Book notice: Language Policy, Language Teachers' Beliefs, and Classroom Practices

[Harold Schiffman]

Applied Linguistics Advance Access published online on December 12, 2007
Applied Linguistics, doi:10.1093/applin/amm050


Language Policy, Language Teachers' Beliefs, and Classroom Practices
Thomas S. C. Farrell and Serena Tan Kiat Kun

   Abstract


The widespread use of a local variety of English, Singapore Colloquial
English, or Singlish, has become somewhat of a controversial issue in
Singapore especially in the eyes of the Singapore government. For
example, in 2002 the Singapore government launched The 'Speak Good
English Movement' (SGEM) with the objective of promoting the use of
Standard English among Singaporeans. Furthermore, Singapore's
newspapers have recently suggested that the responsibility for halting
the deterioration (perceived or real) of the standards of English
rests with Singapore's English language teachers. The case study
presented in this paper offers one lens from which to view a
policy-to-practice connection by outlining the impact of language
policy on the beliefs and classroom practices of three primary school
teachers concerning the use of Singlish in their classrooms. The
results confirm those of previous studies that teachers' reactions to
language policy is not a straightforward process and as such it is
important to understand the role teachers play in the enactment of
language policy.

Received for publication 29 June 2007.

http://applij.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/amm050v1
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