an obstacle to the achievement of selected objec- expense involved in having large sections of the tives. It raises questions about the validity of the population involved in language study. In Hong objectives and the possibility of modifying the Kong, for instance, about a quarter of the school tendency among teachers. time-table is slotted for the study of Enghsh as a Rational curriculum planning always includes second language. This objective could not justify mention of "objectives". In theory, the establish- the painful hours spent by mdlions of young ing of objectives is the first, and most important, children all over Southeast Asia in studying step in planning any course of study. "All organized Enghsh when these hours could be devoted to activity must have as its motivating and guiding something of more immediate use to themselves force the attainment of some predetermined and the community (Reynolds, 1976). Objectives objective or objectives. The current purpose or for this mammoth task must be found outside the purposes of the organization must be the yardstick language itself. They are para-linguistic. They are against which all requirements and accomplish- rooted, not in the discipline of Enghsh, but in a ments are measured and evaluated" (Hooper, particular society and its needs. So it is the second 1971, p. 125). What are the objectives of English objective, apparently, that governs and justifies Language teaching and learning in the present-day the widespread study of English as a second world, particularly in Southeast Asia? language today. Rivers implies that a "welter of slogans" Are the objectives set by national institutions such as "international understanding, intellectual responsible for decisions in the field of foreign- training, cultural enrichment, interpersonal com- language instruction (UNESCOIFIPLV Study, munication, a feeling for language" are often 1975) consonant with this second general objec- proposed to the trainee teacher as objectives for tive? This paper will list objectives stated either his language-teaching task (Rivers, 1968, p. 1). explicity or implicitly, beginning with Hong Kong, But she concludes that a present-day language going on to other Southeast Asian countries and course is directed at the following four objectives, "teaching more about the nature and functioning of language, teaching students to communicate in 'P.D. Reynolds is the Senior Lecturer in Education at the a foreign language, developing understanding of School of Education, University of Hong Kong. then noting objectives mentioned b.y communities b) There is a high correlation between mastery in other parts of the world. of English and socioeconomic status. Hong Kong has no explicit language policy, c) English is used as a medium of instruction in but its policy may be deduced from various docu- ments. A major educational policy document schools and universities; it is necessary to master states: it in order to grasp the content of other subjects. d) Textbooks are written in Enghsh. Hong Kong is a commercial and industrial centre which has reached a high level of e) Owing to the scarcity of places in local technical and professional sophistication and universities, students want to study in universities in English-speaking countries. Mastery of English has established close contacts all over the world. It is undeniable that Hong Kong, if it is one key to success here. is to maintain its progress, will continue to f) Hong Kong is an international port. Desirable need people at all levels in commerce, indus- jobs are more easily obtained if one has mastered try and the professions who are at home in in international language. English as well as in Chinese. For these prac- g) Promotion in government departments and tical reasons, the standards of Chinese and in businesses is dependent on mastery of English. English must be maintained, and indeed, if possible, improved, and parents are likely h) English is a "status" language. Letters in to demand that they should be. English to government departments and commer- (Hong Kong Government, 1974, p. 7) cial firms will get a quicker response than those written in Chinese. From this official statement itappears that i) There are numerous teachers, university Enghsh is to be studied to subserve the needs of lecturers, instructors, commercial superiors, etc. commerce, industry, technology and the profes- sions. It is to be ancillary to Hong Kong's eco- who do not understand Cantonese. It is necessary to learn Enghsh in order to communicate with nomic needs. This demands competence in the them. four language skills. The suggested Enghsh sylla- buses for primary and secondary schools make no j) It is good to master an international lan- direct mention of the social objectives they are guage in order to develop an international outlook intended to attain, but they spell out in detail the suited to today's world. With the increasing num- means of acquiring the four skills, consonant with ber of Hong Kong tourists going abroad, the popu- the policy stated in this Government White Paper. lation is becoming more aware of needing means On the basis of oral proficiency and minimum of communication with nonChinese speakers. literacy, students are to develop ability to learn k) People in Hong Kong are becoming more other subjects through the medium of English westernized, and mastery of Enghsh is both a (Suggested Syllabuses, 1973). The syllabus for the vehicle of this westernization and a symbol of it. secondary stage of education is not very well CO-relatedwith that for the primary stage, but it 1) It is good to study another language for its repeats the theme of competence in the four skills own sake. within the range of structural patterns prescribed (Provisional Syllabus, 1975). As may be .seen, these objectives envisaged by practising language teachers reflect the prag- The official statement of objectives for matism of official policy. In places they parti- English-language study may be compared and cularize this policy, but they are geared more to contrasted with objectives as envisaged by those the needs of the learner than to the general needs doing the actual teaching. These are derived by a of society. The possibility should be noted of the survey of English-language teachers taking the objectives of individual learners and teachers post-graduate teaching certificate course in the differing from national objectives and frustrating School of Education of the University of Hong the attainment of the latter. Kong (Reynolds, 1974): Extending the examination of objectives to other Southeast Asian countries, we find that a) Hong Kong is a British Colony so it is neces- some countries have clearly stated objectives while sary to master the main official language. Public those of others have to be deduced from public business is transacted in this language. statements made on the teaching of English as a

SINGAPORE JOURNAL OF EDUCATION second language. The following data relies on written skills in the language, veering towards reports from members of seven Southeast Asian readingcomprehension, reference and note-taking countries participating in a regional seminar for skills at higher levels, especially in .the fields of English teaching in Singapore (Report, 1972). science and technology.

Indonesia: The directive of the Ministry of Philippines: The Filipino continues to get most of Education and Culture of the Republic of Indo- his education using a foreign language as the nesia No. 09611967 states that the general aims medium and it is to have him competent in the and objectives of the teaching of English at the language that the English instructional programme secondary school level in Indonesia are as follows: focuses on. The programme has as its overall objectives the following: a) to equip the learner a) to accelerate the process of national deve- with adequate language skills in listening, speaking, lopment, reading and writing in English to enable him to b) to facilitate the maintenance of friendly undertake instruction in the various curriculum relations with other peoples, areas using that language as the medium of instruc- c) to promote national foreign policy and tion, b) to develop those skills to a point where d) to lead the student to a working knowledg the individual can use them to pursue knowledg of Enghsh in all of the four language skills: reading, on his own and c) to enhance the communicative aural comprehension, writing and speaking, in competence and performance of the learner to a descending order of importance and priority. level where he can use the language correctly, efficiently and independently in oral and written Specifically, the student's achievement communication. should be at a level which will enable him to: Singapore: In Singapore English is generally the a) comprehend the contents of textbooks and language of banking and commerce, science and reference material used in institutions of higher technology. This, coupled with the current stress education, of which about 90 per cent are written on technical education, science and mathematics, in English, has made Enghsh very important as a functional b) understand lectures given by foreign in- tool in Singapore's plans for technological and structors and professors and communicate with economic development. foreigners, including foreign students, In the English medium schools, the general c) take satisfactory notes on lectures presented aim of teaching Enghsh is to help the student to in English and describe Indonesian ways of life organize and express his knowledge logically and to foreigners and effectively. Hence the need to encourage crea- d) exchange information orally with his foreign tivity. However, it has to be borne in mind that, instructors and professors and with other foreigners for many students in the Enghsh medium schools, in general. English is a second language as they come from diverse home backgrounds where English is not Khmer Republic (now Kampuchea): . . . it is every used. But these students do have the advantage of school's duty to do its utmost to help equip stu- more exposure to the language than those in the dents with practical and sound knowledge of one non-English medium schools. of the current international languages, namely In the non-English medium schools the aim English, in order to enable them: 1. to use books is limited to the acquisition of good English for or documents written in that language whenever specific purpases, as the second language learner is they find it necessary to do so in order to con- handicapped by the lack of exposure, limited class- solidate their knowledge of some particular school room time and negative transfer. Some non- subject, 2. to further their studies abroad and 3. English medium schools have begun to treat EL2 to communicate with other peoples of the world. not only as a subject but also as a medium for These are the general objectives of the English teaching mathematics and science. programmes. Thailand: Thailand has as great a need to learn Mahysia: Our educational programmes are geared English as any country in the world. The reasons towards producing pupils bilingual in both Malay for this are obvious - English has a prestige value, and Enghsh . . . . The Enghsh programmes in is a means to better jobs and is a necessity for a Malaysian schools integrate the oral, reading and scholarship abroad. These considerations, how-

JULY, 1979 ever, though important in themselves, relate to India: English is called a "library language". only a tiny prdportion of the vast effort of teach- ing, and learning, English in Thailand. In this Libya: To enable greater self-expression in order latter sense, Enghsh is a means of communication to expound the Arab contribution to human cul- for business and commerce and liaison and diplo- ture and civilization. macy outside the boundaries of the country. English is nevertheless essential at all higher Greece: To enable pupils to understand speech at levels of education, since most important texts are normal speed, to enable them to speak the language in English, and students must have a knowledge intelligibly, to enable them to read with ease and of English at least as a "library" language. In fact understanding, to enable them to erpress them- the difficulties of teaching one skill to the exclusion selves in writing, to give them insight into the of others are well known, and what happens in culture of the foreign country. practice is that English, as a living language and as a means of communication, is being taught Switzerland: Slow learners - mainly oral com- throughout the country. munication; lower secondary school - oral and written communication; upper secondary school -- Vietnam: In the handbook on the high school literature, culture. curriculum in Vietnam published by the Ministry of Education in 197 1, the inclusion of English in Denmark: For the children who leave school at the the high school programme is aimed at providing age of 15 or 16, the objective is an oral command the students with the basic knowledge of the of the language giving them a means of com- foreign language in the skills of speaking, reading inunication. For those passing on to secondary and writing, and at giving them a general knowledge education, a wider basis for further studies is given. of the culture of native speakers of English. The order of objectives for foreign language instruction is: (a) oral communication, (b) culture As may be seen, the general tone of the and literature, (c) written communication. objectives for Southeast Asian countries, like those of Hong Kong, is utilitarian. The most common Ecuador: The learning objective, communication, objectives to be culled from the above list are: is not divided into oral and written, but into recep- a) communication, both general communication tive and productive skills. The receptive skills are with foreigners and particularized communication developed first. subordinated to the needs of, e.g. university studies, commerce, banking, science, technology, Finhnd: The foreign language teaching for slow b) a medium for learning other school subjects, learners is more or less restricted to the receptive e.g. mathematics, science, field. In upper secondary schools, written language c) a library tool, i.e. a tool for information- has a more important place because of the require- retrieval from printed material, and ments of the final examination. The teachers of d) a means of enabling students to study further foreign languages are advised to bear in mind the abroad. aims of general education.

Extending the examination of national Federal Republic of Germany: Emancipation, objectives to countries outside Southeast Asia we education for peace and international understand- find there is a different, less utilitarian, stress. The ing are included in the learning objectives of following objectives are selected from a project foreign language teaching. carried out under the supervision of the Secretary General of the Federation Internationale des Pro- Great Britain, Ireland, Finhnd and Jamaica: The fesseurs de Langues Vivantes for UNESCO requirements of the final examination have an (UNESCO/FIPLV Study, 1975): effect on teaching and establish the unofficial but actual learning objectives which are often more Sweden: A tool of communication between "traditional" than the new learning objectives that populations who have not that language as their have been modified so'as to be more relevant for mother tongue. communication.

Eupt and Korea: To ensure international com- As may be seen by comparing this list of munication, particularly in the field of science. objectives with that for Southeast Asian countries,

38 SINGAPORE JOURNAL OF EDUCATION general communication and cultural understanding it ends with a full stop.) The stated aim of a is stressed more than specifically utilitarian con- language class may be "communication in English". siderations. However, both lists conhse immediate The student may write: "Three childs came into objectives, e.g. speaking the language with intelligi- the room." He has achieved the aim: he has com- bility, with ultimate objectives, e.g. international municated clearly with the reader in English. Yet communication. The final item on the list hints the teacher ignores the communication and at one obstacle to attaining social objectives, pounces on the word "childs". The student's namely, examinations. attention is directed from the substance of the Even granted that clear objectives have been communication to some peripheral item. The established by educational planners which are native English-speaking adolescent may say: justifiable in terms of a particular society's needs, "Give't'im." The teacher will make the L2 the battle for a rational curriculum is only half- adolescent painstakingly enunciate: "Give it (spit won. There are a number of other variables in out that 't') to him." He makes the L2 adolescent the teaching of language, any one of which may speak in a way which his native language peer finds deflect or distort efforts to attain the objectives a bar to communication, if anything. (Mackey, 1965). This paper selects one of these What are the causes of this tendency? We variables, the teacher, and concentrates on a must hark back to the fust general objective given teacher attitude denoted here as "perfectionism". for language learning in this paper, the academic "Perfectionism" in ELT may be described as one. The study of Enghsh by L1 learners as an a tendency on the part of teachers to pay a dis- academic discipline casts its shadow over the learn- proportionate amount of attention to bringing ing of a language for some para-linguistic purpose. students' language standards up to a level of real or In an era prior to mass education, the language imaginary "correct" Enghsh. L.A. Hill warned was studied by native speakers for its intrinsic against this tendency in connection with speech interest. It was studied by native speakers already training (Hill, 1967, p. 80), but it is found in other competent in some particular form of it. The sub- aspects of language training as well. It has the stance of the language was subjected to various following characteristics: exercises, e.g. parsing and analysis, which were intended to give mental training to students. They a) Formal witten Enghsh is the proposed norm, were trained to speak in accordance with the for speech as well as writing. norms of a socially prestigious dialect and in b) Up to date usage is suspect. accordance with real or imaginary rules of logic. c) It is prescriptive as regards grammar and This fust language approach laid the ground-rules usage. for studying it as a second language. In spite of d) Imaginative and innovative use of words is subsequent objectives laid down for the L2 learner, disallowed. the teacher relied on the prevailing methods of e) The only acceptable pronunciation is language teaching intended for the L1 learner Standard English. because these were the methods he was brought f) "Correctness" is dogmatically interpreted up in himself. Although there is a certain amount with reference to a narrow range of spoken and of window-dressing in L2 teaching methodology, written English. the fact remains that L2 teaching is still geared to g) Teaching efforts are directed towards the academic objectives of the L1 learner. This is having students reproduce "correct" written and reinforced by the use of textbooks intended for spoken English. the L1 learner. Many a present-day teacher of h) It concentrates on form to the exclusion of Enghsh as L2 may be recognised in the description content. given of the 18th-century grammarian (Postman i) The methods used to have students acquire and Weingartner, 1966, p. 49). correct forms of grammar and usage are based on rational explanation (the "reasons" given often Other causes may be more briefly dealt with: not conforming to the linguistic facts). a) LOCALIZATION: The localization policies j) It is disinclined to allow alternatives, e.g. in of Southeast Asian countries have ensured that word-meanings. most teachers in the region are L2 speakers. The teacher's intuitive grasp of the niceties of To take just two illustrations. (And the English as a living language is inadequate. The "perfectionist" teacher would disallow this since it mind needs certainty, so he concentrates on those has not got a subject nor a finite verb even though few areas of apparent certainty in thelanguage,

JULY, 1979 and ignores the vast areas on which genuine confuse teachers and learners. Written English sets communication is dependent. He cannot accept the standard for spoken English in consequence. what Sweet calls "the arbitrariness of language" (Sweet, 1964, p. 69). He seeks the same kind of e) INFLUENCE OF PARENTS AND EMPLO- certainty to be found in mathematics and other YERS: The expectations of linguistically naive pa- non-linguistic subjects. He cannot accept a state rents and employers exercise an influence on the of ambiguity. The less he feels confident about teacher. They are inclined to criticize the teacher his own mastery of English, the less he can remain whose students produce obvious grammatical errors,' poised between alternatives and the more dogmatic but not the teacher whose students make no signi- he becomes. For him it is an "either-or" situation: ficant communication in English. A study showing he rules out "both-and". that the written ability of Hong Kong school leavers has little relevance to employment demands inci- b) TEACHER TRAINING: Teachers can teach dentally reveals that employers are ignorant of only what they know and graduate teachers of what type of English is most useful in their parti- English have studied English at the undergraduate cular businesses (Webb, 1974). level as an academic discipline, not as a means to attain a further objective. They study courses such f) TEACHERS' IGNORANCE OF OTHER as "Structure of English", "Linguistics", "Transla- SUBJECTS: If English is to be taught as an instru- tion" (Universi~ofHong Kong Calendar, 19 77- 78). ment for use in other particular areas, the teacher Their status depends on their understanding and of English must have knowledge of.these other knowledge of this discipline, so that when they areas, such as commerce, banking, science, tech- return to secondary school they tend to teach nology, as well as knowledge of English. Most language as a discipline. Secondary schools set the English teachers are teachers of general English and tone for primary schools and graduate feachers do not have knowledge of the special areas in have more prestige than non-graduate ones, so that which English is supposed to be instrumental. methods used by graduate teachers in secondary Language, of itself, is a contentless subject. The schools are imitated in primary schools. A year of teacher with no specialized knowledge of another professional training can do something to change area of learning is driven to provide content in the their attitudes, but cannot offset three years of form of knowledge about the language. undergraduate studies and thirteen years of primary and secondary education. A realistic language policy must take into account what "English" in Southeast Asian schools c) EXAMINATIONS: The.demand for uniform actually is. Not "English" as a language, but and easy evaluation reinforces the perfectionist "English" as a school activity taught in the class- tendency in teachers. It is difficult to test language room by a certain type of person, subjected to ability centrally with reference to para-linguistic various conditioning and restraints which lead objectives, since there are so many variables to certain attitudes. It seems that this activity is present. It is easier to pay attention to the language fairly uniform throughout Southeast Asia in spite itself, especially to those features of it that have a of different cultures and different official objec- superficial objectivity and are the grist of multiple- tives. I have visited classrooms in various Southeast choice marking. In practice, the teacher must teach Asian countries and noted little to differentiate to examination requirements. the content and teaching approach. It is textbook- centred. Often identical textbooks are widely used d) DOMINANCE OF PRINT: Although most such as the Longman Structural Readers and the English curricula pay tribute to the primacy of oral Oxford Progressive Readers. I have seen the same English, the teaching is print-oriented. The printed Scientific Reading Associates' reading kits used in word gives an assurance to the teacher and the Hong Kong and Zamboanga. English 901 is used in student that the spoken word does not. It is very Indonesian and Malaysian classrooms. The activity difficult to organize testing of oral English because itself seems self-contained, determined by teacher of the lack of native speakers and the impossibility attitude, impe~ousto the broad objectives of of ensuring exact uniformity between different educational planners. examiners. Time cannot be spared for extensive What course of action remains? We may individual oral practice with each student whereas decide that it is impossible to change this activity, the whole class can do written work together. The e.g. to remove the causes leading to "perfection- varied registers and dialects and spoken usages ism", and must continue with "English" as before. SINGAPORE JOURNAL OF EDUCATION l This involves abandoning society-oriented objec- munication" or "Learning Medium" or "Library tives. Or we may decide that it is possible to change Science" or "Foreign Study Preparation", but it teacher attitudes and bring them in line with will not be the same as "English". It will omit stated objectives. This involves a massive re-training much of present English content and will include - programme. Or we may decide that it is impossible new material. to change teacher attitudes but that stated objec- These proposed solutions are radical but tives should not be abandoned. This involves a they avoid the artificiality of Enghsh teachers radical re-structuring of English teaching. We must mouthing official objectives only to dismiss them abandon the traditional subject, "Enghsh", and in practice and educational planners laying down introduce in its stead a new subject directed to- broad objectives in vacuo. wards society's objectives. We may call it "Com-

