Comparative study of government rationales, models and outcomes of the bilingual education policy in the Philippines and Singapore

• Main Author: Rajesvari Somaligam
• Other Authors: Gopinathan
• Format: Theses and Dissertations
• Published: 2008
• Subjects: DRNTU::Social sciences::Education::Language and education
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/13851
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Bilingual education in Africa and Asia is a post-war phenomenon. Decolonialisation, modernisation and massive migration have resulted in governments having to cope with multiethnic and multilingual issues. Some countries have adopted a ' language of wider communication' i.e. English while others have adopted an indigenous language i.e. Swahili. Multiethnic countries like the Philippines and Singapore have adopted a bilingual education policy. Although this is a linguistic policy, the bilingual education policy has political potential as a tool for managing issues pertaining to ethnicity and language as well as to achieve other desired outcomes in their respective societies via schooling. This dissertation focuses on three variables: governments' rationales, models and outcomes of the bilingual education policy. It also analyses if the rationales for the policy have been realised and to what extent, as well as to sift out the outcomes of this policy in the two societies, be it positive or negative. It is not the intention of this dissertation to present isolated descriptions of language situations in the two countries but to add to our understanding of language planning and language policy in an Asian context.