The spread of English across the world have resulted in overtaking or replacing of other languages. In order to maintain the usage of these languages, many efforts were implemented. This was evident in Singapore where the overemphasis on English has led to children frequently using English at home thus decreasing the usage of their Mother Tongue languages (MT), such as Mandarin, Malay and Tamil (Bolton & Ng, 2014). Hence, Ministry of Education (MOE) implemented a MT approach, also known as Bilingual Education Policy (MOE, 1991 as cited by Shah & Yusof, 2006). In other countries, dual immersion programs were implemented. This essay will analyze the benefits of Singapore’s MT approach by making comparison with a successful dual immersion program
…show more content…
The dual immersion program in LTES, on the other hand, aimed to develop competency in interaction and academic in Spanish and English (London Towne Elementary School, 2016). Subjects taught in the first half of the day were conducted in Spanish, whereas the remaining subjects were taught in English. Enrolling into such program was voluntary (Alanis & Rodriguez, …show more content…
Dixon (2005) highlighted that the MT approach in Singapore not only made MT as an examinable subject but also, as a criterion for tertiary education. In LTES dual immersion program, English and Spanish were used equally as languages of instruction instead. This approach was implemented based on prior research indicating that students learned more efficiently when the languages were not mixed in the classroom (Legarreta, 1981; Torres-Guzman, 2002 as cited by Quintanar-Sarellana, 2004). A study done by Li et. al (2016) also highlighted that the allocated time to speak specific language resulted in students using 99% of the language used in class to their teachers. In this manner, students obtained a large vocabulary list for both languages which was essential for interactions among them. Although the dual immersion program expanded students’ vocabulary for both languages, it would not be beneficial in Singapore from a practical point of view. This was largely due to English being the main language of communication in the country. English is used in many formal domains such as school, government and hospital. Hence, medical terms in MT, for example, would not be used in hospitals as English remained as the medium of language. Thus, there were limited domains for MT to be used in Singapore. In fact, MT was only used when interacting with friends and families. Although having a
The dual immersion program in LTES, on the other hand, aimed to develop competency in interaction and academic in Spanish and English (London Towne Elementary School, 2016). Subjects taught in the first half of the day were conducted in Spanish, whereas the remaining subjects were taught in English. Enrolling into such program was voluntary (Alanis & Rodriguez, …show more content…
Dixon (2005) highlighted that the MT approach in Singapore not only made MT as an examinable subject but also, as a criterion for tertiary education. In LTES dual immersion program, English and Spanish were used equally as languages of instruction instead. This approach was implemented based on prior research indicating that students learned more efficiently when the languages were not mixed in the classroom (Legarreta, 1981; Torres-Guzman, 2002 as cited by Quintanar-Sarellana, 2004). A study done by Li et. al (2016) also highlighted that the allocated time to speak specific language resulted in students using 99% of the language used in class to their teachers. In this manner, students obtained a large vocabulary list for both languages which was essential for interactions among them. Although the dual immersion program expanded students’ vocabulary for both languages, it would not be beneficial in Singapore from a practical point of view. This was largely due to English being the main language of communication in the country. English is used in many formal domains such as school, government and hospital. Hence, medical terms in MT, for example, would not be used in hospitals as English remained as the medium of language. Thus, there were limited domains for MT to be used in Singapore. In fact, MT was only used when interacting with friends and families. Although having a