References

Brooks, Nelson. Languageand Language Teaching. New Reynolds, P.D. English Language Teaching and Text- York: Harcourt, Brace and World, 1964. books in Hong Kong. Hong Kong: University of Hong Kong Education Department Research Unit, Hill, L.A. Selected Articles on the Teaching of English 1974. as a Foreign Lunguage. London: Oxford University Press, 1967. . "English Teaching Methodology in Southeast Asia." Journal of Internatio~lEducation Hooper, Richard '(ed.). The Curriculum: Context, and Development, 1976,1, 95 -103. Des@ and Development. Edinburgh: Oliver Boyd/ Open University Press, 1971. Rivers, Wilga. Teaching Foreign-Langua~eSkills. Chi- cago: University of Chicago Press, 1968. Hong Kong Government White Paper. Secon&ry Education in Hong Kong Over the Next Decade. Suggested Syllabuses for Primary Schools: English. Hong Kong: Government Printer, 1974. Hong Kong: Education'Department, 1973. Mackey, William Rancis. Language Teaching Analysis. Sweet, Henry. The Practical Study of Languages. London: Longman, 1965. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1964. Postman, Neil and Weingartner, Charles. Linguistics: A UNESCO/FIPLV Study. Foreign Language Teaching Revolution in Teaching. New York: Delta Books, and Learning Today, 1975. University of Hong 1966. Kong Colen&r, 1977-78. Provisional Syllabus for English (Fonns I-V). Hong Webb. A.E. Relevance of Written English of Hong Kong: Education Department Curriculum Develop- Kong School Leavers to Employment Demands. ment Committee, 1975. Unpublished M. Phil. thesis, University of Hong Kong, 1974. Report of the Regional Seminar on Instiuctional Materhls for English Language Teaching. Singapore : SEAMEO Regional English Language Centre, 1972.

JULY, 1979 Clive Scharenguivel Institute of Education

;The Sea around Us: Experiences in Crastive Drama - a series of five lesson plans on a corrlmon theme -

Singapore is an island consisting of a mainland and It is assumed that teachers who try out these about fifty small islands around it, yet most pupils activities in the classroom are aware of the prin- take the sea for granted. The sea for them, and for ciples and objectives of creative drama or educa- many people here, is a place for swimming and re- tional drama. For teachers who are unfamiliar with creation only. The general objective of this series this form of drama, a definition and a brief note of creative drama lessons is to help pupils to appre- may be necessary. ciate the sea, its value and importance for the Creative drama or educational drama is in- economy of the country, its importance to the formal drama which is created by a group of people living in the neighbouring islands, and also pupils; its dialogue and action are extemporised to make pupils aware of the dangers and threats rather than written and memorized. It is an educa- of the sea to fishermen and sailors. tional medium which allows the pupil freedom to More significantly however, these creative explore and experiment and, "through searching drama activities are aimed at developing the and coming to terms with his experiences, make imagination of the pupils and providing situations decisions and moral choices in the framework for movement and particularly language flow. of play of a dramatic kind" (Syllabus for English, They would thus help pupils to develop the ability 1971). to think and speak extemporaneously and achieve One of the main reasons why creative drama a proficiency and fluency in English. is generally still not taken seriously and accepted The decision-making and problem solving by both parents and educators in Singapore is activities in these lessons may be used in many that the term "drama" is generally associated with practical ways. In the lesson on the castaways on theatre training and acting on the stage. This mis- the island, for example, pupils may discover for conception has caused parents and teachers who themselves how to survive on the island, how to are ignorant of the values and objectives of crea- build a hut or shelter, whether to explore the tive drama to frown upon the activity as a waste caves, how to protect themselves against wild of time. This prejudice will persist until teachers animals, etc. Pupils will realize that there are are made to realize that the main purpose of various alternatives or choices to be made in solv- creative drama is to produce a well-balanced per- ing a problem. For example, in learning to survive sonality, NOT an actor, and that on the island, they have to decide whether to build the hut in a certain place on the island, l. the pupil's personal experience of "doing" is which has some advantages, or to build it in an- the main value of creative drama; other part which has other advantages. As a long term objective, these activities may 2. the pupil's personal development rather than also help pupils to appreciate literature, and per- the satisfaction of an audience is the goal; haps music, written about the sea. This would stimulate and motivate pupils and serve as a 3. it is the act or process of creating rather than springboard and catalyst for pupils to attempt the end product that is important; other creative activities like creative writing and art. Through experiencing the joy of creativity 4. creative drama is a viable and extremely and using their whole being - sensory, motor and useful tool for teaching English as a second lan- intellectual abilities - pupils would make signifi- guage since it provides abundant opportunities cant progress in expressing themselves compe- for pupils to express themselves in imagined tently and fluently in English and at the same time or real-life situations. appreciate the value and importance of the sea.

SINGAPORE JOURNAL OF EDUCATION See the Guidelines on Educational Drama in the mentioned in the five lessons are imaginary trips Syllabus for English - Pr. III and IV for further and that the teacher or leader should invite and guidance. accept suggestions and ideas from the pupils them- The teacher trying out the lessons should selves. realize that the "journeys" taken in the activities

THE SEA AROUND US

At the Seaside Suggested Music: La Mer by Debussy. Pictures of caves, coves, etc. Materials

Motivational Oral discussion. Activity "It's so hot today, how about a picnic on the beach?" The preparation could involve the imaginary packing of lunch boxes, and all items pupils would like to bring for the picnic, e.g. towels, swimming costumes, fishing rods, etc. When they are ready to leave, the teacher could play the music by Debussy, in order to stimulate their imagination and evoke an interest in the improvisation.

Main Activity "We are now at the seaside. What would you like to do?"

Mime and Through oral questioning and motivation, the leader or teacher could improvisation encourage the pupils to do the following activities: swimming, making sand castles, collecting shells, fishing, playing with a beach ball, writing their names in the sand with their toes or with sticks. The leader should encourage all the children to participate in the activities. The leader may either take the children through all the activities or suggest some of them and encourage the pupils to choose which activity they wish to do. The leader could also suggest that they have a sand castle com- petition. When interest sags, or if they get boisterous especially in the games on the beach, the leader could suggest that they all have their lunch. "Now, let's take a walk along the beach. Look at that cave over there! Shall we explore it? We had better not go too deep inside, as it could be dangerous." To focus on specific sensory processes such as seeing, hearing, smelling and touching, and on specific emotions such as fear, caution, curiosity, the leader could suggest, "Isn't it wet and dark? Can you feel the slimy walls?" Or "Listen, can you hear any- thing?" Or "Do you know where that water is coming from?" The leader will allow the children to "explore" the cave for a while. Then he will suggest that they get back in the sunshine. "It's time to go home now. Pack your things, change back into your clothes. Hurry now, otherwise we'll miss the bus. Oh, look, the fishermen are returning with their catch! We won't be able to see what they have caught. However, next time we shall return to this beach and perhaps we shall ask them to take us fishing with them. Let's go now. Wave to them."

Evaluation The leader will encourage pupils to discuss activities they did in the lesson. They will also be encouraged to ask questions on the intent, the structure, the effectiveness and the worth of experience.

JULY, 1979 Suggested Art: Draw or paint a picture of the seaside. Include some of the Follow UP activities that we did there. Activities English: Reinforcing the language items . . . . past tense, e.g. What did you do at the seaside? How did you make the sand castle? What did you see in the cave? etc. Science: What do you call that cone-shaped formation hanging from the roof of the cave? . . . . and what do you call the similar formation mounting upwards? Do you know how they are formed? Let's find out. Etc.

Lesson 2 Going Fishing

Suggested Pictures of a "kelong" Materials a fishing net or pictures of one pictures of fishermen employed in various activties- mending their nets, hauling in the nets, sorting the fish, etc.

Motiv~tional Before the children set out on today's activity, the leader will show Activity them the pictures of fishermen, fishing boats, fishing nets, "kelong", and encourage them to talk about the various methods employed by fishermen in catching fish. Slides or a film strip of the fishermen at work in a "kelong" could also be shown to the children to stimulate and motivate them in the discussion.

Main "Do you remember in the last lesson, we watched the fishermen re- Activity turning with their catch? Let's return to the seaside to see them at work. Don't forget to bring your hats to protect your head from the heat of the blazing noonday sun. Here we are at the seaside. Can you see the men? There's a 'sampan' returning, and look, here's an old fisherman mending a net. Some of us can help him." Here, the leader should encourage the pupils to explore, experi- ment and improvise various activities, e.g. helping to drag the "sampan" to the shore; hauling in the nets; or sorting out the different fish; some children could be the wholesale dealers who arrive early to buy different fish in large quantities to sell at the market; some could be helping to dry the nets, etc. Some pupils could play the rale of the f~hermenso that groups of pupils could be employed in various activities. The leader could then draw their attention to the "kelong" which is out in the sea. "I wonder whether they have caught or trapped many fish in the 'kelong'? Shall we ask that old fisherman whether he will allow us to visit the 'kelong' ? We must hire several 'sampans' , because there are so many of us." (Here, several activities can take place - getting permission from the head fisherman, deciding the number of boats to hire, hiring the "sampans", and getting into them. As none of these boats have motors in them, there will also be opportunities for the children to take turns to row the boat tothe"kelong".) "Are you all set? Let's go." "Well, here we are at the 'kelong' . Be careful, the 'sampan' is rocking a lot. Tie the boats to the wooden posts so that they won't

SINGAPORE JOURNAL OF EDUCATION float away. Go up the narrow wooden steps very carefully. Are we all here? Now, remember, a 'kelong' is only a rough shelter, some of the planks and floor boards are simply laid across and there are many gaps in between. So be very careful and don't fall in." As the leader had aroused their interest and told them about the "kelong", the children playing the roles of the fishermen at the "kelong" would have looked up some information about the "kelong" and how the fish are caught in the entrapment. The other children would be encouraged to ask questions or improvise a situation, e.g. helping the fishermen to haul in the nets, fishing with rods from the platform, or helping to sort out the different fish, etc. The teacher could then draw the pupils' attention to the time, and the children thank the fishermen and return to the shore.

Evaluation Children will be encouraged to discuss the activities and ask questions. The leader will also discuss with the class the effectiveness and the worth of the experience.

Suggested The natural follow up for this "lesson" will be to ask the children to Follow UP draw a picture of a "kelong" showing the fishermen catching the fish Activities or some aspect of their visit to the "kelong". This may lead to some children constructing a simple model of the "kelong". Children will be encouraged to do further research on this very important method of catching fish, and to discover for themselves other methods and compare them with this one. The children at this level are already acquainted with some of the methods of catching fish fr'om their geography lessons.

Lesson 3 Shipwrecked!

Suggested Pictures or paintings of shipwrecks, Materials e.g. Wrecked and Saved by Anthony Paul Morlon Music: Hebrides Overture by Mendelssohn Literature: David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

Motivational The leader will play the music by Mendelssohn, and stimulate a discus- Activity sion on the mood it conveys. The pictures and the chapter on the Ship- wreck from David Copperfield will also help to motivate their interest and guide them in the improvisation.

Main From the discussion, the children will decide for themselves the various Activity roles - the captain, sailors, radio officer, etc.; the kind and size of the ship they are in; the time of day; the cause of the shipwreck; the cargo of the ship; where the ship is going to; etc . . . . thus dealing with and answering the questions - Who, When, What, Why, and Where. The teacherlleader will create the appropriate atmosphere by playing Mendelssohn's music. This will help children to imagine the stem arising, and visualize the waves dashing against the sides of the ship and on the rocks. The leader may step in to stir the imagination of the pupils through suggestions and oral questions, e.g. "The storm is getting worse. Shall we ask the captain to send an S.O.S. signal? Look at the dark clouds in the sky," or "There's a huge wave coming . . .

JULY, 1979 Watch out everybody!" Or "There's an explosion in the engine room down below . . . Someone please help the poor engineer . . " etc. The climax of the music will also help the children to enact the disaster and create the hysteria experienced by the passengers. The main activities and improvisation will be developed by the children themselves, and the leader will leave the decision, whether to abandon ship or not, to the captain and the crew. Perhaps they may decide to save the passengers by lowering the life boats. This will lead to other quick decisions to be made . . . . whether women and children should be saved first . . . . whch could lead to chaos and hysteria re- sulting in some of the lifeboats being capsized . . . . The ship could also be completely wrecked . . . . The leader will leave the children to im- provise the whole scene for themselves, develop their own outcomes and reach their own conclusions.

Evaluation The leader will encourage the children to discuss the various activities and the effectiveness of the improvisation.

Suggested Literature: The improvisation will be an impetus and an excellent mo- Follow UP tivation to widen the pupils' knowledge and enrich their experience in Activities reading literature about shipwrecks. The leader could arouse their further interest by introducing them to poems and stories written about the sea and shipwrecks, e.g. The Wreck of the Hespems by Henry W. Longfellow Old Man and the Sea by Emest Hemingway David Copperfield by Charles Dickens Youth and Gasper Ruiz by Joseph Conrad Creative Writing: The leader could also encourage the children to write their own account of the storm perhaps from different angles or viewpoints, e.g. as a passenger,, as a witness, as the captain, etc. The children may also wish to write a poem.

Lesson 4 The Castaways on a Strange or Uninhabited Island

Suggested Music: "Play of the Waves" from La Mer by Debussy Materials Literature: Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe, The Cay by Theodore Taylor

Motivational The leader could guide the children to this activity through a discuss- Activity ion of the lesson on The Shipwreck, and further arouse their interest in the topic by introducing them to two novels of shipwrecked people. The leader will not read the stories to them, but will use them as a means of stirring their imagination and stimulating their interest.

Introductory To assist the children to "get into" the situation, and to link this with Mimetic the lesson on The Shipwreck, the leader will play The Hebrides Overture Activity by Mendelssohn, and allow the children to develop their own ideas of how they were cast on the deserted island.

Main To create the atmosphere from the stormy music of The Hebrides, Activity the leader will play "Play of the Waves" from La Mer by Debussy. This will help to create a contrasting peaceful setting and mood. To en-

SINGAPORE JOURNAL OF EDUCATION courage character observation and sensory and emotional awareness, the leader will offer suggestions and ask questions, e.g. "We are now washed ashore on this strange island. Shall we take count of people who have survived? And what of supplies? Have we managed to save any useful things - matches, knives? Is anyone physically in- jured? What kind of island is this? Are there any inhabitants? What do you suggest we do now? How are we going to survive on this island?" The questioning will be used to spark off the children's imagination. The leader will avoid dominating the scene. The leader will encourage the children to develop their own ideas through the enactment of the situation. The activity provides excellent opportunities for the children to solve problems and make their own decisions, e.g. How to build a shelter? Where to build the shelter? What do we use to build it? All these will not only require common sense, but also a knowledge of science and geography. The leader will encourage the children to break up into groups, so that all the children can involve themselves in various activities: building a shelter, hunting for food, exploring the island, looking for fresh water, lighting a fire, collecting dry wood, etc. The leader will leave the children to improvise the whole scene and reach their own outcomes, e.g. the children may decide to stay on the island and not look out for ways to be rescued.

Evaluation Through oral discussion, the children will talk about the effectiveness of the improvisation, and the leader will guide the children to discover for themselves the ethical and moral values, such as co-operation, working together for a common goal, learning to survive, etc.

Suggested Geography: The children's attention may be directed towards the Follow UP physical features of land forms: lagoons, creeks, lakes, rocks, hills, etc. Activities Creative Writing: Write a story or a poem on your adventures.

