Mother Tongue
Perception of Mother Tongue in Singapore (and why it can be limiting)
Longform
May 30, 2019
Perception of Mother Tongue in Singapore (and why it can be limiting)
The Mother Tongue has always occupied an awkward position in Singaporean society. A simple search on the official Ministry of Education’s (MOE) website leads to an expectedly idealistic dictum: “The learning of Mother Tongue Language (MTL) is a lifelong endeavour. The MTL policy seeks to nurture our students to become effective communicators in MTL and supports our students to study MTL to as high a level as possible.” At the same time, however, with different races in Singapore, the English language asserts its dominance as a common ground to facilitate communication. Easily observable on a societal level, English — as…