Speeches
Speech By Mr S Iswaran, Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Trade and Industry and Ministry of Education, at the Opening Ceremony of the Inaugural APEC-RELC International Seminar held on Monday, 19 April 2010 at 9.00 am at SEAMEO Regional Language Centre
Excellencies
Mrs Tay Sor Har, Director, RELC
Ladies and Gentlemen
It is my pleasure to officiate at the opening of the inaugural APEC-RELC International Seminar. I gather from Director RELC that since its inception in 1968, RELC has held forty-four language seminars, each attracting about 500 or more participants from the Southeast Asian region and beyond. This year marks the beginning of a new phase in the development of the RELC International Seminar as it is the first ever jointly organised by APEC and RELC. This partnership gives further impetus to the centre’s efforts to internationalise its work and widen its impact in the region.
The theme of today’s seminar is Language Education: An Essential for a Global Economy. We live in extraordinary times, amidst immense changes to societies and economies which have propelled countries into uncharted waters. Technology has redefined communication and removed barriers; multi-lateral trade agreements have reshaped and revitalised parameters for business and commerce; the transfer of knowledge and skills has rejuvenated the socio-cultural climates of countries around the world and the opening up of air routes engenders new possibilities for growth and exchange. In the light of these exponential changes, it is timely for us to consider how the world communicates and the relationship between language, learning and the global economy.
A Global Language for a Globalised World
The convergence of cultures, societies and economies created by the forces of globalisation in recent years has meant that we have to grapple with a constantly-evolving body of knowledge. More than that, the globalisation of systems and cultures also gives rise to an inevitable convergence of values and attitudes – and the currency with which people address this. As the links between people across the world grow, there is an increasing need for us to learn not just to communicate in multilingual and multicultural situations, but also to comprehend and to co-operate effectively. English has become the global language that enables us to do this.
In 1997, in the wake of the British Empire’s handover of Hong Kong to China, the Toronto Globe and Mail reported that the “language of the sceptred isle is rapidly becoming the first global lingua franca”. Historically, this dominance of English has come as a surprise. The first regional lingua franca appeared in Europe during the Renaissance as a mixed language composed mostly of Italian with influences of Turkish, French, Spanish, Greek and Arabic. Yet its use as the language of commerce and diplomacy was restricted to the eastern Mediterranean region. It was the French Language that dominated Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries. However, the growth of the British Empire and the rise of the United States of America heralded the ascendancy of English. By the end of the First World War, this was assured and English had become the language of diplomacy, international business, science, technology and aviation. Today, English is one of the six official languages of the United Nations, one of the three working languages of the European Commission, and the language of all the world’s major scientific journals. English has also become the most popular foreign language in modern China with the Chinese regarding English as a means of access to scientific and technological advances in countries where English is a major language.
As the first global lingua franca, English now belongs to the world. Even in the United Kingdom, the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) Report in 2009 stated that the type of English tested in schools should be closely aligned to the needs of the economy. A working knowledge of English as a global language has become an indispensable skill for the competitiveness and effectiveness of any society.
English in Singapore
The importance of English has been recognised in Singapore from our earliest days of independence. Singapore adopted English as our first language in 1965, establishing English as the language of business, of government and as the language of instruction in all government mainstream schools. English is also the medium for communication and negotiations with our neighbouring countries. The ability to write and speak English well has always been an essential skill which we have striven to cultivate in our young. And there has been a concomitant change in the language habits of Singaporeans. In 1982, one in ten Chinese Singaporean students came from English-speaking families; today, that figure stands at six in ten. Similar trends are prevalent within our Malay and Indian communities.
It is incumbent upon us, as thought leaders, as professionals and as educators, to ensure our young are fully prepared to navigate the fast-flowing and occasionally turbulent waters of the 21st Century. In the regard, ensuring good English standards is vital. Our young must fully appreciate that proficiency in English is a prerequisite for entry into the global economy. They can participate fully in the global economy only if they have the essential competency in English so as to be understood in the international context. If they are to thrive and succeed in this economy, they must be more than competent – our young must be expressive and persuasive speakers of English.
Preparing our young for these challenges of the future is a cornerstone of our educational initiatives. Let me share with you some of the key initiatives which MOE has launched in the past five years to raise English proficiency levels among our students.
MOE Initiatives
In 2006, MOE undertook a major review of the English Language Curriculum. The recommendations of this review have formed the core of our enhancement of the English Language curriculum in schools over the last five years. To ensure that a strong foundation is built in the early years, Strategies for English Language Learning and Reading, best known as the STELLAR programme, was piloted in 30 primary schools in 2006. Since then, STELLAR has been progressively phased in across all primary schools and, this year, it has been implemented nationwide at the lower primary level.
STELLAR aims to strengthen language learning through the use of engaging and age-appropriate teaching strategies and instructional materials. It employs a careful blend of both structured, direct teaching and student-centred, collaborative activities, including role play, dramatisation and language games. In the middle and upper primary years, a wide range of text types will be introduced to children as they progress through the levels. Evaluation studies have shown improved learning outcomes for children studying this new curriculum.