Lesson 5 The Singapore Harbour

Suggested Photographs of Clifford Pier showing ships anchored in or near the har- Mat~rials bour. A film strip or slides showing various activities, e.g. loading and un- loading of cargo; the different ships, from "sampans" that provide transportation for the people living in the neighbouring islands to the large steamships and passenger liners.

Motivational Applying the principle - from the general to the particular and from Activity the simple to the complex - the leader will begin by discussing the ways by which children come to school. "How do you come to school?" "What are some of the other ways?" "What about the children living on the islands off Singapore?" (There are no secondary schools on these islands.) "Where do they 'disembark'?" The leader then encourages children to discuss the various activities that take place at the harbour. To stimulate their interest and stir their imagination, the leader will show them the photographs and the slides. After a brief discussion the leader will say, "Let's visit Clifford Pier."

JULY, 1979 d. Main "Here we are at the harbour. Look at the flags and names of ships in Activity the harbour. Can you tell the countries they are from?" The children will decide on the roles they wish to play, and get themselves involved in the various activities. The following are some of the roles that the children could play:- customs officers who check the luggage of the passengers; the merchants and owners checking the loading and un- loading of cargo; the .stevedores who are employed for this work; the import and export businessmen who buy wholesale goods; captains and sailors who come on shore leave; the tourists and the many passen- gers who have come to visit Singapore, etc. To stimulate further interest, the leader could then suggest that it is now a special holiday, e.g. National Day. The harbour would be de- corated with buntings, the ships would also be decked with decorations and streamers and there would be a festive air and excitement in the harbour. The leader will announce that the Tourist Promotion Board is giving free or cheap trips around the Singapore harbour. This will give the children the opportunity to "tour" the harbour, and observe the activities at the wharves, the godowns, docks, etc. As in the previous activities, the leader will suggest that some of the children be involved in the activities at the wharves, the docks, etc. This would provide lots of opportunities for all the children to participate, and also provide situations for movement and language flow.

Evaluation The children will discuss the effectiveness of the lesson and the leader will encourage them to make observations and suggestions for improve- ment.

Suggested Geography: From this lesson, children may be motivated to carry out Follow UP projects and research work on docks, harbours, the shipping routes, activities in or near our harbour. Creative Writing and Drawing: Children may write a composition, draw a picture of the harbour, or write a dialogue between a tourist and a customs officer, or between a reporter and some of the passengers who have been on the tour around the harbour. tS

Reference

Syllabus for English - Primary 111 and IV. Singapore: Ministry of Education, 1971.

SINGAPORE JOUJR&AL OF EDUCATION James Madden Institute of Education

Creating Successful Language Learners

Teachers often know a lot about teaching but very use, but instead on what the pupils will do to little about learning. For our brighter pupils this prove that learning has taken place. Once the may not matter so much, as they will continue teacher has defined exactly whit "behaviour" to learn in spite of us. But for the pupils of lesser he wants from his pupils only then can he decide ability, those whose aptitude for learning in class- on effective methods and techniques to help them rooms is low, who may not even like learning, for reach these goals. these pupils to learn effectively, it is essential that A Canadian, H.H. Stern, (1975) took pupils the teacher create situations in which the pupils who were very successful at learning second lan- will learn almost in spite of themselves. In an guages and attempted to identify those qualities international survey1 of the teaching of French which contributed to their success. He produced as a foreign language (Carroll, 1977), it was found the following list. The important thing to note that there was little correlation between the as you read this list is that, although these quali- pupils' level of achievement and the teacher's ties are affected by individual ability and per- university qualifications in French or whether or sonality, all of them can be developed in the class- not he had lived for some time in a French-speaking room by a skilful teacher. In fact, many of them country. The level of achievement correlated will not happen at all unless the teacher sets out highly, however, with the teacher's understanding deliberately to foster these knowledges, skills, of language learning processes and with his skill and attitudes in the learners. in creating good learning situations. In another investigation2 into what factors influenced the The successful language learner success of the pupil in individual school subjects, 1. knows how to go about learning. it was found that the principal factor affecting 2. knows effective ways for learning a lan- pupil achivement in all subjects was the home guage. environment. Except for second language learning. 3. is able to draw inferences and discover Here it was discovered that the skill of the rules for himself. language teacher was of prime importance. From 4. always searches for meaning. these two examples, it would seem that the lan- 5. is self-monitoring. guage teacher has both a greater opportunity to 6. has a positive attitude towards the target affect his pupils' success and a greater responsi- language and culture. bility for their failures. 7. wants to develop an ability to communicate Where do we look, then, for information in the target language. on language learning that will help us in our class- 8. is active in learning. rooms? There has been a lot of research into how 9. is willing to practise in class. people learn their mother tongue, but very little 10. is willing to communicate in real-life situa- on second language learning in classrooms. In the tions. 1950s and eaily 1960s, language teachers turned for salvation to the linguistic scientists, even his survey of 30,000 pupils in ten countries was con- though the latter protested that their interest was ducted in 1975 by the International Association for the in building a theoretical model and that their Evaluation of Educational Achievement, which has its headquarters in Sweden, and was supervised by Professor theories were not directly applicable to classroom Carroll, Kenan Professor of Psychology at the University learning. Over the last ten years, language teachers of North Carolina, USA. have shifted their attention from "input" to "out- his investigation was conducted by Dr. Richard Wolf bf put". In other words, the primary focus is not on Columbia University, New York, USA, who discussed it what the teacher will do and the resources he will with me during his visit to New Zealand.

JULY, 1979 Let us look at each point and its implications learning against. They should share with the for the language teacher. The successful language teacher the responsibility for assessing their learner progress, and not sit back and wait for the teacher 1. knows how to go about learning as the supreme fount of knowledge to tell them 2. knows effective ways for learning a language. whether their work is good or bad. If they are involved in evaluating their own learning, then There is ample research to demonstrate that they can be motivated by powerful inner feelings learners who have had the objectives of a learning of success rather than by external teacher-origi- task explained clearly to them will be better at nated rewards like marks. learning that task than learners who have had no The successful language learner explanation. Knowing where you want to go is a 6. has a positive attitude towards the target pre-requisite for deciding how you want to get language and culture. there. In the past, teachers have spent little time, if any, on explaining to the pupils exactly what This is a long-range motivation, which in learning they were expected to master and why. Singapore seems to be translated in practical They have spent even less time in discussing how terms as "pass your exams, get a good job, earn best to learn. Obviously, for the teacher to develop more money ." this knowledge of how to learn in his pupils, he The successful language learner must first know about learning himself. How many 7. wants to develop an ability to communicate times have we said, "Learn those words for home- in the target language. work?" What is the best way to "learn those 8. is active in learning. words?" How will the pupils know when they have 9. is willing to practise in class. "learnt the words?" What exactly must they do to prove that they "know those words"? What Whether the pupil is active in learning, should happen inside the learners' heads when whether he can communicate in the target they are learning vocabulary or grammar, when language, will depend first of all on how much they are writing compositions or answering com- opportunity he has to communicate actively in prehension questions? One of our main aims class. Although having the opportunity is essential, should be to teach pupils how to learn a language, this by itself will not produce learners who want so that they can continue to grow in language to participate in class. We all like doing what we competence outside of the classroom when we are are good at. The learners must therefore be not around to tell them what to do. successful when they take part, and this success must be recognised by the teacher and be ob.vious The teacher's best aid is a well-informed learner to the pupil concerned. Success is the greatest who motivating factor. 3. is able to draw inferences and discover rules for himself. The successful language learner 4. always searches for meaning. 10. is willing to communicate in real-life situa- 5. is self-monitoring. tions. Learners do best what they do most. Besides This may depend on how out-going the a knowledge about grammar, the pupils need an pupil's personality is. However, it also grows ability to use grammar correctly while their directly from the points made in the preceding attention is focused on the meaning of what they paragraph. Unless the pupil has built up his self- want to say. But they also need "grammar-learn- confidence in the language through frequent ing skills" to be able to generalise for themselves successful performance in the classroom, he is from the evidence presented. Any "rule" that a unlikely to want to try communicating with that pupil works out for himself will be much better language outside of the classroom. remembered than one he is given by a teacher. To sum up, teachers need to know about But the pupil will only discover rules and learning and how different sorts of learning are search for meaning if the teacher sets up activities best produced. They should be aware of exactly where he is required to do these things. At all what behaviour they are attempting to develop times, the pupil should be asked to say, write, do in their pupils and what evidence they will look something that will prove to the teacher and to for in what the pupils do. The pupils should be himself that he understands what he hears or reads aware, in simple and appropriate terms, of what or is expressing. Pupils need tasks to measure their they are learning and why, and the teacher should

SINGAPORE JOURNAL OF EDUCATION not only make them aware of how to learn effec- tively but also develop their learning skills. This References emphasis on the process of learning will lead to Carroll, J.B. The Teaching of French as a Foreign greater success for the pupils in class, which in turn Language in Eight Countries. Stockholm and New will increase the pupils' confidence and desire to York: Almquist and Wiksel International and John participate. And all of these factors together can Wiley and Sons, 1977. add up to our principal aim - pupils who want Stern, H.H. "What Can We Learn from the Good and are able to use the target language in their Language Learner?" Canadian Modern Language daily lives, and, what is more, who can continue Review, 1975,31, 304-314. to grow in language competence after they have left school. &

JULY, 1979 Marcia P. Liu Institute of Education

Language Learning through Songs and Poetry

"How do you expect me to teach poetry A teacher can make use of songs in two when my class can't even read a simple ways. The first is rather random as far as language sentence?" items are concerned. You just teach songs you think the children will like, and/or songs they "I wish I had time for poetry or songs but I should know. You do a brief explanation, perhaps, have to cover thesyllabus." of what the words mean, and then you listen care- "Pupils do songs in their music lesson." fully to ensure correct pronunciation as the children sing. "Besides I can't sing, and it would disturb On a more systematic basis, however, you the teacher next door." choose (or adapt) songs to introduce or reinforce "I can't use poetry because I teach English specific selected vocabulary items, grammatical as L2." structures or pronunciation. For example, present tense and possessive pronouns are absorbed as "I can't teach poetry because I only take children sing (to the tune of "Here We Go Round the class for English / comprehension / the Mulberry Bush") "This is the way we wash our composition / history / maths." hands / brush our hair / eat our rice / come to Comments and questions like the above are school" etc. Pictures or drawings on the board can heard frequently when poetry is mentioned to be used to indicate subject changes for I / he / she teachers. Although both "poem" and "song" are / you / they, with the correct pronoun. "On a cold four letter words, must they be banished from the and frosty morning" becomes "at six o'clock in classroom or set aside for very restricted use? This the morning" and this line also can be varied if the article will argue that poems and songs can and teacher wishes to include time review. Present con- should have a very important place in the language tinuous verbs will be reinforced wifh "London teaching programme. Bridge is Falling Down" in its original version or by singing "What is (Kok Seng) doing now?" The last line can either repeat the question with con- Pupils do songs in their music lesson. traction and pronoun, "What's he doing?" or, The value of songs in language teaching has been perhaps prompted by a picture, it can supply the recognized for some time but for various reasons answer. Alternatively, to give more practice the many teachers are reluctant to make singing an reply comes in its own stanza, "Kok Seng is eating integral part of the language lesson. It is obvious to now . . . That's what he is doing." us all that we remember words and phrases most While secondary school pupils would un- easily when they are set to music (a fact TV doubtedly be insulted if asked to sing such simple commercial and "Sesame Street" writers are well songs, the same approach can be used with aware of). When a word or a grammatical structure different materials. A tape by a singer or group the is used in a song, it may be learned better and class knows can teach a song like "If I were a faster than through drill or language exercise. carpenter and you were a lady, would you . . ." - Certainly time spent in singing will be a more a far more effective teaching method for subjunc- pleasant activity for the majority of the pupils, tive and conditional than the usual drills. Both and may offer a very desirable change of pace in standard records and those prepared specifically the lesson. As these various benefits are so easily for language learning can be used, and there are obtained, it is only sensible that songs should be a many books on the subject, a few of which standard and frequent activity in both primary (available at the Regional Language Centre) are and secondary level language lessons. listed below.

SINGAPORE JOURNAL OF EDUCATION I can't sing. common belief which has arisen out of unsuitable There are very few of us who truly cannot sing. selections for literature classes as well as the Almost everyone can croak out enough of a tune genuine obscurity of some poets. But just as to teach it to children. Perhaps it's more a matter literature doesn't have to be Literature, so too a of losing our inhibitions. But if you are one of the poem doesn't have to be a Poem. Teachers shouldn't very few people who absolutely cannot carry a think that all poetry needs to be "taught." There tune (even in a bucket, as the saying goes), have is a vast number of poems which are simple and someone do a one finger piano recording on tape, direct in language and content, which can just be play it a few times in class, and let the children go read. In fact, a beginning or poor reader may well to it. Using familiar tunes like "London Bridge" be less intimidated by a poem than he is by a para- avoids the problem but can be very limiting after a graph of prose because there may be fewer words, while. and he hasn't yet learned that poems are supposed to be hard. The pleasure we all find in rhythm and rhyme patterns also may be enough incentive to It disturbs the class next ddor. pull him over a few bumps in language. While we So does having the whole class chant in unison as are always being cautioned that poems should not they "read" aloud. No one complains about this be treated as comprehension exercises, in fact kind of noise. (They should. What the children reading skills are much the same no matter what almost inevitably learn in this activity is very we are reading. Poems like the following are simple poor non-English intonation, rhythm and even in vocabulary and structure and provide every bit pronunciation. They are comprehending very as much language practice as do reading passages. little, if anything, and more importantly, they are They may also be a great deal more interesting not learning how to do silent reading - the only than much of the material in current texts. (There kind that matters.) We need to recognize the fact are innumerable poetry books for teachers and that unless language is taken in only three of its pupils to take poems from. A few are listed below, aspects - comprehension, reading and writing - and the National Library, bookshops and school language classes by definition must involve noise as libraries will provide more.) children practise speaking. Speaking may well be the most important aspect of English for the My Favourite Word majority of our pupils when they leave school, and it is in many ways the hardest skill to teach in the There is one word - classroom situation. Through songs and poems, My favourite - children are given oral practice which they need so The very, very best. badly. As they are repeating sentences which have It isn't No or Maybe, been set to fit a particular rhythm pattern, they It's Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, YES! are far more likely to be learning correct intona- tion and stress patterns than they are when the "Yes, yes, you may," and class is set to reading prose passages aloud. "Yes, of course," and Just as children presumably have learned to "Yes, please help yourself." ignore this kind of noise from the class next door, And when I want a piece of cake, so too they can learn to tune out singing. One "Why, yes. It's on the shelf." would hope that their own lesson would be so interesting that they wouldn't even hear it. Some candy? "Yes." Teachers of course can always check with neigh- A cookie? "Yes." bour teachers to see if one time would be less A movie? "Yes, we'll go." disturbing than another. The class should not have to move to a special room, as songs should be I love it when they say my word an ordinary part of regular class work. Yes, Yes, YES! (Not No.)

-Lucia and James Hymes How do you expect me to teach poetry when my class can't read a simple sentence? Although doctors no longer wear hats I can't use poetry because I teach English as L2. or make house calls, this poem will easily carry Both of these objections are based on the assump- readers along with its energy. It could be used in tion that poetry is hard to understand. This is a a vocabulary lesson, to reinforce past tense, or as

JULY, 1979 pronunciation to stress correct vowel sounds in A teacher-in-training once said that the "sick", "quick", "pill", "bill" (rather than "seek", following poem would only confuse the pupils. "queek", "peel", "beel"). Obviously it wouldn't be suitable for primary one, but older children enjoy it because they Miss Polly had a dolly who was sick, sick, sick. are pleased that they can see the joke. It is also So she phoned for the doctor to be good for phonic sounding out of nonsense words. quick, quick, quick. The doctor came with his bag and his hat, Eletelephony And he knocked at the door with a rat-tat-tat. He looked at the dolly and he shook his head. Once there was an elephant, Then he said, "Miss Polly, put her straight to bed." Who tried to use the telephant. He wrote on a paper for a pill, pill, pill; No! No! I mean an elephone "I'll be back in the morning with my bill, bill, bill." Who tried to use the telephone. - Anon. (Dear me! I am not certain quite That even now I've got it right.) The next poem could be used for vocabulary (adjectives, parts of the face) or as an excellent th Howe'er it was, he got his trunk pronunciation exercise: note repetition of "think", Entangled in the telephunk ; "things", "teeth" with the voiceless th, and The more he tried to get it free, "their", "they ", "the" with voiced th. The louder buzzed the telephee. (I fear I'd better drop the song Mice Of elephop and telephong!) - Laura Richards I think mice Are rather nice. While the next poem has more vocabulary which may need explaining - bother, misbehaves Their tails are long, - the rhythm, rhyme and alliteration are easy to Their faces small, enjoy, and the familiar situation could spark off They haven't any a lively oral Enghsh or composition exercise on Chins at all! brothers and sisters. Their ears are pink, Their teeth are white, Brothers They run about The house at night. I had a little brother They nibble things And I brought him to my mother They shouldn't touch And I said I want another And no one seems Little brother for a change. To like them much. But she said don't be a bother So I took him to my father But I think mice And I said this little bother Are nice. Of a brother's very strange. - Rose Fyleman But he said one little brother "The Folk Who Live in Backward Town" Is exactly like another could be used for an imaginative essay, art work And every little brother and oral discussion, or even as a preposition Misbehaves a bit, he said. exercise if given to pupils with blanks to fill in. So I took the little bother From my mother and my father The folk who live backward town (in) And I put the little bother Are inside out and upside down. Of a brother back to bed. They wear their hatstheir heads (inside) - Mary Ann Hoberman And go to sleeptheir beds. (beneath) They only eat the apple peeling Each teacher and each class will have And take their walks the ceiling. (across) different selections, and teachers will make use of - Mary Ann Hoberman the same poem in different ways - for reinforce-

SINGAPORE JOURNAL OF EDUCATION 1 ment of language structures, for pronunciation They started the fuss practice, for vocabulary introduction or review, And left it to us! for comprehension, for discussion, for composi- tion - the important thing is that children be - Arthur Guiterman allowed to enjoy a variety of accessible poems. While some of the vocabulary in the poem is difficult, the idea is clear, and one the children I'd like to do poems but I have to cover the may have some sympathy with. Science teachers syllabus. might make use of "The Microscope". This objection overlooks the fact that poetry is the syllabus, along with oral language and reading Anton Leeuwenhoek was Dutch. and writing. The Syllabus For English Primary One He sold pincushions, cloth, and such. and Two through Five and Six has a recommended The waiting townsfolk fumed and fussed scheme for English that allots one third of the As Anton's dry goods gathered dust. total time for "enrichment" activities. (See Fore- word.) For some reason these activities are seen He worked, instead of tending store, as expendable by many teachers. If "serious" At grinding special lenses for activities such as language drills and exercises were A microscope. Some of the things achieving totally satisfactory results, one could He looked at were: not fault teachers for interpreting the syllabus so mosquitoes' wings, narrowly. The fact that language results are not the hairs of sheep, the legs of lice, seen as being satisfactory suggests that we may the skin of people, dogs, and mice; need to rethink the classroom activities. ox eyes, spiders' spinning gear, fishes' scales, a little smear of his own blood, I can't use poetry or songs because I only take the and best of all, class for . . . the unknown, busy, very small As has been stated earlier, songs or poems can be bugs that swim and bump and hop the basis for any kind of activity from reading to inside a simple water drop. writing to speaking to grammar review to spelling. Nor is it only the Enghsh or literature teacher who Impossible! Most Dutchmen said. can utilize them. History classes might enjoy This Anton's crazy in the head. We ought to ship him off to Spain. Ancient History He says he's seen a housefly's brain. He says the water that we drink I hope the Romans Is full of bugs. He's mad, we think! Had painful abdomens. They called him dumkopf, which means I hope that the Greeks dope. Had toothache for weeks. That's how we got the microscope.

