Part of
English in Southeast Asia: Features, policy and language in useEdited by Ee-Ling Low and Azirah Hashim
[Varieties of English Around the World G42] 2012
► pp. 137–154
Edited by Ee-Ling Low and Azirah Hashim
[Varieties of English Around the World G42] 2012
► pp. 137–154
Chapter 8. The development of English in Singapore
Language policy and planning in nation building
Drawing on seminal works in the literature (e.g. Foley et al. 1998; Gupta 1994; Platt & Weber 1980), this chapter presents a historical account of the sociolinguistic landscape of Singapore from the time of post-British colonial rule to the present day. It examines how English use in Singapore has undergone rapid change because of the speed at which Singapore has developed as a nation (Lim & Foley 2004), and the way in which globalization has accentuated the duality of roles of English, as a local bridge language and as a “cash language”. Such development is examined against the background of national language policies enforced through the education system to serve Singapore’s political agenda and economic interest, but which marginalizes the cultural role of English as a local language.
Cited by
Cited by 10 other publications
Alsagoff, Lubna
2015. Creative Enactments of Language Teacher Education Policy: A Singapore Case Study. In International Perspectives on English Language Teacher Education, ► pp. 125 ff. 
Deuber, Dagmar, Jakob R. E. Leimgruber & Andrea Sand
2018. Singaporean internet chit chat compared to informal spoken language*. Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages 33:1 ► pp. 48 ff.
Leong, Patrick Ng Chin
2016. Singapore’s English-Knowing Bilingual Policy: A Critical Evaluation. In English Language Education Policy in Asia [Language Policy, 11], ► pp. 265 ff.
Low, Ee Ling
2014. Singapore’s English Language Policy and Language Teacher Education: A Foundation for Its Educational Success. In Educational Policy Innovations [Education Innovation Series, ], ► pp. 85 ff.
Low, Ee-Ling
2017. English-Knowing Bilingualism, Lee’s “Most Difficult Policy”. In Lee Kuan Yew’s Educational Legacy, ► pp. 69 ff.
Poon, Angelia
2020. Postcolonial and cosmopolitan connections: teaching Anglophone Singapore literature for nation and world. Asia Pacific Journal of Education 40:1 ► pp. 74 ff.
SATO, YOSUKE
2014. Argument ellipsis in Colloquial Singapore English and the Anti-Agreement Hypothesis. Journal of Linguistics 50:2 ► pp. 365 ff.
Shegar, Chitra & Saravaran Gopinathan
2015. Sustaining and maintaining a minority language. In Education in Languages of Lesser Power [IMPACT: Studies in Language and Society, 35], ► pp. 153 ff.
Silver, Rita Elaine & Wendy D. Bokhorst-Heng
2016. Overarching Themes, Bilingual Dreams and Multilingual Landscapes: Quadrilingual Education in Singapore. In Quadrilingual Education in Singapore [Education Innovation Series, ], ► pp. 3 ff.
Şeyma, Yeşil & Balçikanli Cem
2022. An Overview of the Structure of English Language
Teaching Programs in the Netherlands, Austria,
Denmark, Singapore, Norway, and Turkey:
The Countries Ranking Among the
Top Five in EF Proficiency Index. i-manager’s Journal on English Language Teaching 12:4 ► pp. 1 ff.
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 11 april 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.