There will now be greater emphasis on real-life usage and interaction skills in mother tongue languages.Studying mother languages will not be the same again for students entering Primary 1 next year.
On Tuesday, the Ministry of Education (MOE) announced sweeping changes to be made to the mother tongue language curriculum. These include greater emphasis on real-life usage and interaction skills, both oral and written.
By the time the students sit for their Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) in 2017, one-fifth of the mother tongue exam component will be tested on these skills.
The change is part of an overhaul of the Ministry’s approach to mother tongue teaching. Instead of focusing on examinations, MOE aims to teach students to use their mother tongue — Mandarin, Malay and Tamil — in real-life situations, enabling them to communicate with others and to connect with their cultural heritage.
It is also in the process of developing “proficiency descriptors” which measures the oral and written language skills that a child should possess by, say, Primary 6 and Secondary 4.
Teaching methods, classroom tests and national examinations will all have to be aligned to achieve these new proficiency standards.
The Straits Times quoted Education Minister Ng Eng Hen as saying that the proposed changes were simple, but profound at the same time.
“If you want to keep the language, and you want students to learn the language effectively, you have to teach them to use it and it must go beyond just being a subject that is examined,” he said.
“It’s simple because it’s intuitive, but profound because it means changes to the way we teach, the way we test. It’s also profound because homes will have to support that kind of environment, and the community will have to support that kind of environment.”
Dr Ng also called on the respective communities to play their part by collaborating with schools to boost mother tongue learning. MOE will set aside $45 million over the next five years for them to work with schools.
However, the minister stressed that standards of mother tongue learning would not be lowered, and that the difficulty levels in examinations would be maintained.
In addition, the MOE will hire 500 mother tongue teachers by 2015. Most of these would be posted to primary schools to boost mother tongue teaching, he said.
The latest proposals — led by director-general of education Ho Peng — stem from the findings of the mother tongue language language review committee formed a year ago.
By studying the experiences of Australia, China, India, Malaysia and the United States, the committee came to the conclusion that learning is most effective when students learn in an “active and interactive” manner using real-life settings.
The review was prompted by demographic changes which show a trend that English language is becoming the dominant language in homes.
The committee also recommended that computer-aided writing be allowed in some secondary school exams, but not in primary schools, where script writing will still be taught. The objective is to ensure that all students are able to learn their mother tongue language at a high level as they can.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong underlined the same point in his response to the committee’s report.
“We must help every student to attain as high a proficiency in MTL as he or she is capable of with reasonable effort.
“We need special programmes to stretch those talented in languages, and nurture a bi-literate cadre adept at traversing languages and cultures. We must also support those who have difficulties learning languages, to encourage them to persevere and acquire the basics of their MTL.”
PM Lee added, “For the majority, we want them to become proficient enough to communicate effectively… to understand and appreciate their cultural heritage, and to develop a love for the language.”
After reading this article, I strongly agree with this new revamp in mother tongue teaching. Although English is our first language, but we should also know our own mother tongue well. As a Chinese, Malay or Indian, if we can't even speak our own language well, it will be very embarrassing.
ReplyDeleteThe environment is the key to how we can master a language. If we speak mother tongue more often at home, our mother tongue will improve eventually. Therefore, I strongly agree that greater emphasis on real-life usage and interaction skills in mother tongue languages will improve the standards of the mother tongue in Singapore.
Lastly, I feel that we need to love the language in order to improve the language. If we do not like or enjoy learning our own mother tongue, we will not be interested in learning or finding out more about the language. Thus, students need to love the language in order to master the language.
About this article, i would agree on what the government is doing, however only to a small extent. Yes, i would agree that we would certainly use our mother tongue language, but it would only be towards our friends, family or those using similar language.
ReplyDeleteBy improvising more usage of our language to real-life situation, it is quite useful as we might have to use our language if handling with people who speaks the same language. For example myself, my Chinese is not that good to begin with, however if it improve, it may be easier for me to communicate using Chinese not only to friends and family, but also to people from China.
However i feel that unless we are working overseas when we grow up, working in Singapore mean communication will mainly be in English as it is the language used between different races.
So to conclude, government should try to improve on our languages, but not focusing so much on it and instead should try to balance out the usage of English and our own language.
Rebecca Sim
ReplyDeleteAfter reading the article, I feel that the new scheme might be better way of learning as I think that language are to be spoken regularly on real life basis in order to improve in it.
I feel that it is important to improve on the mother tongue as currently, many Singaporeans are communicating in English and have neglected their own mother tongue. I feel that it will be a disgrace to their own forefathers. Take for instant, there is an advertisement on speak mandarin campaign, it is Eurasian girl who is able to speak fluent mandarin. Which is what most of the new generation might not be able to do.
Therefore I find that, changing the way of mother tongue might be better as we give primary school children more interest as it is real-life basis and encourage them to speak more confidently as there are more exposed to it.
In my opinion,(MOE) have made a right move by taking a major revamp in mother tongue teaching. Mother Tongue Language are very important as they makes up big part of our cultural heritage. We should be proud of our own language because if not, then who would? This is especially for the students nowadays. I have come across many that are not fluent and some that could not even speak in their own languages.
ReplyDeleteTherefore the steps taken here will ensure that students consistently learn their MT language. The greater emphasis on real life usage and interaction skills will definitely improve their language proficiency. For example, they do not only learn the words and all that, but also learn to use them at the right place and right time. Practice also makes perfect. Their written and communication skills in those languages will improve if they use it more often,not just in the classroom.
However, this does not necessarily mean a success. Students need to first appreciate and love their language or they will not learn it wholeheartedly. This is similar to forcing them doing something they do not want. Thus I feel that MOE should also think of more ways to develop student’s interest in the languages.
I think that Ministry of Education (MOE) has made a good choice in having a greater emphasis on real-life usage and interaction skills in Mother Tongues Language (MTL) as it is a concern when people are not communicating in their MTL, but instead English. As many families are English speaking, these changes might help children to learn more about their own mother tongue and its language.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I feel that although emphasizing in the scheme is good, it is unnecessary to be too focused on and spend $45 million on this scheme. This is because although MTLis important, English is still the language for many people to communicate among races. For example, if I communicate in Chinese, Malay or Tamil, I can only communicate which those of the same race as me or only someone who knows the language. Therefore, I can only communicate with them in English. Besides, if I am travelling overseas, I believe that English will be a much effective language for communication because for many countries they know how to speak basic language. I cannot deny that MTL can help in communication. However, I believe that English will help in communication better.
I feel that if the government wants to increase the use of communicating in MTL, it first has to start with school because the school is also a place for learning. However, it may be difficult because many working parents communicate in English because they have to communicate in English during their working hours. I think the government needs to balance both English and the MTL. For example, students can communicate in their MTL in school and English at home or vice versa. This is because English is also a very important language globally.
MTL is essential for one's cultural heritage.But at the same time,we cannot overlook the increasing use of English globally.So I think it may be realistic to set reasonable language standards for pupils of different abilities for both MTL and English.Then they would be motivated to learn the languages at a level and a pace comfortable for them.This could probably enable them to be competent communicators.
ReplyDelete