I hope the Egyptians - Maxine Kumin Had chronic conniptions. For maths, Car1 Sandburg has given us I hope that the Arabs Were bitten by scarabs. Arithmetic is where numbers fly like pigeons in and out of your head. I hope that the Vandals Arithmetic tells you how many you lose or Had thorns in' their sandals. win if you know how many you had before you lost or won. I hope that the Persians Arithmetic is seven eleven all good children Had gout in all versions. go to heaven -or five six bundle of sticks. Arithmetic is numbers you squeeze from I hope that the Medes your head to your hand to your pencd Were kicked by their steeds. to your paper till you get the answer. etc. JULY. 1979 Even sports and P.E. are represented, for There is, however, another aspect of the instance in The Sidewalk Racer and Other Poems complaint voiced above which I'd like to call to of Sports and Motion by Lillian Morrison (avail- the attention of any administrators and/or sche- able from the National Library). dule planners who may have read along this far. All schools have scheduling difficulties and per- haps problems of too many teachers in one subject Photo Finish and not enough in another; but the dividing up of classes' English time among more than one teacher Two track stars ran a race does not work to the children's advantage. Even an and neither knew defeat. area as seemingly mechanical as spelling can only Both perished at the tape; be taught in a meaningful way by a teacher who they called it a dead heat. can relate spelling to the ~therEnglish activities which the class is doing. In secondary school, The Knockout pupils can benefit immensely by having one teacher for both English and literature so that The shortest fight these subjects can be integrated. It makes little I ever saw sense for the English teacher to search frantically Was a left to the body for new composition topics ("My Favourite TV And a right to the jaw. Programme" or "An Interesting Relative") when there are so many topics which come logically out of literature reading and discussion but which As we frequently remind our teachers-in- three periods a week allow no time to follow up. training, anyone who teaches in Enghsh teaches It is to be hoped that in the near future, scheduling English, and we all need to take as many different will be done for academic rather than administra- approaches to our subjects as possible. tive reasons. c

References and Useful Titles*

Allison, Barbara. Song Book for Brunei Children. Morrison, Lillh. The Sidewalk Racer and Other Singapore: Federal, 1974 (RELC). Poems of Sports and Motion. New York: Lothrup, Lee and Shepard, 1965 (National Library Bromiley, Diane. Songs and Rhymes for, the English Children's Section). Syllnbus in Malnysia. Johor: Johor Education Department, 1974 (RELC). Richards, Jack. English Through Songs. Rowley, Mass.: Newbury House, 1971 (RELC). De Regniers, Beatrice. Poems Children Will Sit Still For. New York: Scholastic, 1973. Syllnbus for English - Primary I to VI. Singapore: Ministry of Education, 1971. Dunning, Stephen et al. Reflections on a Gift of Watermelon Pickle and Other Modem Verse. New West, Michael. Useful Rhymes for Learners of English. York: Scholastic, 1966. London: ~on~m'an,1966 (RELC) Guidelines for Teaching English. Singapore: Ministry of *The place where the book is available is shown within Education, 1971. brackets. RELC is the Regional Language Centre, Singapore. Matterson, Elizabeth. This Little Puffin. London: Puffin Books, 1969.

56 SINGAPORE JOURNAL OF EDUCATION J. B. Heaton Visiting Professor in Education, Institute of Educat~on Communication in the Classroom

Preparing a functional language course for teachers

Research into interpersonal interaction outside the preparing Chinese medium teachers of mathe- classroom has usually sought to draw attention to matics, science, physical education, art and music the complexity of communication. Such com- in primary schools to teach their subjects in the plexity is also apparent in the classroom, where medium of English. These Chinese medium teachers communicative behaviour at first seems so rich had previously completed their teacher-training that it can scarcely be handled by an observer. course in Chinese at the Teachers' Training College However, because the classroom offers a more and had all attained at least a minimum level of formal speech situation than most ordinary speech proficiency in English, though few could speak situations, it has been used by several linguists English with any degree of fluency and even fewer recently in their attempts to provide a descriptive used Enghsh in their daily lives. At the beginning system capable of coping with the various forms of the present programme, almost all these teachers of discourse. Whereas "in day-to-day conversation, complained of being ill at ease when handling complex rules pertain ...... within the classroom ordinary classroom communication in English, the mechanisms are much more apparent." (Sin- often feeling that their position was threatened clair, 1975) Moreover, although in ordinary speech as a result of being unable to use language effecti- situations outside the classroom people constantly vely to monitor their teaching. monitor their language at the subconscious level Consequently, in addition to a component in order to avoid misunderstandings and intuiti- comprising Enghsh for mathematics, science, etc., vely apply self-correcting devices, inside the class- a component on metacommunication is now in- room a far more conscious and deliberate moni- cluded in all the re-training programmes and rele- toring of communication takes place. For example, vant materials have been specially prepared. These in a typical classroom situation, the teacher fre- materials, which rely heavily on role-playing and quently checks to find out if the pupils under- simulation exercises, concentrate on the specific stand what is being communicated to them. In language functions related both to the different addition, he prompts the pupils, corrects their kinds of metacommunication in the classroom responses, and repeats and re-phrases statements, and to communicative behaviour in school situa- constantly exerting different lunds of control tions in general. over the classroom talk. The following outline describes briefly the A useful term for referring to such use of contents of the twelve units in the course, indi- language in the classroom is metacommunication cating the various language functions identified in the sense used by Stubbs (1976): i.e. the type for detailed treatment and practice. of communication used to check whether messages Unit l: Introductions in the classroom and have been received and understood. Such meta- related language functions involving the identi- communication is highly characteristic of much fication of individual pupils. teacher talk, accounting for a significant propor- tion of teachers' communication with pupils. Unit2: Making polite requests in the class- Furthermore, both teacher and pupils have specific room, giving orders and formulating general rules expectations concerning such use of metacom- of behaviour, conduct, etc. munication in teaching. Consequently, it is largely Unit 3: Establishing attention signals and con- (though not exclusively) with metacommunication trolling pupils' attention. that the teacher-training materials which will now be described are concerned. Unit 4: Questioning in the classroom (as part The materials constitute the first attempt of a general teaching strategy): i) YeslNo ques- to devise a relevant training programme aimed at tions, ii) Or questions, and iii) Wh questions. After

JULY. 1979 dealing with the different types and purposes of "Did you hear what I said, Eng Boon?" may be a questions in the classroom, this unit gives practice request for information, an attempt to gain the in various techniques of questioning and simpli- attention of the pupil, or even a warning. Indeed, fying questions fo conform to appropriate content several important studies in Britain have shown and language difficulty levels. that, though aware of the full context of a parti- cular function, even native speakers of a language Unit S: Handling pupils' responses: accepting, may misinterpret the various communicative func- correcting and rejecting pupils' answers. This unit tions being used. For example, when a working- also examines strategies for delaying answering class pupil hears the command "Would you please questions or for commenting on a pupil's response be quiet!", he may interpret it as an ordinary in order to consider the topic a little longer or request which he has the option of accepting or re- check the facts. fusing since the commands he is accustomed to Unit 6: Repeating and re-phrasing questions hearing at home are expressed only in the irnpera- and answers as well as reporting class discussions tive. and comments. Furthermore, a particular utterance may have more than one function, thus serving several Unit 7: Telling pupils how to do things and purposes simultaneously. For example, the utte- giving written instructions. This unit seeks to de- rance "What did Rani do a moment ago?" may velop the ability to simplify and clarify instructions serve to establish attention, to monitor a pupil's and concludes by providing practice in filling in response (to check that he has understood), and forms. even to warn a pupil not to be inattentive in future Unit 8: Giving and refusing permission. (Note - all at the same time. In most cases, however, that asking for permission rarely elicits a simple an utterance has clearly a primary function: hence Yes or No response from the teacher. Invariably, the attempt to identify and isolate the various the teacher requires more details or further ex- functions for teaching purposes in the programme planation, and even then the permission given described. is often qualified.) The practice material in each unit of the course ranges from highly structured exercises Unit 9: Using different types of questions to such as dialogue re-arrangement, the completion monitor the various levels of the pupils' under- of dial~guesand written texts (i.e. cloze passages), standing of what is being taught: recall, com- the correction of ungrammatical statements, and prehension, application, invention and evaluation the simplification of questions to role-playing and questions. (Question tags are also practised in this classroom application exercises (involving such unit.) tasks as the writing of rules, reports and letters). Unit 10: Warning pupils and giving advice. Important exercises which occur in every unit include practice in listening comprehension, Unit 11: Giving reasons and explaining: cause reading aloud and asking questions. An attempt and effect. (Like the other units, this unit con- has also been made to include provision for the centrates on the language functions required for teaching of those sentence structures and gramma- helping and monitoring classroom management tical items most appropriate to the particular func- rather than attempting to teach the functions tion on which the unit was based. For example, necessary for handling knowledge related to parti- Unit 1 immediately suggests the teaching of spatial cular subjects.) prepositions, Unit 2 imperatives and the position Unit 12: Stating intentions, making suggestions, of adverbs, Unit 4 interrogatives, Unit 5 reported expressing degrees of probability and speculating speech, Unit 7 the passive voice and the modals about future happenings. should, ought to and must, etc. In a similar way phonological points are picked up in the units Although examples of the various functions wherever appropriate, particularly features of have been categorised here, it must be remembered stress and intonation (e.g. the various intonation that familiarity with the full context in which a patterns in YeslNo questions, Wh questions and function occurs is usually essential for interpreting question tags; main stress in such patterns as "Do that function. It is thus not always possible to be quiet." "Can anyone tell me?" "Can you tell determine what communicative function is being me, Rani?" "That's almost right," etc.). performed outside the context a particular utte- Perhaps the most important feature (and in rance actually occurs in. For example, the utterance many ways the unique feature) of each unit is the

SINGAPORE JOURNAL OF EDUCATION - (1) T. asks question (2) (3) Pupil answers rupllPupil glvesgives correctly wrong answer 4 l l (4) (6) (7) (5) T. repeats T.T re-phrasesr~-nhrar~r T. asks T. praises pupil-..-:l to+,. question question pupil repeatrepear answer (stressing to help pupil I I any key words) I 3*. e* t I (8) (9) (10) (1 1) T. praises T. asks another Pupil now Pupil still gives pupil (and pupil to repeat answers correctly wrong answer answer (for I _ , repeats answer) class to hear) t V , (12) T. praises T. addresses pupil (and another pupil repeats answer) Flow-Chart to accompany Unit 6

flow-chart which accompanies the key dialogue a flowchart is determined entirely by the roles and serves to introduce the function to be prac- and the needs of the students participating in the tised. Flowcharts are used throughout the pro- dialogue. gramme to provide a visual outline of the situation The example which follows shows how flow- being practised in the key dialogue. Each flow- charts are used to make students more fully aware chart shows clearly how particular "speech acts" of what is taking place in interpersonal interaction may combine to form a "speech event" (Hymes, in the classroom. After listening to the dialogue 1967). The various alternatives which may take and answering the questions which follow, the place after each speech act are given, and the student is required to listen to the dialogue once student is able to see immediately the outline of again and to trace the speech acts through the the event and the situation in which it is de- flow-chart. veloped. In some cases, there may be a large number Key dialogue of possibilities after a certain speech act. It can never be claimed, therefore, that a flowchart is T: What is the chief cause of waves in the world's capable of showing all the possibilities in a speech oceans? (PAUSE) Rohan. event: clearly, almost anything may happen. It is P: The moon, sir. argued, however, that each flowchart in the pro- T: No, the moon causes tides. What causes waves? gramme shows the most common alternatives Can you remember? which can be used. Moreover, by providing the P: The wind. student with the bare outline of the event and T: Good. What causes waves, Yit Cheong? situation in simple visual terms, a flowchart P: The wind. makes him much more aware of what may take T: Yes, Waves are mostly caused by the wind place in a typical classroom encounter. The use blowing across the surface of the ocean. of flow-charts seeks to avoid the rigidity nor- mally associated with classroom dialogues and Answer the followingquestions about the dialogue. drills by showing that real-life communication with pupils is rarely a matter of providing a sti- 1. What is the pupil's first answer to the teacher's mulus to elicit a fixed response. Since there is question? considerable freedom of choice in what can be 2. What word does the teacher stress when he asks said at any particular point in the flowchart the question again? both by the teacher and by the pupil, various 3. Why does he stress this word? routes through the flowchart are possible and 4. What is the chief cause of the waves in the thus different conversations will be produced oceans of the world? by different groups of students or different Now listen to the dialogue once again and look at circumstances. The conversation produced from the flow-chart. Follow the dialogue through the

JULY, 1979 flow-chart, inserting the missing number in each students and teachers. Even at this early stage, blank as you listen. however, it does indicate an urgent need for lan- 1,3,-,-, 12,+ 12. guage tests which will measure much more pre- cisely the communicative competence of students The student is later instructed to construct and teachers about to undertake training or re- his own conversation (working in pairs or small training programmes. Such tests in themselves may groups), following given numbers through the well result in the formulation of more precise flow-chart. In this way, the conversation is con- statements of objectives that combine communi- trolled for practice purposes, yet at the same cative competence and classroom teaching skills. time the student has considerable freedom in Finally, further classroom research in this area saying what he wants to say in the way he wants may eventually provide some of the answers to to say it. This is far removed from the typical questions regarding not only the extent to which dialogue practice found in language laboratory different teachers differ in their use of metacom- materials. municative functions in the classroom but also the extent to which these functions are realised in 1. You ask what causes tides. One pupil says different ways in different languages. that it is the weather and another pupil says that the moon and sun cause tides. You want the pupil to say that it is the gravitational force (or pull) of the moon and sun which causes tides. References 1,3,6,11,13,1,2,5,9. Allwright, R., Stokes, A., Loftus, G.P., Macfirlane, J.M. and McTear, M.F. Working Papers: Language 2. You ask why gases can be compressed and Teaching Clossroorn Research. Unpublished papers, a pupil answers that they have no volume. The University of Essex, 1975. correct answer is that they do not have definite Hymes, Dell. "Models of the Interaction of Language volumes. In other words, different amounts of air and Social Setting." Journal of Social Issues, 1967, can occupy a given space. 23, 2. Sinclair, J. McH. and Coulthard, R.M. Towards an Etc. Analysis of Discourse. London: Oxford University Press, 1975. The material which has been described here Stubbs, Michael. "Keeping in Touch: Some Functions constitutes only a beginning and is in the form of of Teacher Talk," in Michael Stubbs and Sara De- a preliminary draft. It is hoped that much of the lamont (eds.), Explorations in Clossroom Obser- material will be refined in the light of feedback vation. London: John Wiley, 1976. from working through the programme with

