Singapore Tamil Youth Conference 2018 Toolkit Toolkit 2018 Final | Page 10

Attitudes towards spoken language –
what roles do different stakeholders play?
Schools
Academic discussions during Tamil
Lessons are conducted overwhelmingly in
English
For instance, mind maps drawn by students to
plan for essays are being done in English. This
signifies how students generally tend to think
in English and write in Tamil which is
perceived to be a problem by many Tamil
teachers.
Inferiority complex surrounding the
language
Students speak Tamil in class and that is only
because it is required of them to do so.
However, they lack the motivation and
hesitate to converse in Tamil outside
classroom settings.
• Fear of being outcast if they speak the
language and being labelled as ‘too Tamil’.
It plays on the stereotype that being too
involved with Tamil culture would
demean one’s stature in social settings.
• A language that cannot be used in most
social situations and is stigmatised to a
certain extent would therefore lead to it
not being learned, spoken and henceforth
passed down to future generations →
Leading to a possible erosion of Tamil
culture in the future (Templin et al., 2016).
Subtractive Bilingualism
• This gives students the impression
that their mother tongue is not an
equally important mode of
communication as English.
• Most students hence view Mother
Tongue as just another subject to
pass. “Bilingual education does not
appear to offer children enough protection
from language shift” - Wong Fillmore
(1991).
• The government’s vision to establish
bilingualism, where English functions
as the working language and mother
tongues are spoken widely within the
various ethnic groups has not
materialised (Kadakara, 2011).
Students
Students generally perceive themselves as
being distanced from Tamil in two very
important ways: association and ability.
• Due to the reputation that the general
society associates with Tamil,
students do not want to associate
themselves with the language or
language usage.
•
Subtractive bilingualism is defined as the
situation where a person learns the second
language to the detriment of the first language,
especially if the first language is a minority
language (Lambert, 1984)
There is a need to foster greater
understanding over the perception
that students hold about speaking the
language.
On the other hand, while students
have the desire to use the language,
they lack the confidence and “ability”
to do so as they believe that only if
they excel in it academically, will they
be accepted into the Tamil
community
All subjects other than mother tongue are
taught in English and limited time is devoted
to teaching mother tongue every week.
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