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Excerpts of speech by Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Senior Minister of State for Education and Trade & Industry, at the seminar on “The Significance Of Speaking Skills For Language Development” last month at the National Institute of Education. Our bilingual policy has been and remains a key pillar of our education system, and of nation-building. It reflects our unique situation as a young, multiracial nation. By learning their mother tongues, our students gain not just linguistic skills but access to the deep rivers of culture and values that we inherit. By requiring students to study their mother tongues, we retain and strengthen our identity as an Asian society, as well as our special character not just as an Asian society but a multicultural society. We cannot tell exactly how our identity as Singaporeans will evolve, how our different cultures will interact and mesh with each other, and how they will respond to an increasingly globalised world. But we do know that Singapore will be richer for having tapped into its mother cultures, and kept them relevant in a cosmopolitan setting. Our mother tongues, and the intermingling of our mother cultures, will be a source of vibrancy, and give us distinctiveness. Our understanding continues to evolve on how students acquire languages. Two points are worth highlighting. The first is about providing a context that students find familiar or interesting. Research suggests that students learn more effectively and achieve facility in a language when their attention is focused on real-life situations. The second point is about the importance of learning through interaction. Communication - a primary objective of language learning - is intrinsically about people interacting with one another. In the language classroom, real interaction must involve the sharing of real information. The most successful language teachers are therefore those who are able to provide an environment, which engages students in lively interaction and exchange of information. Another area of experiment is in the use of English as a tool for effective learning of the mother tongue for certain groups of pupils, at the early stage - especially at Primary One. Some teachers have indeed being doing so for some years on an informal basis. The project is being monitored, but the feedback from teachers and students has been very encouraging. There has also been a fair airing of views on the merits of this “bilingual approach” to Chinese language or CL teaching. Some are concerned that the method will result in a “sub-standard” CL. But there is also broad support for the introduction of this teaching method for Chinese students from English-speaking homes, at the beginning stage of their learning of CL. This recent debate highlights the importance of certain basic principles that are inescapable in teaching and learning. First, there is no longer space for one-size-fits-all teaching methods. Teachers know that students differ in how they learn, depending on their backgrounds, experiences and inherent aptitudes. In language teaching, which method is most effective for a student will depend on his exposure to the language outside the school and especially at home. Further, we know from research on the brain that linguistic abilities are distinct from other intellectual abilities. Some students will be strong overall, but will have difficulty in learning languages naturally. We should try to find ways to help them acquire language competence. A second, equally important principle is that whatever we do in education, we should remain pragmatic, not doctrinaire, in our approach. We should, as the Chinese would say, “seek truth from facts”. Where the evidence shows that we are not achieving what we set out to gain, we change methods. Where the aims are no longer relevant to circumstances, we revise the aims. The “bilingual” approach is one experiment in teaching the mother tongue, applied to students from English-speaking homes that have little exposure to their mother tongue. We may well be unusual, even unique, in using another language to help in the learning of a mother tongue. But we are also virtually unique in having a substantial proportion of our children coming from homes where their mother tongue is rarely spoken. The “bilingual approach” is no substitute for the need for such parents and students to have a positive attitude towards the learning of the mother tongue. But where there is interest and a genuine desire to learn the language, we should find the most effective way to encourage students and minimise early hurdles. It is akin to learning to ride a bicycle with the pair of small wheels at the back, that is, the “trainer wheels” that help the novice cyclist balance on the bicycle. Once the learner is able to keep his balance, the trainer wheels are removed.
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教育部兼贸工部高级政务部长尚达曼上个月出席了国立教育学院举办的常年淡米尔文教学与学习讲座，以下是他致词的摘要。 双语政策一向是我们的教育制度和建国历程的一大支柱，也反映了新加坡是一个年轻、多元种族国家的特殊环境。 通过学习母语，学生不但掌握了语言技巧，也接触到各自的文化和价值观。 规定学生学习母语，让我们保留也加强了身为一个亚洲和多元种族社会的特性。 我们不能明确的知道新加坡人的认同感将如何逐步形成、不同的文化将如何交流和融合、及对日益环球化的世界作出反应。 但我们却知道，熟悉母语文化并确保它们跟得上国际环境发展的步伐，对新加坡有利无害。我们的母语和母语文化的交流，是我们的社会朝气蓬勃的源泉，也是我们的特点。 我们还在继续探讨学生到底如何学习语言。这里有两点值得注意。 第一是为学生提供熟悉和有趣的环境。研究结果显示，如果学生的注意力集中在活生生的现实环境，能使他们更有效地学习和掌握语言。 第二是通过交谈来学习的重要性。互相沟通——学习语言的基本目的——本质就在于人与人之间的交谈。 上语文课时，交换有实际用途的信息才是真正的交流。成功的语言教师都能够为学生提供适当的环境，让他们兴致勃勃地交谈和交换意见。 我们正在试验通过英文教导母语，对象是一些低年级学生，特别是小一学生。事实上，一些教师多年来已经在非正式的情况下采用这样的方法教学。 我们正密切注意试验计划的进展，教师和学生的反应令人感到鼓舞。 一些人已经对双语华文教学法的利弊提出意见，他们担心这会导致“低水平”的华文。不过，也有很多人支持为来自讲英语家庭的学生，在一开始学习华语的时候，推行双语华文教学法。 对这个课题的辩论，让我们注意到教学和学习的一些基本原则。 第一、“一视同仁”的教学方法已经落伍了。教师知道学生们因为背景、经验、和天资不同，学习的方式也不同。 在教导语言时，方法是否有效取决于该学生在校外，特别是家里，有没有机会使用所学习的语言。 从对大脑的研究，我们也知道学习语言的能力有别于学习其他知识的能力。一些整体学习能力强的学生，在学习语言时却往往举步艰难。我们应该探讨帮助他们掌握语言的方法。 第二、教育应该讲求实际而不是空谈理论，就像中国人所说的“实事求是”。如果证据显示我们无法达到所要的成果，就应该改弦易辙。如果目标和环境不符，就应该修订目标。 试验性的双语母语教学法，对象是来自讲英语家庭，很少机会接触母语的学生。 利用另一种语言来协助教导母语，可能是不寻常甚至独特的作法。但是，我们面对的情形也是独特的——大部分学生在家里鲜少使用母语。 双语母语教学法并不意味着这些家长和学生，对学习母语不必再抱有正确的态度。然而，如果学生确实有学习的欲望，我们就应该探讨最有效的方法，鼓励他们和减少学习初期的障碍。 这就好像利用脚踏车后轮旁的两个小轮子来学习骑脚踏车一样，一旦学习者能够保持平衡，就能把小轮子拆除。 叶琦保（译）
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