60 SINGAPORE JOURNAL OF EDUCATION Muhammad Ariff b Ahmad lnstitut Pendidikan Singapura

Masalah-maSaal, Pengajamn Bahasa Melayu sdbgai Bahasa Kedca

media sekolahnya bahasa Inggeris. Anak-anak 1.1 landas bincang: Sebelum membincang- Melayu, misalnya, adalah mempelajari bahasa kan masalah-masalah pengajaran bahasa Melayu Melayu sebagai bahasa kedua (ML2); pun demi- sebagai Bahasa Kedua dan mencari jalan bagai- kian halnya dengan anak-anak India yang mother- mana hendak mengatasi masalah-masalah itu, toungenya bahasa Tamil. baiklah rasanya kita melihat dahulu: apakah yang Dalam pada itu bukan tidak ada anak-anak dimaksudkan dengan "bahasa kedua" itu. Munglun orang India yang bahasa ibundanya bukan Tamil ada baiknya kalau kita tinjau juga: apakah tujuan - mungkin Urdu; mungkin Hindi atau lain-lain seseorang itu mempelajari "bahasa kedua" tadi. bahasa di India yang tidak diakui sebagai bahasa Dengan demikian akan dapatlah kita tentukan rasmi di Singapura - telah memilih bahasa Melayu landasan tempat kita bertitik-tolak membincang- menjadi bahasa keduanya, untuk dipelajari se- kan m~alah-masalahitu seterusnya. panjang waktu sekolahnya. Tidak kurang juga anak-anak ketumnan 1.2 yang dikatakan "bahasa kedua ": Bahasa Tionghoa yang bahasa ibundanya adalah dialek- Kedua menurut anggapan ahli-ahli bahasa, seperti dialek ketumnannya, yang terasa kekok atau yang dinyatakan dalam monograf UNESCO on keberatan untuk mempelajari bahasa Mandarin Fundamental Education, ialah bahasa atau bahasa- itu sebagai bahasa keduanya. Merekaitu mengambil bahasa yang diperoleh atau diketahui atau dikuasai bahasa Melayu menjadi bahasa keduanya. Ada atau dipelajari seseorang setelah atau selain dari- pula antara anak-anak Tionghoa yang telah men- pada bahasa ibunda (mother-tongue)nya. Seorang cuba mempelajari bahasa Mandarin sebagai bahasa Melayu, umpamanya, bertutur dalam bahasa kedua hingga ke darjak primary 5 atau 6, tetapi Inggeris; maka bahasa Inggeris itu adalah bahasa kerana mereka selalu gagal dalam peperiksaan kedua kepadanya, kerana bahasa itu bukan bahasa bahasa Mandarin itu lalu memperubah fikirannya, ibundanya. mengambil bahasa Melayu menjadi bahasa kedua- Tetapi, masalah-masalah bahasa kedua yang nya mulai dari darjah primary 6 atau menengah 1. hendak kita bincangkan sekarang bukanlah bahasa 1.3 tujuan rnernpelajari bahaso kedua: kedua yang dinyatakan oleh monograf UNESCO itu; kerana di Singapura, di sekolah-sekolah di 1.3.1 Selain daripada hendak menambahkan Singapura ini, kita punya konsep sendiri tentang pengetahuan dan boleh bertutur dengan orang- bahasa kedua itu; yang bertentangan denga konsep orang asing. dalam bahasanya, pelajar-pelajar bahasa kedua menurut ahli-ahli bahasa tadi. bahasa kedua itu bertujuan juga hendak mempe- Di Singapura, yang kita maksudkan dengan lajari falsafah dan kebudayaan bangsa yang bahasa- bahasa kedua ialah salahsatu daripada tiga bahasa nya dipelajari sebagai bahasa kedua tadi. rasmi Singapura (bahasa Melayu, Mandarin dan Pelajar-pelajar bahasa kedua itu mengharap- Tamil) yang dipilih untuk dipelajari di sekolah- kan supaya menerusi kesusastraan bahasa kedua- sekolah yang bahasa medianya bahasa Inggeris. nya itu mereka akan dapat meneliti pemikiran dan Bahasa Inggeris pula diwajibkan menjadi bahasa kehidupan bangsa itu, kemudian membandingkan kedua bagi pelajar-pelajar yang belajar di sekolah- telitiannya itu dengan falsafah dan kebudayaan sekolah yang bahasa medianya salahsatu daripada mereka sendiri. tiga bahasa rasmi tadi. Dengan berbuat demikian pelajar-pelajar itu Keadaan ini memunglunkan bahawa bahasa akan dapat mencapai tujuan terluhur dari kajian- kedua bagi seseorang pelajar di Singapura ialah nya itu, iaitu memperbaiki dan memajukan kehi- mother-toungenya sendiri, kalau kebetulan bahasa dupannya sendiri menerusi perbandingan tadi.

JULY, 1979 1.3.2 Tetapi, apa yang menjadi tujuan pe- Tionghoa dan dari pelbagai ketu~nanorang- ngajaran bahasa kedua bentuk kita, bentuk Singa- orang India yang bukan Tamil; juga dari lain-lain pura, seperti yang dinyatakan dalam para 2 dan 3 golongan minoriti yang bahasa ibundanya tidak uraian 1.2 tidaklah sejauh itu. Kita cuma maukan dianggap sebagai salahsatu bahasa rasmi di Si- satu pencapaian tujuan jangkadekat. Tujuan me- ngapura ini. ngajarkan bahasa Melayu sebagai bahasa kedua itu Kecuali kumpulan pertama iaitu kumpu ialah untuk melengkapkan pelajar-pelajar kita hari lan anak-anak Melayu belaka itu, 3 kumpulan ini supaya menjadi rakyat Singapura yang bilingual pelajar yang lain adalah bercampur-aduk. Kum- di masa depan. pulan-kumpulan itu dipenuhi oleh pelajar-pe- Dengan demikian, bahasa-bahasa vernacular lajar yang datang dari pelbagai latarbelakang ke- di Singapura akan tetap terpelihara, selaras dengan hidupan yang berbeza-beza bahasa ibundanya; pemeliharaan yang kemas terhadap tradisi dan yang tidak sama keadaan socioculturenya; yang kebudayaan rakyat yang berbilang bangsa di sini. berlainan pula media pemikiran dan sistem lin- Oleh itu maka eloklah kita bataskan guistiknya. bincangan kita pada peringkat hi: setakat mem- Kecamukan dan kelainan suasana tadi bincangkan masalah-masalah yang dapat menolong pastilah, sekurang-kurangnya, akan menghalang kita mencapai tujuan yang dinyatakan dalam kelancaran pengajaran bahasa kedua itu. Pun, uraian 1.3.2 ini. kekacauan-kekacauan itu boleh pula menyebab- kan adanya aptitude pelajar-pelajar-yang berbeza- beza terhadap bahasa kedua itu; dan ini boleh 2. Masalah -rnasalah mengakibatkan timbulnya sikap kurang sihat yang Tentulah banyak masalah-masalah pengajaran boleh menghalang kemajuan pengajaran bahasa bahasa kedua itu yang minta diperhati dan di- kedua itu, kalaupun ia tidak menggagalkan sama perbaiki secara sertamerta atau secara beransur- sekali. ansur. Ada antara masalah-masalah itu yang ber- 2.2 pengaruh socio-culture: Bahasa adalah sifat sementara, seperti: masalah tempat belajar langsung hubungannya dengan pemikiran masya- yang berpindah-pindah, tidak kekal setempat; rakat; dan pemikiran masyarakat itu biasanya ter- masalah tentang kekurangan buku-buku teks, atau bentuk menerusi sistem kebudayaannya. Cara tentang buku-buku teks yang kurang sesuai; ma- orang-orang berfikir dan mengonsepkan sesuatu salah tentang persiapan-persiapan pelajaran dan biasanya sejalan dengan - kalau tidak terpengaruh penyediaan bahan-bahan pengajaran dan sebagai- oleh - sistem kebudayaannya itu. Sebab itu: nya. Oleh kerana kebanyakan masalah-masalah se- pertumbuhan dan perkembangan suatu bahasa itu mentara itu bersifat administrative, saya, percaya tidaklah sama dengan pertumbuhan dan perkem- hal-ha1 itu dapat diselesaikan dalam satu dua bangan bahasa-bahasa yang lain. peringkat pertadbiran, dan tidak memerlukan satu Jadi, dengan sendirinya, socio-culture itu bincangan hebat dan serious menerusi tulisan ini. sentiasa mempengaruhi pelajar-pelajar bahasa ke- Dan, yang hendak saya kemukakan mene- dua itu. Dan, masalah-masalah socio-culture ini rusi kertas ini ialah beberapa masalah basic yang haruslah diuraikan dengan cara yang bijaksana perlu diperhatikan sungguh-sungguh, yang saya kalau kita maukan pengajaran bahasa kedua itu fikir akan menjadi masalah yang kekal berlarut- berjalan lancar. larut sepanjang masa pengajaran bahasa itu selagi Mungkin seseorang pelajar bahasa kedua itu ia belum diselesaikan. kaya dengan jumlah bilangkata Melayu, tetapi selagi ia atau mereka itu mash kuat terpengaruh 2.1 situasi pelajar-pelajar: Oleh kerana kea- atau berfikir secara socio-culture keturunannya, daan-keadaan seperti yang diterangkan dalam para maka bahasa Melayunya akan mash mengalami 3 hingga 6 uraian 1.2 itu berlaku, maka kelas kacau-bilau juga. Akan ada-ada saja yang janggal; bahasa kedua itu munglun dipenuhi oleh pelajar- yang ganjil atau yang tak kena, dalam bahasanya pelajar yang terdiri daripada anak-anak Melayu itu. belaka. Mungkin kelas itu mempunyai lebih Mari kita ambil kata "hariraya puasa" se- separuh anak-anak Melayu dan selebihnya. anak- bagai misal. Apakah konsep hariraya puma itu? anak bukan Melayu; atau munglun pula keadaan Bagi orang-orang Melayu, hariraya puasa itu adalah sebaliknya. Malah, boleh jadi juga, kelas itu di- hari pembayaran zakat selepas mereka berpuasa penuhi oleh anak-anak bukan Melayu tetapi wajib sebulan Ramadhan sebagai pembersihan mereka datang dari pelbagai golongan dialek diri (jiwa) dan hartanya selama setahun (hijrah);

SINGAPORE JOURNAL OF EDUCATION atau sebagai hari perlakuan ibadat rukun Islam yang tidak ada pengalaman - kalau ada pun sangat yang keempat . kurang - socio-culture Melayu, pastilah tidak Dalam kebudayaan orang-orang Tionghoa semudah anak Melayu tadi untuk yakin bahwa tidak ada amalan membayar zakat; yang ada pada jawaban 2 (c) itu idah "keris". Apalagi kalau mereka ialah pemberian "ang-pau" dalam sam- mereka itu terpesona oleh latarbelakang potongan butan "tahun baru" nya. Oleh kerana ada iras- cerita itu. Nama-nama seperti Ben, Choleng, iras kesamaan lahiriah dalam sambutan-sambutan Sidro dan Clarita yang mewataki cerita itu bukan- hariraya puasa itu dengan cara mereka menyambut lah narna-nama Melayu yang umum; pun "pulang "tahun baru" nya, maka asosiasi itu mendorong dari balai dansa di luar bandar hampir waktu orang-orang Tionghoa mengonsepkan hariraya itu subuh selalu-selalu" bukanlah amalan yang tipikal sebagai "tahun baru". dalam socio-culture Melayu. Hal terkahir ini boleh Bagaimana kita boleh terima bahwa hari- menyebabkan pelajar-pelajar bukan ~~la~uitu raya itu dikonsepkan sebagai "tahun baru", sama-sekali tidak menyangka bahwa si pembunuh kerana hariraya puasa jatuh pada 1 Syawal (bulan (munglun Sidro) yang bukan Melayu itu telah kesepuluh) dan hariraya haji jatuh pada 10 Dzul- membunuh mangsanya dengan menggunakan sen- hijjah (bulan keduabelas), dan tahun hijrah tidak jata orang-orang ~e1a)upurba; KERIS. berubah pada kedua-dua hariraya itu? Nyatalah hariraya itu bukan tahun baru! 2.3 aptitude bahasa: Keadaan sosial yang ti- Demikian pula kedapatan juga perbezaan- dak seimbang dan pengaruh-pengaruh langsung perbezaan pengoqsepan yang disebabkan oleh pe- atau tidak langsung socio-culture yang tidak sama ngaruh socio-culture itu pada kata-kata seperti: itu menimbulkan aptitude (kebolehan = bakat + puasa, sembahyang, kenduri, rezeki dan lain-lain. minat) bahasa pelajar-pelajar itu berbeza-beza. Pun, kedapatan perbezaan konsep pada ungkapan- Seorang pelajar yang tidak luas pergaulannya ungkapan seperti: oleh bendungan socio-culture yang tertutup mung- kin kurang atau tidak dapat langsung peluang me- orang kecil = kanak-kanak (Tionghoa); orang majukan bahasa kedua yang dipelajarinya itu, jika yang tidak berpangkat (Melayu), dibandingkan dengan pelajar-pelajar yang lebih sakit hati = dukacita (Tionghoa/Hokien); terbuka dan lebih liberal penerirnaannya terhadap marah; rnerajuk (Melayu) unsur-unsur socio-culture luar. dan lain-lain lagi; barangkali ada beribu-ribu patah Seorang pelajar yang datang dari masyara- perkataan lagi yang-seperti itu. kat golongan ekonomi taraf rendah pun akan Cuba kita lihat pula kertas soalan Bahasa lebih banyak mengalami kekurangan kalau di- Kedua (Melayu) tahun 1973. Perhatikan soalan bandingkan dengan yang datang dari golongan nomor 2 = pernahaman karangan di mukasurat mewah. Pelajar itu mungkin tidak dapat langsung 3 dan 4. Soalan 2 (c) di mukasurat 4 itu berkata: apa-apa bantuan daripada alat-alat pengajaran Dalam pembunuhan itu, senjata yang digunakan bahasa keduanya, seperti: buku-buku bacaan oleh si pembunuh ialah (I)pisau belati (2)pedang tambahan; alat-alat pandang-dengar atau lain-lain (3) besi taj~m(4) keris. yang mungkin boleh didapati oleh pelajar-pelajar golongan mewah. Dalam potongan karangan (di mukasurat Pengalaman pahit demikian itu akan lebih 3) yang dijadikan sumber soalan itu tidak ada segera menimbulkan rasa bosan pelajar-pelajar kedapatan nama salahsatu senjata yang disebut- itu untuk berusaha memajukan pelajarannya. kan itu; tetapi calon-calon boleh rnendapat clue Apabila graf bosannya meninggi tak dapat tiada daripada ayat ini: "Tidak syak lagi orang (pem- graf aptitude bahasa pelajar itu semakin merendah; bunuh) itu memegang sejenis senjata yang bermata akhirnya timbullah sikap yang negative - berserah dua yang tajam dan bilahnya berkeluk-keluk': bulat! Anak-anak Melayu yang walaupun belurn Betapakah sikap guru-guru mengadapi sikap pernah melihat keris dengan mata kepalanya negative para pelajaranya itu? Fikirkanlah! sendiri, tetapi menerusi socio-culturenya - barang- kali dengan mendengar kisah-kisah pertarungan 2.4 media pemikiran: Kebanyakan cara pe- purba; barangkali dengan melihat komik-komik lajar bahasa kedua melahirkan fikirannya tidaklah Melayu - mereka tidak ragu-ragu lagi akan dapat langsung seperti cara penutur bahasa itu berfikir. mengasosiasikan "senjata yang bilahnya berkeluk- Fikiran itu biasanya dilahirkan melalui cara pin- keluk "itu dengan "keris ". dahbentuk (transform) - dilahirkan dalarn cara Tetapi, bagi pelajar-pelajar bukan Melayu bahasa ibunda atau bahasa pertamanya, kemudian

