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Applied Linguistics Advance Access originally published online on December 12, 2007
Applied Linguistics 2008 29(3):381-403; doi:10.1093/applin/amm050
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© Oxford University Press 2007

Language Policy, Language Teachers' Beliefs, and Classroom Practices

Thomas S. C. Farrell1 and Serena Tan Kiat Kun2

1Brock University and 2Jurong Primary School


  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.
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