Our Primary schools can also gain additional support by engaging Language Facilitators. Language Facilitators complement the teaching and learning of the English language by conducting before- or after-school enrichment lessons, in areas such as oral presentation, drama or story-telling. This scheme has already yielded positive outcomes at Kheng Cheng Primary School. With greater opportunities to listen to, and read with, good role models, weaker students are learning to speak and read English more effectively. After 18 weeks of implementation, most students have shown an improvement in their reading ages.
At the secondary level, curriculum and pedagogy for English has been enriched with the introduction of the new EL Curriculum. This new curriculum, which will be implemented progressively from 2010, places an emphasis on the development of oracy, explicit and contextualised teaching of grammar, and an assessment for learning culture.
Whole School Approach
There is also a need to go beyond the curriculum. We must strengthen a commitment to English which embraces all aspects of school life through developing an English Language environment which motivates and provides ample opportunities for all members of staff and students to further enhance and enrich their English. This environment must encourage and support all individuals, whatever their current level of proficiency, and make language development a rich and rewarding experience. This “whole-school approach” to English has been implemented in 40 schools this year and will be phased in to all schools by 2014. It is a school-driven initiative with each school developing programmes that meet its unique needs and culture. Already, we are seeing promising “green shoots” emerge in the form of new ideas and initiatives from participating schools. Though it is early days yet for the Whole School Approach, I am confident that the momentum will continue to grow over the next few years, and that schools will develop a plethora of ideas and approaches which they can share to give support and impetus to each other.
The success of all these programmes and initiatives depends on a concerted and coordinated effort by all teachers who serve as role models for our students and are key enablers of their language learning. To support our teachers, MOE will set up the English Language Institute of Singapore, or ELIS, by 2011. ELIS will provide in-service training for both English language and English medium teachers, and offer a range of differentiated courses that cater to their specific learning needs. ELIS will also play a key role in pooling English language expertise and resources from partner agencies and make use of new technology and training approaches, blending traditional face-to-face instruction with web-based self-learning modules.
ELIS, with its focus on Singapore teachers, should complement RELC in its role as the educational project of the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organisation (SEAMEO). Since 1968, RELC’s track record in setting high goals in service of language education among the countries of Southeast Asia is well known and highly respected throughout the region. As the regional language centre, RELC has provided valuable leadership in the development of expertise and excellence in the field of language education as well as promoted cooperation and networking among the language professionals in the region and beyond. In that spirit, RELC will continue to play a valuable role in the development of English in Singapore.
Leveraging Technology to Enhance Language Learning
All our Language institutions understand the need to remain current and at the cutting edge of advances in Language education. The integral role that the Internet plays in society has transformed the way we teach and learn. Communities which hitherto have had no access to computers for learning are now discovering new ways to get connected – thanks to the capabilities of today’s mobile devices. Apple’s iTunes store offers a dazzling array of educational applications for the now-ubiquitous iPhone, catering to students looking to define a word, pre-school toddlers learning to count, and even medical students searching for the treatment of a rare disease.
With the exponential growth of sites like YouTube, EDU, TED, and Academic Earth, millions of people today are also able to access lectures by some of the world’s top experts — for free. Known as open educational resources — or OER— the movement is radically changing the language learning landscape. We now have access to a wealth of content from institutions such as Stanford, Yale, MIT, and Oxford, as well as Museum of Modern Art and the New York Public Library.
On the home front, MOE has followed closely in the steps of these trailblazers in harnessing technology for education. Our third Masterplan for ICT in Education (or mp3) which takes us to 2014, charts a vision to enrich and transform the learning environments of our students and equip them with the critical competencies and dispositions to succeed in a knowledge economy. One of the broad strategies of mp3 is to strengthen the integration of ICT into curriculum, pedagogy and assessment so as to enhance learning and develop 21st century competencies in our students.
In English Language learning, we are deliberately placing importance on nurturing the oral proficiency of our students. We have made good progress in English Proficiency over the years, especially in reading literacy. The next step forward is to enhance the oral communication skills of students in English, to prepare them to take on the demands of the global economy. In this respect, we are trialling an Oracy Portal in schools this year, with the view of launching it in all schools by 2012. This Oracy Portal is a suite of applications which enables students to practice their oral skills. Using a speech engine, the programme will provide instant feedback on the student’s performance. One of the applications involves the students practicing language in a virtual world environment, to hone their interaction skills. Another lets the students participate in multi-player role-playing games - an innovative and engaging way to practise oral skills.
With the rise of the New Media and the spread of digital and Internet communication, educators the world over now have access to innovative methods for language learning and teaching. The skilful and timely use of technology empowers and engages the language learner and the rapid hybridisation of technologies can add immense value to our language education process.
Conclusion
This seminar and its deliberations will provide much food for thought. I am sure the discussions will result in a rich array of new materials and the sharing of ideas. In so doing, the participants will be in a better position to make the right choices in terms of technologies and teaching methods and approaches, in order that our efforts in language education can fully meet the challenges of the global economy.
It now gives me great pleasure to declare the Inaugural APEC-RELC International Seminar open. I wish all of you a fruitful seminar.
Thank you.