JULY. 1979 barulah dipindahbentukkan ke bahasa kedua pula. 2.5 masalah-masalah linguistik: Ada tiga go- Cara pelahiran fikiran jalan jauh begini bukan longan linguistik iaitu linguistik sains, linguistik saja melambat dan membazirkan, tetapi juga me- artistik dan linguist& praktikal. Linguistik sains nampakkan satu pelahiran bahasa yang kaku, tak ialah kajian analatikal terhadap pelbagai aspek licin, janggal dan dagang; kadang-kadang tidak linguistik yang melibatkan sarjana, ahli-ahli bahasa tepat pula. dan linguis. Linguist& artistik ialah kajian me- Ha1 ini bukanlah hanya melibatkan pelajar- ngenai nilai-nilai estetika bahasa yang melibatkan pelajar bukan Melayu saja, tetapi setengah-seten- para sastrawan. Dan, linguistik praktikai ialah gah pelajar Melayu juga. Kebanyakan mereka kajian dan bincangan terhadap penggunaan dan bercakap Melayu di rumah; tetapi bahasa yang pengajaran bahasa yang secara langsung melibatkan digunakan di rumah itu bukan bahasa Melayu yang guru-guru bahasa. standard. Mereka bertutur secara bercampuraduk, Oleh kerana kelainan sistem linguistik bahasa membujur lalu melintang patah. Jadi, apabila ibunda pelajar-pelajar itu dengan sistem linguistik mereka dikehendaki berbahasa Melayu yang bahasa Melayu, maka tentulah banyak masalah- standard secara teratur, maka setengah-setengah- masalah linguistik itu telah menimbulkan keka- nya terpaksalah melahirkan fikirannya dengan cauan-kekacauan bahasa dalam pengajaran bahasa cara bahasa sekolahnya (bahasa Inggeris) kemu- kedua (Melayu) ini. Hal-hal demikian, walau be- dim memindahbentukkan fikiran itu ke bahasa tapa kecil sekali pun, haruslah diperhatikan de- Melayu (bahasa keduanya) pula. ngan teliti dan diselesaikan dengan jalan linguist& Dan, bahasa yang dilahirkan menurut cara pula. di atas itu kelihatan seperti bahasa terjemahan. GUN-guru, umumnya, mengajarkan bahasa Setidak-tidaknya cara demikian itu telah melahir- kedua ini adalah untuk mencapai 4 kemahiranl kan frasa-frasa yang janggal atau dagang, sepertii- kecekapan bahasa yang tertentu, iaitu kecekapan mendengar, memaharn , membaca dan menulis Mamat sudah dapat demam selsema (frasa (mengarang). Munglun, oleh sebab terlalu tertum- Inggeris) pu kepada pencapaian matlamat itu, kadang- tetapi dia sudah pergi tengok doktor (frasa kadang di luar kesedarannya, guru-guru kurang Inggeris/Tionghoa) ini buku saya punya (frasa Tionghoa) memerhatikan aspek-aspek linguist& seperti fono- buku itu ditulis oleh saya (frasa Inggeris) logi (kajibunyi); morfologi (kajibentuk); semantik ia telah pun dibaca oleh awaklkita semua (kajimakna) dan struktur bahasa, umpamanya. (frasa Inggeris) dan banyak lagi. 2.5.1 tentang fonologi Guru-guru, nampak- Pelajar-pelajar yang tidak bebas daripada nya, tidak keberatan menerima sama seseorang pe- berfikir cara Inggeris berkata-kata dengan gurunya lajarnya menyebut "satye" atau "satya'-' untuk dengan kata "awak", misalnya: "Bolehkah' saya kata yang sama maknanya dengan "aku"; menye- berjumpa awak lepas waktu sekolah, nanti?" but "batpe" atau "batpa" untuk kata yang sama Tanpa mengendahkan nilai-nilai rasa dan keperi- maknanya dengan "ayah"; atau sebagainya. halm keadaan menurut semantik Melayu, pelajar Penerimaan secara kurang teliti atau di luar itu menggunakan kata "awak" sebagai gantinama kesedaran guru itu telah menyebabkan kita men- gurunya; kerana berfikir secara Inggeris kata "you" dengar beberapa orang calon peperiksaan oral boleh digunakan sebagai gantinama diri kedua, menyebut "ru+meh" untuk "rumah"; menyebut termasuk guru, ibu-bapa atau sesiapa saja yang "sutdeh" untuk "sudah"; menyebut "datre-" dalam keadaan diri kedua. untuk "darah" dan sebagainya. Media, pemikiran demikian itu juga menye- Penerimaan sebutan sewenang-wenangbegitu, babkan pelajar-pelajar lebih mudah menyatakan boleh menimbukan anggapan orang yang tidak tau "bagaimana bapa begitu anaknya" iaitu kepindah- bahwa tidak ada bunyibahasa yang standard bagi an idea dari kata Inggeris: like father like son; atau bahasa Melayu; padahal bahasa Melayu adalah menyatakan "membunuh dua ekor burung dengan seperti lain-lain bahasa juga, punya hukum bunyi- sebiji batu" iaitu kepindahan idea dari kata Ing- bahasanya yang standard (baca The Malay Sound geris: kill two birds with one stone. Padahal, da- System - Yunos Maris M A). lam pemikiran Melayu idea pertama itu sudah Sebutan-sebutan janggal oleh pelajar-pelajar dilahirkan dalam peribahasa "bapanya borek bukan Melayu itu adalah disebabkan oleh jumlah anaknya rintik" dan idea kedua dalam "sekali dan sifat fonirn serta sistem fonologi bahasa mengorak pura, dua tiga hutang langsai" atau ibundanya tidak serbasama dengan fonologi Mela- "sambil menyelam sambil miuum air''. yu. Keadaan itu bukanlah sesuatu yang bukan

SINGAPORE JOURNAL OF EDUCATION masalah dalam pengajaran bahasa kedua (Melayu) akhiran "an" atau = masakan atau masak- ini . "kan" kan; Ada bahasa-bahasa yang tidak punya fonim julukan atau juluk- /l/ atau /r/. Tidak syak lagi, bahwa tanpa latihan kan, dll yang sungguh-sungguh, pemilik bahasa itu akan awal+akhiran "ke + = kesamaan atau pe- sukar untuk menyebut kata-kata "lari"; "lori"; an" nyamaan ; "rela"; "luru"; "ular" atau sebagainya. Pun, atau "pe + an" = kesegaran atau pe- pendengar munglun kelim samada mereka mau nyegaran , dll nenyebut "beli" atau "ben"; "kali" atau "kari"; "balu" atau "baru" dan sebagainya. Kadang-kadang terdapat juga kecanggungan Kelainan bentukbunyi bahasa Melayu yang penggunaan fonim-fonim nasal pada awalan-awalan disyllabic dengan bahasa-bahasa Tionghoa yang me atau pe yang tersyarat oleh konsonan-kon- monosyllabic itu boleh menyebabkan pelajar- sonan penentu pada katadasar; yang biasanya di- pelajar dari keturunan Tionghoa sukar menye- gunakan sebagai:- suaikan bunyi setengah-setengah morfim Melayu, (me) pe+@+KD = me+makan; pe+makan misalnya: me+radang; pe+radang penyesuaian /b/ + /ny/ (banyak) akan dise- (me) pe+mtKD = metmtbantu; petmtbantu but ma+nyak; metmtparang; pe+m+parang (bunyi) akan dise- (me) pe+n+KD = me+n+datang; pe+n+datang but mutnyi atau me+n+tarik; petnttarik butngi; penyesuaian /t/ t /d/ (tadi) akan disebut Demikian pula pada penggunaan (me) pet- tatti; ny+KD dan (me) petngtKD. (tidak) akan disebut Berdasarkan ciri-ciri pemajmukan ramai orang tittak; mash berbalah untuk menerima sesuatu satuan penyesuaian /d/ t /t/ (datang) akan dise- perkataan itu sebenamya katamajmuk atau bukan. Jawatankuasa; setiausaha; tanggungjawa b; ma tahari but la+tang, dan ber- dan sebagainya adalah diterima sebagai katamaj- bagai-bagai lagi. muk. Tetapi, suratkhabar; rumahsakit; kapalter- Wawancara wakil RTM (Radio dan TV Ma- bang dan yang sebagainya masih diragui oleh laysia) dengan wakil-wakil penduduk Kampung banyak orang. Baru Kelapa Sawit di Johor, yang disiarkan me- Kata-kata seperti jejatas ('jembatan jalan nerusi TV Malaysia pada 20 Mei 1974 adalah con- atas); jabanah ('jalan bawah tanah) mungkin dapat toh yang mutlak buat keterangan-keterangan di dianggap sebagai katamajmuk, tetapi bagaimana atas. dengan jejambat ('jambat-jambat)? Kalau dilihat kemorfologiannya pastilah ia termasuk dalam kata- 2.5.2 ten tang modologi Walaupun sistem gori kataulang; sama kemorfologiannya dengan morfologi bahasa Melayu ini adalah merupakan tamu-tamu =tetamu; tangga-tangga Gtetangga atau proses-proses pengirnbuhan, pengulangan/perganda- laki-laki = lelaki. an dan pemajmukan, tetapi masalah-masalah yang Bagaimanapun, oleh kerana masalah-masalah timbul dalam pengajaran bahasa kedua ini ke- morfologi itu hanya mempakan masalah kontent banyakannya mengenai setengah-setengah pengim- pelajaran, tidaklah sukar mengatasinya asal saja buhan dan pemajmukan itu. ada usaha mau mengatasinya. Boleh dikatakan tidak ada masalah-masalah yang mengenai pengulangan/pergandaan selain 2 .S .3 tentang semantik Pengajaran tentang daripada pelajar-pelajar harus mengingati banyak semantik ini biasanya dijalankan menemsi pemaha- pasangan kataulang itu, seperti mereka mengingati man makna-makna perkataan dengan mengenal banyaknya penjoddh bilangan. perkataan-perkataan seertilseiras; perkataan-per- Kekeliruan-kekeliman tentang pengimbuhan kataan berlawan dan perkataan-perkataan ber- itu kerapkali terdapat pada penggunaan:- bilang makna. Dan, cara pengajaran yang berkesan ialah dengan memberikan kepada pelajar-pelajar akhiran "i" atau = menaiki atau menaik- pengalaman menggunakan perkataan-perkataan "km" kan; itu.

melalui atau melalu- Kata-kata "soal" dan "tanya " selalu diang- kan, dll gap sebagai perkataan seerti; tetapi kalau kita

JULY, 1979 temui seseorang dan berkata kepadanya, "boleh- Tetapi kalau kita perhatikan pasangan kata kah saya bertanya kepada awak?" Orang itu akan emak-bapa, apakah sama kedudukannya dengan menyambut kita dengan penuh hormat dan tam- pasangan tinggi-rcndah itu, misalnya? Apakah pak kesediaannya hendak menjawab. Cuba kita kalau bukan "emak" dia pasti "bapa"? Apalagi tukarkan kata "tanya" itu dengan kata "soal" kalau diukur dengan nilai rasa dan keadaan sosial: - "bolehkah saya soul awak?" munglun reaksi apabila "emak" lawan "bapa" ...... entahlah! orang itu adalah kebalikan dari yang mula-mula Pun demikian dengan pasangan "hitam-putih ". tadi. Kalau dikatakan, "Baju itu tidak hitam", mung- Mengapakah reaksi itu bertentangan, padahal kinkah baju itu putih? Tak munglunkah ia merah, kata "tanya" dan "soal" itu seerti? Sekurang- atau hijau? kurangnya nilai rasa, katagori bahasa, keperihalan Kalau orang berkata, "Kerana lelucon itu keadaan dan lain-lain aspek semantik telah ber- tidak menarik hatinya, orang itu tidak ketawa". tindak untuk menampakkan bahwa "tanya" dan Dapatkah kita anggap orang itu menangis? "soal" itu hanya sama pada contentnya tetapi Akhirnya, tentang penggunaan kata-kata tak sama pada expressionnya. yang berbilang makna. Perhatikan makna kata Lardo menerangkan bahwa pertalian antara "tawar" dalam 4 ayat di bawah ini:- content dan expression amat erat; apabila tidak Air sungai itu masin di kualanya tetapi tawar demikian menyimpanglah makna perkataan itu; (a) di hulunya. dan penyirnpangan itu tersebab oleh kebudayaan. Harga kasut itu tetap, tak boleh ditawar lagi. Jadi, kebudayaanlah: dengan menggunakan rumus- (b) Perempuan dianggap sebagai racun, tetapi rumus aspek-aspek semantik tadi, telah menjadi- (c) kan bahawa "tanya" dan "soal" itu adalah per- dialah juga penawar. Mamat telah ditawarkan suatu jawatan tinggi kataan seiras; bukan seerti. (d) di Brunei. Tanya ialah pencongkelan maklumat untuk mendapat tau sesuatu yang belum diketahui; Betapa pun, masalah-masalah semantik hi, tetapi soul ialah pencongkelan maklumat untuk seperti juga masalah-masalah morfologi tadi, mengetahui samada yang disoal itu tau atau tidak adalah masalah content yang tidak sukar diatasi. terhadap maklumat yang telah diketahui oleh pe- nyoal. 2.5.4 tentang sin taksis/struktur bahasa Demikian pulalah halnya kalau kita hendak Struktur bahasa Melayu yang paling basik ialah menentukan yang mana 'Yatuh", yang mana pula mendulukan yang diterangkan dan mengemudian- "tumbang "; seterusnya yang mana-mana pula: kan yang menerangkan, misalnya: gugur, runtuh, roboh, rebah dan yang sebagainya; baju merah (bukan: merah baju; atau atau kalau kita hendak menentukan makna: merah punya baju) angkat, angkit, angkut, jinjing, bimbit, bimbing anak saya (bukan: saya anak; atau saya dan seterusnya. punya anak) Tentang perkataan-perkataan yang berten- ini buku saya (bukan: ini saya buku; atau tangan makna, atau perkataan berlawan itu, nam- buku saya ini) paknya, ramai guru-guru yang menggunakan atau sebagainya. konsep Inggeris; atau lebih mudah mereka meme- layukan kata-kata Inggeris itu, misalnya: Tetapi, oleh kerana pengaruh bahasa lisan (dalam bahasa Melayu terlalu banyak jenis bahasa tinggi lawannya rendah(*) lisannya seperti dialek daerah; bahasa pasar; bahasa cantik lawannya hodoh(*) dagang dan sebagainya) yang tidak standard, maka emak lawannya baps(+) kedapatanlah stmktur-struktur dagang dalam putih lawannya hitam(+) bahasa Melayu. Tetapi kerana kerapnya digunakan menangis lawannya ketawa(#), dan sebagai- dalam pertuturan sehari-hari, maka struktur- nya. struktur dagang itu pun lekat pada bahasa: seolah- Contoh-contoh itu ialah yang paling lumrah di- olah ia telah diterima umum. gunakan untuk pelajaran tersebut. Kalau kit2 Perhatikan frasa "goreng pisang". Frasa ini pakaikan nilai semantik di atas tadi maka kita akan bertentangan dengan struktur .yang diterangkan dapati: pasangan-pasangan tinggi-rendah dan dalam para 1 uraian 2.5.4 ini. Sepatutnya ia di- cantik-hodoh itu benar perkataan berlawan atau sebut pisang goreng, kerana ia sebentuk dengan bertentang, kerana masing-masing menegatifkan frasa-frasa: ikan goreng; ubi goreng; mi goreng; lawannya dalam bentuk positif. nasi goreng; tahu goreng, atau dalam bentuk lain-

SINGAPORE JOURNAL OF EDUCATION 4 nya: pisang rebus; pisang salai; pisang bakar atau belakang bahasa ibunda dan latar belakang sociq- yang sebagainya. culture pelajar-pelajarnya. Penge tahuan itu penting Oleh kerana bentuk struktur "goreng pisang" untuk menolong gum membuat perhatian khas itu tak dapat juga dikatagorikan ke dalam kum- terhadap individu atau golongan pelajar-pelajarnya. pulan: pengat pisang; keripik pisang; belebat pisang; jemput-jemput pisang; kek pisang; aiskrim 3.2 LARD0 mencadangkan supaya guru-guru pisang atau sebagainya, maka nyatalah frasa bergaul dalam .masyarakat pelajar-pelajarnya "goreng pisang" itu tidak berbentuk struktur supaya dapat menggunakan sifat-sifat kebudayaan Melayu. masyarakat pelajarnya itu untuk kelancaran penga- jaran bahasa matlamatnya. (taktik: kayulah yang

2.6 masalah sukatan pelajaran: Sebenarny a memecahkan kayu). . sukatan pelajaran bukanlah satu masalah, kerana ia Keadaan guru-guru kita memang sudah ter- memang berguna. Sekurang-kurangnya dia dapat gaul dengan masyarakat pelajar, kalau kebetulan memberi panduan kepada guru-guru supaya penga- pelajar-pelajar kita terdiri dari kumpulan satu. jarannya tidak menyeleweng. Tetapi, mungkin ada Tetapi, untuk pelajar-pelajar dari kumpulan dua, setengah-setengah guru yang menganggap sukatan tiga dan empat; saranan Lardo itu boleh menye- pelajaran itu sebagai suatu pegangan yang tak lesaikan masalah pengaruh bahasa ibunda dan boleh tidak; mesti diikuti satu persatu dengan pengaruh socioculture. tertib. Mungkin 3 atau 4 hari pada tiap kali cuti Kalau sukatan pelajaran itu dianggap sebagai penggal persekolahan guru-guru boleh menga- satu arahan tunggal untuk menentukan "mesti dakan perkampungan dengan pelajar-pelajamya buat begini dan jangan buat begitu" nescaya ia untuk mempelajari keadaan socioalture timbal- akan mengekang kemajuan pengajaran guru-guru. balik. Guru mempelajari socioalture pelajar- Guru-guru lebih tahu tentang situasi pelajar- pelajar dan sebaliknya. Dalam perkampungan itu pelajarnya; guru-guru lebih tahu apa yang harus biarlah guru-pelajar sama-sama masak, makan, diajarkan, kalau dibandingkan dengan sukatan bermain dalam bahasa matlamat. pelajaran itu. Jadi, peranan sukatan pelajaran itu ialah sebagai CO-pilot;sebagai teman berunding 3.3 APTITUDE bahasa para pelajar mungkin ketika guru-guru itu menemui masalah-masalah dapat diperbaiki dengan mengadakan lebih banyak tertentu yang minta diselesaikan. Jangan tepuk kemudahan-kemudahan belajar cara formal atau dada tanya selera; atau mengambil keputusan tak formal, dan memberikan lebih banyak peluang yang beraja di mata bersultan di hati saja. pelajar-pelajar menggunakan bahasa keduanya itu. Sebab itu, guru-guru haruslah mempunyai Kutubkhanah khas mungkin menolong pandangan yang liberal terhadap sukatan pelajaran pelajar-pelajar mendapatkan banyak pengetahuan itu. Penyesuaian antara kehendak-kehendak suka- tentang socioculture bahasa yang dipelajari; dan tan pelajaran itu dengan keadaan sekitar dan latar- mengambil bahagian dalam kegiatan-kegiatan belakang pelajar-pelajar haruslah dilakukan oleh bahasa seperti peraduan-peraduan mengarang; ber- guru-guru sebijak mungkin. Adjustment pada cakapitah; bersyarah dan berbahas boleh menga- tentang-tentang yang harus patutlah dibuat supaya yakan pengalaman mereka dalam bahasa ke- pengajaran guru-guru mencapai matlamat yang duany a. paling hampir kepada tepat. 3.4 MENERUSI pemesraan socwculture bahasa yang dipelajari dan menerusi perbaikan 3. cara-cara mengatasi masalah aptitude bahasa itu, media pemikiran pelajar- Walaupun masalah-masalah yang dikemukakan tadi pelajar akan lebih mirip kepada cara bahasa ke- tampak berfasal-fasal, tetapi antara suatu hal duanya itu. dengan yang lain adalah berkait-kait. Sebab itu cara mengatasi masalah-masalah itu pun tidaklah 3.5 PENGALAMAN linguistik pelajar-pelajar mesti dilakukan bersendiri-sendiri. Barangkali dapat diperbaiki dengan memberikan pengalaman dapat saya kemukakan beberapa saranan untuk lingu'istik yang tepat kepada guru-gurunya. Dan, mengatasi masalah-masalah itu secara menyeluruh. pengalaman itu boleh diperoleh menerusi kursus- kursus singkat; seminar-seminar tak formal; 3.1 Memahami keadaan pelajar-pelajar se- bengkel-bengkel berkala dan berbagaibagai ke- belum memulakan pengajaran haruslah dibuat. giatan lagi. Sekurang-kurangnya guru harus memahami latar- Jabatan Bahasa Kedua, Kesatuan Guru-guru

