Cducatoofl.A Bi-Annualreview of Education July 1979 Vol
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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).