English language education and educational policy in Singapore

Abstract

Abstract This chapter provides an overview of English language education and policy in Singapore in relation to a world Englishes perspective, considering policy, practices, and ideologies. It takes a critical view of Kachru’s model as applied to Singapore English(es), noting the complexities of internal variation among Singapore’s English users, and how Singapore has moved from the Outer to the Inner Circle and thus demands a more nuanced framework. Analysis takes a discourse-analytic approach, anchored in Ruiz’s conceptualization of language orientations and applied to Singapore’s secondary English language syllabus. It considers how these orientations frame the narrative of policy, are operationalized into learning targets, and inform teacher practice. To understand further the position of English and Englishes in Singapore, the chapter draws on the Douglas Fir Group’s framework for second language acquisition (SLA), considering the mutually interactive forces of the macro (ideological), meso- (sociocultural/institutional) and micro-levels (human social interaction) involved in language-learning contexts.