JULY, 1979 Melayu, dan Kementerian Pelajaran mungkin (Singapura) atau Tingkatan Lima (Malaysia) se- boleh sama-sama menganjurkan kegiatan-kegiatan dangkan guru-guru mengajarkan ML2 kepada pel- itu, untuk kepentingan-kepentingan karyawan bagai golongan yang saya nyatakan dalam paragraf kita. 3 hingga 6 di uraian 1.2, di Menengah-menengah I hingga IV, maka masalah-masalah socio-culture 4. penutup yang kita temui pada pelajar-pelajar kita adalah Oleh kerana pengalaman saya mengajarkan bahasa berbeza juga. kedua Melayu (ML2) ini agak berbeza sedikit Saya percaya masalah-masalah ini dapat daripada guru-guru lainnya, iaitu saya mengajarkan dibincangkan menerusi bengkel-bengkel seminar ML2 kepada orang-orang dewasa bukan-Melayu kalau kita ada minat hendak mengatasi masalah- yang telah lulus peperiksaan Menengah Empat masalah itu untuk kebaikan pengajaran kita. Q

68 SINGAPORE JOURNAL OF EDUCATION Abbas b MohdShariff Temasek Junior College

Perkembangan ke arah masuknya anasiranassir lain ke Bahasa Melayu

Dengan akulturasi, suatu kebudayaan mene- apabila kata-kata Sanskrit, Arab, Portugis, Belanda rima unsur-unsur kebuday aan asing ke dalam dan Inggeris digolongkan dalam perbendaharaan dirinya. Ada dua macam pengambilan alih kata-kata Melayu. unsur-unsur. Secara adoptasi dan secara Tanggapan tentang: ugama, syurga, raja, adaptasi. Yang pertama mengambil al-ih permaisuri, sukrna, putra, gum, dan lain-lain lagi mentah-mentah tanpa diubah, seperti bagai- adalah berasal dari bahasa Sanskrit, unsur-unsur mana adanya dalam kebudayaan yang kebudayaan Hindu yang sudah integrasi ke dalam memberi. Yang kedua, menyesuiakan unsur kebudayaan masyarakat pribumi di rantau ini. asing itu dengan jiwa atau lingkungan Mengenai kata-kata: .akhirat, masyarakat, kebudayaan penerima. Yang pertama mem- anasir, khayal, ilrnu, jasmani, insaf dan lain-lain pakan akulturasi yang tidak berhasil. Yang dari bahasa Arab yang diadaptasi dari kebudayaan kedua adalah proses akulturasi yang berjalan Islam. baik, di mana masyarakat penerima aktif Kata China juga menyusup masuk dan mem- dalam proses itu. Unsur-unsur asing di- bayangkan pengamh kebudayaan China seperti integerasikan kedalam kebudayaannya sendiri dalam kata-kata: cawan, kuih, teh, dacing, tahu, dengan jalan mengolah atau mengubahnya loteng dan lain-lain lagi. (Gazalbq, 1974). Arus migrasi yang digerakkan oleh ber- macam-macam sebab seperti: perkembangan pela- Jika dikaji tentang anasir bahasa lain yang yaran, soal ekonomi, penyibaran ugama, serta diadaptasi dan diasimilasikan dalam bahasa Melayu kolonialisma dan peperangan ideologi telah akan nyata terdapatnya bahasa yang ada hubungan mendorong berbagai-bagai bangsa pendatang ke-keluargaan dengan Bahasa Melayu dan ada juga mencuba nasib di daerah Asia Tenggara ini. Den- yang tidak. Bahasa-bahasa yang sekeluarga dengan gan kedatangan orang-orang luar ini kebudayaan bahasa Melayu mempengaruhi bahasa Melayu pribumi menerima perubahan akibat asimilasi melalui akulturasi seperti bahasa-bahasa lain serta dengan unsur-unsur kebudayaan bam. juga pengaruh pemakai bahasa daerah yang secara tidak sedar melakukan peminjaman secara dialek Dengan penemuan unsur-unsur baru ini, (dialect borrowing) dan kemudian unsur itu diang- difusi dalam masyarakat (intra society diffu- gap sebagai kepunyaan bahasa peminjam. Sebagai sion) dan difusi antara-masyarakat (inter- contoh dapatlah kita lihat beberapa bahasa daerah society diffusion) berlaku. Indonesia yang kata-katanya diterima ke dalam Pedagang, pelaut, pendita, ulama sering bahasa Melayu seperti: tanpa, buruh, jag0 (Kata- tanpa dkengaja atau disedari berlaku sebagai kata Bahasa Jawa); konco, heboh, kelam, lepau alat difusi. Individu-individu itu membawa (kata-kata bahasa Minangkabau); kelum, kolot unsur-unsur kebudayaan daerah atau bangsa (kata-kata bahasa Sunda). kedalam masyarakat lain. Penyebaran itu Mengenai bahasa yang tidak mempunyai dapat jauh sekali. Kita di Indonesia dan kekeluargaan dengan bahasa Melayu pengamhnya Malaysia banyak mengambil alih unsur- adalah akibat pertembungan kebudayaan seperti unsur kebudayaan yang berasal dari China, yang dinyatakan di atas dan juga pengarah penutur- India, Portugis, Belanda, Inggeris, Arab dan penutur dwibahasa yang secara tidak langsung lain-lain. Banyak dari unsur itu datang ke memperkenalkan kata-kata asing, sehingga dalam masyarakat kita sebagai barang-barang mendapat tempat setelah melalui perubahan untuk menyesuaikannya menurut suatu bentuk baru. Bloomfield (1967) mentakrifkannya sebagai pe- '~r.S. Gazalba, Nota Kuliah Ilmu Kebudayaan. minjaman secara kebudayaan (cultural borrowing) Universitas Nasional Jakarta, Indonesia 1974.

JULY, 1979 dagangan. Pelaut Melayu, suatu ketika dalam dalam pertumbuhan bahasa Melayu ada empat ciri prasejarah, sampai di Madagaskar membawa y ang jelas kelihatan, seperti: unsur-unsur kebudayaan. Pendita membuka sekolah dan rumahsakit di tengah-tengah 1. Proses ganti mengganti kata-kata menurut masyarakat bersahaja. Ulama dalam dakwah- perubahan masa. Misalnya: nya mengajar suatu suku bersahaja menutup a) Semasa pemerintah Belanda di Indonesia, aurat (berkpakaian) kebersihan, tulis-baca istilah "amtenar" (pegawai sivil) sering digunakan. dan lain-lain. Demikianlah pedagang, pelaut, Istilah ini mendapat ganti 'daripada perkataan pendita dan ulama itu melakukan difusi. "gawai" (ke rja, aktiviti, perkhidmatan) berasal Jenis difusi ini biasa disebut orang sebagai dari Johor yang berbunyi "pegawai". "penyusupan secara damai "(penetration b) Perkataan "belasting" (cukai) juga sering pacifique). Pedagang dan pelaut melakukan digunakan pada suatu masa dahulu yang kini di- penyusupan itu tanpa disengaja atau di- gantikan dengan istilah yang lama berasal dari sedari. Tetapi pendita dan ulama dengan Hindustan, iaitu "cukai". sengaja. Kedua-duanya bersuasanakan damai 2. Penerimaan kata-kata berdasarkan bentuklin- (Bloomfield, I96 7, h. 444). guistiknya yang mudah disebut. Kata-kata seperti "cukai" dan "pegawai" lebih mudah disebut Penyusupan secara paksa berlangsung dengan daripada kata-kata "belasting" dan "amtenar". berlakunya kolonalisma dan imperialisrna. Penjajah 3. Meluaskan erti menurut berbgai bidang Inggeris telah berkuasa di daerah Singapura, Malay- semantik dengan berlakunya perubahan linguistik sia dan Brunei dan kolonialisma Belanda pula seperti kata "pirnpin" (lead) yang dapat diluaskan bertapak di Indonesia. Dengan penyusupan ini pengertianya dengan penambahan tertentu untuk terjadilah difusi kebudayaan Barat hingga mem- menjadi "pemimpin" (leader) dan "kepemimpinan" beri kesan yang nyata pada wajah kebudayaan (leadership). penduduk-penduduk di rantau ini. Balatentera 4. Mengasimilasi dan mengadaptasikan bentuk- Dai Nippon juga berada di daerah ini selama tiga bentuk linguistik yang baru dalam perbendaharaan tahun setengah, telah mencuba untuk menyusup- kata bahasa Melayu (h. 14-15). kan pengaruhnya, tetapi masa pendudukan mereka yang singkat tidak membolehkan penyusupan secara ekstensif (meluas). Dari difusi ini berlakulah satu bentuk perubahan kebudayaan akibat dari "culture contact" yang berperahan dalam "cultural change" yang biasanya diistilahkan sebagai akulturasi. Kebudayaan Barat telah melalui proses akulturasi dan integrasinya dalam kata-kata beri- kut: bangku, baju, atom, gas, hotel, jenderal ekonomi, sosial, agen ,lampu dan lain-lain. Seperti dinyatakan, hasil pertembangan den- gan kebudayaan lain mengakibatkan proses pemin- jaman berlaku didalam berbagai bentuk. Masya- rakat penerima akan berhadapan dengan benda- benda, cara-cara dan konsep-konsep baru. Oleh kerana timbulnya keperluan untuk memperkenal- kan tentang yang baru itu proses peminjaman dalam berbagai bentuk dan cara berlaku: dalam bentuk perkataan, dalam bentuk rangkaikata, Nota Rujuk dalam bentuk simpulan bahasa dan juga bentuk- bentuk nahu. Unsur-unsur yang dipinjam itu ada Bloomfield, L Language. London: George Allen and yang mengalami perubahan dan ada yang tidak. Unwin, 1967. Perubahan-perubahan yang berlaku pula berbeza- Tham Seong Chee. Language and Cognition: An beza. Ada yang berubah dari segi sebutan sahaja Amlysk of the Thought and Culture of the Malaya Singapore: Chopmen Enterprises, 1977. dan ada pula yang berubah dari segi makna dan seterusnya berbagai perubahan yang lain. '~r. S. Gazalba, Nota Kuliah Ilmu Kebudayaan. Menurut Dr. Tham Seong Chee (1977)

SINGAPORE JOURNAL OF EDUCATION Mohd Taha Jamil lnstitut Pendidikan Singapura

'Ymejeri &lam Puisi-puisi Chairil An war"

Chairil Anwar, tidak syak lagi, adalah penyair Ke ja tetap tidak menarik perhatiannya dan Indonesia yang terkemuka. Melalui puisinya dia dia telah memilih hidup 'berkeliaran'. Beliau tetap telah menaikkan taraf Kesusasteraan Moden Indo- menjadi seorang non-conformist dalam penun- nesia ke peringkat universal. H.B. Jassin, peng- tutannya terhadap pembebasan dari sebarang rupa kritik Indonesia yang agung itu mengelarkan penindasan dan ketidakadilan aam masyarakat. Chairil Anwar sebagai 'Pelopor Angkatan '45'. H.B. Jassin mempunyai suatu kumpulan Chairil adalah pendorong utama dan juara yang terdiri daripada hampir kesemua sajak-sajak bagi Angkatan '45. Terdapat lebih banyak penu- hasil karya Charil Anwar di dalam bukunya yang lisan yang telah dibuat mengenai Chairil Anwar berjudul 'Chairil Anwar Pelopor Angkatan '45'. berbanding dengan pengarang-pengarang Indonesia Kumpulan sajak-sajak Chairil yang pertama yang lain. Hinga kini puisinya masih lagi menjadi ialah: 'Dent Campur Debu', yang kedua 'Kerikil tumpuan utama perdebatan-perdebatan yang Tajam dan Yang Terampas Dan Yang Putus : dan hangat. Tiga Menguak Takdir (kumpulan bersama). Kegagahannya sebagai seorang penyair me- Cuba kita lihat kesan-kesan irnejeri dalam nurut pandangan Prof. A. Teeuw terletak 'dengan puisi-puisi Chairil Anwar. Dia membandingkan tidak syak lagi pada satu penyatuan antara manu- dirinya dengan seekor binatang liar yang sedang sia dengan pujanga, satu identiti antara penulis bersendirian dalam sajak yang berjudul 'Aku'. dengan puisi.' Chairil Anwar dilahirkan di Medan, Suma- Aku tera pada 26 Julai 1922. Beliau berasal dari ketu- runan Minangkabau. Pada masa mudanya dia telah Kalau sampai waktuku disifatkan sebagai seorang muda yang bijak dan kumau tak seorang pun merayu sangat gemar dengan buku. Chairil dapat me- tidak juga kau nguasai bahasa Belanda, Inggeris dan juga Jerman. tak perlu sedu sedan itu! Beliau telah menghabiskan masa mudanya Aku ini binatang jalang 17/18 tahun di Medan. Chairil menuntut di seko- dari kurnpulannya terbuang lah Belanda bagi kanak-kanak bumiputra H.I.S. biar peluru rnenembus kulitku dan kelas-kelas tahun pertama dan kedua M.U.L.O. aku tetap meradang - rnenerjang iaitu Junior High School. luka dan bisa kubawa berlari Chairil berasal dari keluarga yang mewah berlari juga kerana di dapati hanya sedikit saja bilangan hingga hilang pedih dan perih orang-orang yang mampu menuntut di sekolah dan aku akan tidak peduli Belanda. Beliau terpaksa berhenti sekolah kerana aku mahu hidup seribu tahun lagi. ayahnya tidak mengirimkan wang. Masa per- sekolahannya itu digantikan pula dengan masa buatnya membaca buku-buku dari aneka jenis. Sajak ini melahirkan perasaan keseorangan Pembacaannya yang luas telah membawanya yang pahit, sakit dan pedih. Meskipun begitu kita ke satu dunia bahan-bahan pembacaan yang baru: dapati Chairil menunjukkan keghairahannya yang Timur dan Barat. Di Jakarta kenalannya meliputi tidak dapat diganti untuk terus hidup. Sajak ini sebilangan besar golongan individu dari semua seolah-olah menunjukkan bahawa maut akan peringkat masyarakat. Chairil pernah tidur di datang dekat kepadanya dan dia pula memekik 'aku bawah jembatan-jembatan di Jakarta be~.samabung mau hidup seribu tahun lagi'. beca dan kupu-kupu malam dan juga dengan ahli- Gambaran mengenai maut banyak terdapat ahli politik yang besar seperti Hatta dan Sjahrir. dalam sajak-sajak Chairil Anwar. Dengan secara

JULY, 1979 tidak langsung sajaknya yang pertama telah diberi apa hany a angin lalu? tajuk 'Nisan' dan sajak ini ditujukan kepada lagu lain pula neneknya yang, telah meninggal dunia. menggelepar tengah malam buta ah! segala Nisan segala Bukan kematian benar menusuk kalbu segala tak kukenal keredhaanmu menerima segala tiba selamat tinggal! tak ku tahu setinggi itu atas debu dan duka maha tuan bertakhta. Tetapi agama dan desakan untuk menemui Tuhan kadang-kala datang dalam beberapa ketika Seterusnya dalam sajak-sajaknya yang lain dalam hidup seseorang. Demikian juga halnya gambaran tentang maut, kesepian dan kekakuan dengan Chairil Anwar. Sedang dia bergelumang keadaan sekitar menirnbulkan suatu macam efek dengan segala macam kepayahan dan bemsaha ngeri keatas kita sebagai pembaca. Sila mjuk sajak- untuk bemndur diri, dia bermenung dan bertafakur, sajaknya yang berjudul 'Hampa' 'Kesabaran' dan 'Di Masjid': 'Kupu Malam dan Biniku'. Semasa ia muda Chairil Anwar merniliki Di Masjid kehausan yang melampau untuk memperolehi pengalaman. Padanya hidup adalah dahsyat tet~pi Ku seru saja dL dia mencengkaunya sebagai suatu tenaga hidup. sehingga datang juga Dengan nafas yang sama dia cuba menjahanamkan kami pun bermuka-muka dirinya dan dia memang sedar akan hal itu. Sila seterusnya ia bernyala-nyala dalam dada. mjuk sajak-sajaknya iaitu 'Kenangan' dan 'Per- hitungan'. Di dalam sajak 'Rumahku' kita akan dapati Imejeri tentang keagamaan dan ketulusan semacam perasaan takut dalam diri Chairil terhadap hati dapat dilihat dalam sajak 'Doa' di mana karya yang mungkin akan lenyap. Dia sedar akan Chairil rnemanggil Tuhan, mengaku akan kebesaran kenyataan bahawa pada suatu hari nanti dia tidak Tuhan dan akhir sekali dia menyerah seluruh akan mampu menulis lagi. dirinya kepangkuan penciptanya.

