Conflicting language ideologies & contradictory language practices in Singapore

Curdt-Christiansen, X. L. (2016). Conflicting language ideologies and contradictory language practices in Singaporean multilingual families. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 37(7), 694-709. doi: org/10.1080/01434632.2015.1127926

Background

The author highlighted recent research that has investigated how government policies, public discourse, immigrant experiences, language learning experiences and parents’ beliefs impact family language policy (FLP).

Aims

This study examined through the lens of FLP the characteristics of linguistic practices in Singaporean families, and the different linguistic and non- linguistic situations that influenced such practices. It explored how language ideologies could impact parental decisions on which language to practise in their homes.

Sample

The sample comprised young children between 5 and 8 years old from three families: a trilingual Chinese family, and a Malay and an Indian bilingual family.

Method

Three sets of data were used to capture FLP including:

a family language audit (a form completed by all family members to capture the amount of different language input received and the types of language practised by the children on a daily basis);
two interviews with parents; and
participant observation with recorded negotiation of FLP in face-to-face social interactions during home visits.

Findings

The results showed that in all three cases, the language environments were lopsided, with English taking predominance in the children’s lives and all children using their respective mother tongues in their everyday activities minimally. English was spoken not only at school, but also for all kinds of activities although mixed with their respective mother tongues. The lopsided model of interaction was unable to provide sufficient language learning environments for nurturing active bilinguals. The data also suggested that parents/caregivers had different perceptions and ideologies towards the languages, even within the same family. In a focus group interview with the adults in the trilingual Chinese family, English, Mandarin and Hokkien were positioned hierarchically as English was understood as very important. This phenomenon had caused conflictual attitudes in many families – the parents would like to preserve their own culture and language on the one hand, but the children had to be adept in English on the other because of educational and economic pressures.

Implications

The author emphasized that in the context of Singapore, it was necessary to question the dichotomised view of English as possessing instrumental values and of the mother tongues as having cultural functions because, when reflected in educational opportunity and social mobility, such a view would inevitably result in the reluctance to use mother tongues.

Original article retrieved from EBSCOHost.