Is it time for Singaporean educators to embrace Singlish as a legitimate learning tool?

What the Research Study Is About

The article argues for a reevaluation of Singapore’s language-in-education policies  that involves integrating Singlish into classrooms, emphasizing its role in national identity and its potential to enhance English language learning.

Key Findings

The Changing Linguistic Landscape

• • • Singapore’s original language policy was based on “functional polarization” – English for practical/economic purposes and mother tongues for cultural identity.
    • This ideology has become outdated as English, particularly Singlish, has emerged as the key marker of Singaporean national identity.
    • Singlish is now an integral part of Singapore society and serves important identity functions.

Rethinking Classroom Approaches

• • • Teachers already use Singlish strategically for explaining difficult concepts, building rapport, and as a springboard to Standard English.
    • A linguistic feature-based contrastive analysis approach is recommended to leverage on the positive transfer of Singlish to Standard English rather than treating Singlish and Standard Singapore English as completely separate codes or Singlish as simply “bad English”.

Practical Classroom Implementation

• • • Teachers should raise students’ awareness of specific linguistic features (phonological, syntactical, lexical) that differentiate Singlish from Standard Singapore English.
    • Highlighting shared features between varieties can boost learner confidence.
    • Recognize and value what learners bring with them to the classroom as the affective factor is a significant motivator in language learning.
    • Special emphasis should be given to teaching features that are similar but used differently in each variety.
    • Possessing multiple codes should be encouraged , with the multiple codes seen as complementary of each other instead of a threat.
    • The goal is to expand students’ linguistic repertoires, not eliminate Singlish.

This research summary was generated by Coral AI and has been reviewed by the authors.