Rumahku Doa Rumahku dari unggun-timbun sajak Tuhanku kaca jernih dari luar segala nampak dalam termangu ku lari dari gedung ibarat malam aku masih menyebut namamu aku tersesat tak dapat jalan ...... biar susah sungguh mengingat kau penuh seluruh cahay amu panas suci Demikian juga halnya dengan sajak 'Kawanku tinggal kerdip lilin di kelam sunyi dan Aku'. Suatu macam perasaan ketegaran dan Tuhanku kekakuan bergetar dalam sajak-sajak tadi. Beginilah aku mengembara di negeri asing imejeri yang ngeri dalam sajak-sajak ciptaan Chairil Tuhanku Anwar mengungkapkan perasaan yang cuba di pintumu aku mengetuk bemndur dari dunia ini: aku tidak bisa berpaling.

Selamat Tinggal Tidak lengkap pembicaraan tentang imejeri Aku berkaca dalam puisi Chairil Anwar tanpa menyentuh sajak- bukan buat ke pesta nya yang paling unik iaitu 'Cintaku Jauh Di Pulau'. ini muka penuh luka Inilah satu-satu sajak yang representatif yang siapa puny a? identik dengan segala sesuatu mengenai Chairil, ku dengar seru-menderu hidupnya, cita-cita, cinta, kesenangan dan juga dalam hatiku kepayahan dalam dirinya.

SINGAPORE JOURNAL OF EDUCATION Demikian beberapa catitan irnejeri dalam sajak-sajak oleh Chairil Anwar. Dia pertama mula 'Cintaku Jauh Di Pulau' telah membandingkan dirinya dengan seekor binatang liar yang sedang bersendirian. Dia men- Cintaku jauh di pulau jalani hidup dengan begitu payah dan menempuh gadis manis, sekarang iseng sendiri kegetiran yang amat sangat sehingga segalanya di Perahu melancar, bulan memancar anggap menekan dan mencekik hidupnya. Ke- di leher kukalungkan oleh-oleh buat si pacar hidupan menjadi penuh kekakuan dan keras kejang. angin membantu, laut terang, tapi terasa Tidak berdaya lagi dia melaluinya dan bemsaha aku tidak 'kan sampai padanya bemndur dari kenyataan hidup dan kehidupan itu sendiri. Di air yang tenang, di angin mendayu Begitu simbolik sekali sajak pertamanya iaitu di perasaan penghabisan segala melaju 'Nisan' dan maut sering sahaja berligar dalam ajal bertahkta, sambil berkata: pengungkapan sajak-sajaknya. Sebelum ketibaan 'Tujukan perahu kepangkuanku saja'. maut, imejeri tentang sesuatu yang mengerikan Ambon! Jalan sudah bertahuil kutempuh! sering menjadi dasar sajak-sajak penyair agung ini. Perahu yang bersama 'kan merapuh! Juga kedapatan tentang ketakutan bahawa dia Mengapa ajal memanggil dulu tidak mampu menulis lagi dan dia akan kehilangan sebelum sempat berpeluk dengan cintaku?*! karya-karyanya. Akhirnya Chairil sebagai seorang Manisku jauh di pulau insan yang lemah menyerahkan dirinya kepada Tuhan dan merujuk kembali kepada agama. kalau 'ku mati, dia mati iseng sendiri. Permintaannya kepada Tuhan untuk hidup seribu tahun lagi tidak makbul. Sekian. Cj

JULY, 1979 Book Reviews

Eight Short Stories and Nine Short Stories

Ong Teong Hean Singapore: Pan-Pacific Book, 1978, 90 and 88 pages respectively. Ho Poh Fun Mount Vernon Secondary School

Ong Teong Hean's Eight Short Stones and Nine humour, satire, irony or symbolic meaning. How Short Stories provide the prose sequel to the two scenes stir up reader interest and how narrative volumes of verse he edited last year, The Eternal passages prepare readers for crucial moments in Echoes. As a matter of interest, the two volumes the story can also be studied. From Alkaid of verse were enthusiastically received last year, Ascending provides an excellent example of a despite some flaws in the editing. They cater to narrative passage which prepares readers for that new needs brought about by the recent focus on "willing suspension of disbelief' toward the close literature in English, and they offer to schools for of the story. In stories such as The Nose, The the first time in years, in the original and in Incident, The Emergency and The Park, readers translation, a smattering of world literature besides can observe how author/narrator intrusion helps the traditional fare. Amongst other things, students to clarify issues and guide reader response. encounter the pioneering efforts of local poets, The story likely to be most easily compre- and have the chance to read the works of two hended is Meng Yi's When I See Hui Lan Again. famous translators of oriental literature, Arthur The simple narrative style, setting and the senti- Waley and Ezra Pound. ments expressed in this translation from the As a sequel in prose to The Eternal Echoes, Chinese will appeal to the children of our local Eight Short Stones and Nine Short Stones feature immigrant population. The most difficult of the two stories from Singapore, two stories from the stories is likely to be Lee Kok Liang's Birthday. United States, and one story each from the follow- High in objectivity, and presented with a steely ing countries: Britain, Burma, China, France, hardness, the narrative, based more on implication Hong Kong, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, South than on direct exposition, although admirable by Africa, Thailand and West Africa. The works of adult standards, may be judged too sophisticated well known and lesser known writers are featured for the majority of students in the lower secondary - Alphonse Daudet, Anton Chekov, 0. Henry, school. Lu Hsun, Ryunosuke Akutagawa, Rabindranath Because of the diverse cultures represented Tagore, S.T. Hwang, Zawgyi, Lee Kok Liang, in the stories, a different cultural orientation may Chandran Nair, Chris Morgan, Shon So-Hee, be expected in the reading of each text. The Abioseh Nicol, James Matthews, Harold F. Duron, simple black and white illustrations, one for each K. Surangkhanang and Meng Yi. story in the anthology, provide a means of per- Of the seventeen short stories in the two- ception of the various cultural settings and the volume anthology, nine are third person narratives, poses and attire of the leading characters. Readers, and eight are first person narratives. The study of however, will be baffled when they chance to com- the conventional short story may best be begun by pare the illustration for The Ransom of Red Chief a reading of The Donkey Cart, with its points of with the reproduction on the cover: the illustrated rising and falling action fairly clear. For interesting characters seem to have lost their cheerfulness on studies of climax and anti-climax, the following the cover ! stories may prove useful: The Last Lesson, The Although not specifically labelled, a number Man from Kabul, The Ransom of' Red Chief, of exercises accompanying the texts provide for When I See Hui Lan Again, As the Night the Day, comprehension of plot, theme, point of view, The Bet and From Alkaid Ascending. character, setting and style. There are also exercises In many of the stories, readers may discover that cater for language use, the reader's personal the use of concrete description to accomplish response to the text, the discussion of social

74 SINGAPORE JOURNAL OF EDUCATION themes, and the promotion of creative writing. Example 1 These exercises make high demands on lower When death comes, it is almost a wel- secondary students from the average classes, but comed relief from the rigours of a poverty- they are likely to advance awareness for that thing stricken life. called "form", which a proper response to litera- ture entails. (Eight Short Stories, page 7) Non-standard instances of language use can be expected in Asian writing, but the translated Example 2 version of K. Surangkhanang's The Grandmother (derived from Asian Pen Anthology) contains In 1901, he founded a reformed school more than the usual store: sub-standard forms too at Bolpur, Bengal, which he made his life- exist. There is certainly ambiguity in the structure work. and meaning of the opening sentence from that (Eight Short Stories, page 70) story: In the above examples, faulty addition can be seen in the -ed ending of "welcomed" and Watched ever carefully, with kindling "reformed". In Example 3, the determiner for sticks placed one by one from the woman's "familiar tale" is non-standard; "the" would have side, she sat there and put them on top of been closer to standard English use: the old sticks which were almost burnt. Example 3 (Eight Short Stories, page 7) The unhappiness of the girl in the story In another sentence, "so" should precede "tired": reads like a familiar tale of a person who is the poor victim of cruel circumstances. Phew kept it up for a long time, scolding (Eight Short Stories, page 23) her children with the intention of directing spite at her mother, until she was tired that When language flaws appear on the printed page, she had to stop. the excuse is often that they are typographical (Eight Short stories, page 18) errors. In Example 4, are the omission of a deter- miner for "old peoples' home" and the wrongly- Forms of sub-standard English are acceptable in placed apostrophe in "peoples' " typographical dialogue if the intention is to capture strains of errors? native Thai speech. Their use becomes question- able, however, when even the language of the Example 4 omniscient narrator in narrative passages is affect- Do you think that old people should ed. Pertaining to language use, the translated be put in old peoples' home to be cared for version of the same story from the recently by nurses? published Asian and Pacific Short Stories adheres more to standard English than the version from (Eight Short Stories, page 22) Asian Pen Anthology. If Ong Teong Hean had selected the more recently published version in If typographical errors are the order, here place of the one he derived from Asian Pen An- are two more: thology, the semblance of authenticity would have been sacrificed for something more pretentious, Example 5 but the language in use would not mislead weak What does this comparison tells us students in the average schools, many of whom cannot distinguish a structural error when they about the boy's feelings? read one. (Nine Short Stories, page 57) Upon closer examination, some introductory passages to the texts and the exercises following Example 6 are found to contain language flaws. The wrong use of past participles for adjectives can be seen in He may take the role of one of the Examples 1 and 2: characters and, though using the third per-

JULY, 1979 Example 7 son, makes us see the deeds and situations through the eyes of this one particular The writer can be god-like, assuming character . . . . divine omniscience, and write his tale as though he knows all about his characters (Nine Short Stories, page 88) and able to represent their inmost thoughts and feelings . . . In Example 5, S should have been omitted in "tells"; in Example 6, the verb "makes" reflects (Nine Short Stories, page 88) an error in co-ordination. Example 7 cannot be dismissed as a typographical error, however, The insertion of words redundant in sentences "is" ought to precede "able" is amongst the other language flaws found in the anthology.

Verdict: The stories are fine, but mind the language !

Get That job: A )obHunter's Guide Mary Tay Wan Jee and Tan Kin Hiong Singapore: Eastern Universities Press, 1979.21 7 pages. David Lochmohr Prescott Institute of Education

The Introduction states that this book has been Guidelines contain much information; in fact all developed from a course - English for Job Situa- that could reasonably be expected in such a book tions - held at Nanyang University Language is included. For instance the General Guidelines Centre. The book has been developed from the in the third chapter are virtually a complete guide course materials with adaptations, extensions and to Job Interview presentation, etiquette, applica- revisions made in the light of teacher and student tion and assessment, and this is typical of the feedback and the authors' own experiences and coverage in all chapters. The Vocabulary explana- experiments. Much, therefore, is promised; it is tions are detailed and helpful, forthrightness and all too infrequent that an "educational" book is clarity are notable. The Grammatical Explanation developed out of the work of its authors incor- section is refreshingly handled and the material porating the views and opinions of those for whom included is confined to the language most likely it is intended. Get that Job will not disappoint to be used by the job applicant; explanations are on these counts. kept to a minimum and are generally uncompli- A systematic layout is adequately described cated. The Exercises are varied and should suggest in the Introduction together with a clear expla- many extension possibilities to the teacher or stu- nation of the way the book is intended to be used dent who likes to adapt material to individual given its organisational method. Suggestions are needs. provided for using the book in both self-study and This book then appears as a well conceived, classroom situations. The authors have sensibly well presented publication having the strengths of recommended ways in which parts of the book practicality, flexibility and relevance to the local may be used in isolation from the complete course scene besides providing an impressive amount of and the instructional methods they have found, information and advice. The authors are to be or have envisaged, to be useful and/or necessary. congratulated on their work; the book is warmly Importantly each chapter is similarly divided recommended. into four parts; General Guidelines, Vocabulary, Grammatical Explanation, Exercises. The General

76 SINGAPORE JOURNAL OF EDUCATION A Lively Look at Language

Gaudart, Hyacinth Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Hong Kong: Federal Publications, 1979. 154 pages. Desmond P. Peretra Insf~tuteof Educatron

That learning is consistent with pleasure has been to learn." This is far from heresy where the theory recognized for decades. Yet visits to classrooms in taught to teachers-in-training is concerned. But the Singapore and Malaysia may not reveal more than theory is more often honoured in the breach than a small proportion of classes where enjoyment is in the performance, because, I suspect, deep down an ingredient of the learning process. This should in the hearts of most teachers in this region is the not be understood to mean that most classrooms notion that learning must be accompanied by in this region are deadly dull. Fun and liveliness pain and effort, up to date research notwith- are the order of the day in most schools, either standing. with the teacher's co-operation or at the teacher's The rationale provided by the author for her expense, but such enjoyment is incidental. Few book is that teachers who are told to be innovative teachers attempt to use pleasure as motivation for are not given ideas about how to be innovative. learning. This is especially regrettable where Her book is meant mainly "to throw out ideas that language teaching is concerned. teachers could adapt to suit the needs of their Science teaching has its built-in motivation pupils as well as their own teaching styles." It says in the form of apparatus and interesting experi- much for the author's honesty that she admits that ments. Comparable to science are art and craft, her suggested approach is not a panacea for the home economics, music and physical education. lack of verve among some teachers of language. Geography too has its attractions - colourful "Very shy teachers who shun contact with their maps and pictures. However, in the case of mathe- pupils and those who prefer to maintain a wall be- matics, history and, above all, language teaching, tween their classes and themselves would be advised arousal of interest needs greater effort and ingenuity to be sceptical about the suggested methodology." on the part of the teacher. Some of her foundation ideas are innovative, Examination-centredness is sometimes though not revolutionary, as for example, her blamed for the uninspired language lessons one suggestions for the use of classroom space. Her often encounters in the classroom, but a look at ideas involve dramatization, games, the use of textbooks concerning the teaching of English materials and teaching aids, singing, verses and as a second language and as a foreign language will jingles and, most evident, the utmost exploitation show that most advocate teaching based on pattern of the school's resources and even resources out- drills, substitution tables and the like. Even those side the school. But nowhere is the use of expen- which prescribe the situational method go in for sive equipment recommended, the tape-recorder drills in which the situations are often artificially being the most sophisticated piece of apparatus and painfully contrived. Of course, there are prescribed. books on language games, but the very nomen- One suggestion which arouses my scepticism clature arouses suspicion. Games can only be lies in her system of group work. Groups are to be occasional supplements to "real" lessons, in other formed on the basis of ability. The reason given is words, pattern drills, substitution tables, etc. that, while good pupils are conducting their own In this state of affairs, the book under discussion, "the weaker pupils are also put under review comes as a breath of fresh air. It makes no pressure to come up with a report and will be apology for its aim to "eliminate boredom and forced into language activity." But I have my tedium from the classroom" and its premise is "if doubts whether weak pupils will "come up with a a pupil enjoys his lessons he is even more inclined report" without a leavening of brighter pupils or

JULY, 1979 77 without prompting by the teacher. is, Malay, Chinese and Indian pupils who speak The book also makes a claim that the their own languages at home, some activities methods employed inculcate not only language bearing local cultural features would have made skills but also social skills and attitudes such as the book more appealing to its target audience. co-operation, initiative, creativeness and leader- As it was written more specifically for ship qualities. However, I feel that these qualities Malaysian teachers, a Singapore teacher who uses may only be developed in the pupils by the suggest- it may be taken aback by a few of the place ed methods if they already possess them at a names, and the use of such terms as"'headmaster", certain level to begin with. For example, the "blackboard" and "manila cards" instead of the author advocates that a teacher conducting an oral equivalents in vogue in Singapore - principal, discussion should, after he has made his point, chalkboard and vanguard sheets. make himself as unobtrusive as possible, even Lastly, the methods advocated cannot help leaving the classroom for a few minutes. This but evoke a comparison with the P.P.P. (Primary would only be feasible if the pupils have already Pilot Project) practised in some Singapore schools had some training in responsibility. It must be the recently and lately discontinued. If the P.P.P. policy of the school as a whole. The language was abandoned because it produced pupils who, teacher can hardly succeed in this method if every though more articulate orally, were poor in other teacher favours an authoritarian class manage- written language, will not the adoption of the ment. Thus I find the author's approach idealistic, approach recommended in the book under review but not impractical if the conditions are favourable. lead to similar results? Just as the more desirable The book's main apparent weakness is an features of the P.P.P. .could have been retained absence of grading. It is mentioned that "most of without its counter-productive overall effects, the lessons are aimed at an average class." An the approach spelled out in the book may with average class of what level? The remedy for the profit be combined with more conventional me- teacher would be to do what the author suggests, thods. Like the P.P.P. methods in language teach- that is, to adapt each idea for his particular class ing this book is likely to improve- oral communi- level and level of ability of the pupils. cative skills and initiative rather than written The book was designed for use in schools in language and organization of facts. It is up to the this region. This is reflected in the personal and teacher who adopts it to use it judiciously. The place names mentioned. But many of the features weakness inherent in the methods is likely to be bear unmistakable signs of their western, speci- amply compensated by the benefits they would fically British, origins, even though they have been confer on a classroom situation which cries out adapted for local use. Since the book is aimed at for enlivening and variety. $ pupils learning English as a second language, that

SINGAPORE JOURNAL OF EDUCATION