Singapore embraces an English-based bilingual education system. Students are taught subject-matter curriculum with English as the medium of instruction, while the official mother tongue of each student - Mandarin Chinese for Chinese, Malay for Malays and Tamil for South Indians – is taught as a second language.2005 L. Quentin Dixon. ISB4: Proceedings of the 4th International Symposium on Bilingualism, ed. James Cohen, Kara T. McAlister, Kellie Rolstad, and Jeff MacSwan, 625-635. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press. Additionally, Higher Mother Tongue (HMT) is offered as an additional and optional examinable subject to those with the interest and ability to handle the higher standards demanded by HMT. The content taught to students in HMT is of a higher level of difficulty and is more in-depth so as to help students achieve a higher proficiency in their respective mother tongues. The choice to take up HMT is offered to students in the Primary and Secondary level. Thereafter, in junior colleges, students who took HMT at the secondary level have the choice to opt out of mother tongue classes entirely. Campaigns by the government to encourage the use of official languages instead of home languages (e.g. other Chinese varieties) have been largely successful, although English seems to be becoming the dominant language in most homes.Wee, L. (2011). Language policy mistakes in Singapore: Governance, expertise and the deliberation of language ideologies. 'International Journal of Applied Linguistics' 21(2). Pp 203–221 To date, many campaigns and programmes have been launched to promote the learning and use of mother tongue languages in Singapore. High ability students may take a third language if they choose to do so.

The language education in Singapore has been a controversial topic in Singapore - although Singaporeans are becoming increasingly English-dominant speakers, many have not achieved a good grasp of their mother tongue. This results a separate controversy regarding the assigned weightage of mother tongue in major examinations such as the PSLE and GCE Ordinary Level as parents worry that children who are taught English as a first language and who are brought up in English-speaking families are at a disadvantage for not knowing their mother tongue well."", Mother tongue weightage in PSLE could be cut, 23 April 2010.

Background Singapore is a racially and linguistically diverse city-state, with four official languages: English, Mandarin Chinese, Malay and Tamil. During British colonial rule (1819-1942),Barr, M.D. & Skrbiš, Z. (2008). Constructing Singapore : elitism, ethnicity and the nation-building project. Pp. 22-23. Copenhagen, Denmark: Nordic Institute of Asian Studies Press a variety of school systems were in place and most schools taught exclusively in one of the above four languages. After World War II, schools were gradually brought under government control and the government recognised that a lingua franca was needed to facilitate communication among the different racial and dialect groups. Malay was briefly considered for this role, in anticipation of the merger with Malaysia. However, English was eventually selected as the common language. Due to the status of English as a world language and the desire for Singaporeans to retain their cultures, the government encourages Singaporeans to be fluent in both English and their mother tongue."Bilingual Education", National Library Board, 12 November 2009. Archived from the original on 16 February 2013. In this context, the mother tongue of a Singaporean refers to the official language assigned to their racial group (Mandarin for Chinese, Malay for Malays and Tamil for most Indians), regardless of the language spoken at home.Gupta, A. F. (1994), The step-tongue: children's English in Singapore. Languages in Education in Singapore, pp. 143–189.

The bilingual education policy was officially introduced in 1966 and in its early stages, English could be taught as either the first language or the second language. However, schools teaching English as a second language saw a rapid decline in enrolment and many closed down or switched to teaching English as the first language. This resulted in the mother tongue being taught only as an academic subject. Thus all other lessons and activities conducted beyond the classroom are conducted in English, with the exception of moral education and mother tongue; this is unlike the typical bilingual education models where academic content is taught in two languages.Cai Haoxiang, "Going back to the basics of effective English-language teaching", The Straits Times, 9 November 2009.Dixon, L. Q. (2005). The Bilingual Education Policy in Singapore: Implications for Second Language Acquisition. In Proceedings of the 4th International Symposium on Bilingualism. James Cohen, Kara T. McAlister, Kellie Rolstad and Jeff MacSwan (eds.) Pp. 625–635. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press This applies throughout primary school (six years), secondary school (four or five years) and junior college (two years, 20% of cohort) education. However, Special Assistance Plan (SAP) schools, where some activities are conducted in Mandarin, private schools such as madrasahs, international schools and special education schools are exceptions to the system. In tertiary institutions, such as universities, polytechnics and the Institute of Technical Education (ITE), languages are no longer academic subjects almost all content is taught in English, with the exception of some courses on Chinese Studies.

In 2011, the Lee Kuan Yew Fund for Bilingualism was set up to aid the Ministry of Education (MOE) in their efforts to promote the teaching and learning of the English language and the mother tongue languages.The Lee Kuan Yew Fund for Bilingualism Bilingualism.sg.

English The Ministry of Education places heavy emphasis on English, believing that "mastery of English is vital to Singapore's pupils" because English is "the language of administration, education, commerce, science, technology, and global communication".English Language Syllabus 2001 For Primary and Secondary Schools (PDF), Ministry of Education. English skills are assessed through written examinations, oral examinations and listening comprehension. Written examinations include composition writing and comprehension passages, while in oral examinations, students are asked to verbally read passages and describe pictures. The primary school syllabus aims to develop speaking and listening skills, as well as to nurture students into independent readers who can express their ideas in writing. In secondary school, students are expected to speak and write in grammatically correct English tailored to purpose, audience and context. Junior college students are assumed to be fluent in English. Hence, at this level English as an academic subject is replaced by General Paper, where students formulate analysis and arguments about current issues.

English language teaching originally focused on grammar (primary school students were taught over a hundred sentence structures) and oral skills (there were frequent speech drills). A syllabus review in 1981 removed many enrichment activities to enable more students to develop functional literacy in English. Ten years later, another syllabus review replaced grammar teaching with compulsory fiction reading. However, the increasing prevalence of Singlish sparked concerns about declining English standards, leading to a renewed focus on "systematic and explicit instruction of grammar" in subsequent syllabus reviews. In 2010, the Ministry of Education engaged language facilitators to conduct enrichment lessons (such as storytelling and drama) in primary schools and announced plans to set up an English Language Institute of Singapore (ELIS) to provide training for English teachers."Strengthening Language Skills ", Ministry of Education, 10 March 2010.

English Language support for dyslexic students

To support dyslexic students who are struggling with foundational aspects of English (e.g. basic literacy), the MOE has implemented the Learning Support Programme (LSP) and School-based Dyslexia Programme (SDR) in all of its public schools. Eligibility for the LSP is extended to students at the Primary 1 and 2 levels, while those at Primary 3 and 4 can opt in for the SDR.

Changes in PSLE English Syllabus

From 2025, there are some changes made to the PSLE English paper. The key changes include: +ComponentChange in WeightageSectionChange in Requirements and/or FormatPaper 1 (Writing)Reduced from 27.5% to 25%Situational WritingTotal mark reduced from 15 marks (6 marks for Task Fulfilment, 9 marks for Language) to 14 marks (6 marks for Task Fulfilment, 8 marks for Language. 1 bullet point will require students to offer their own ideas. Continuous WritingTotal mark reduced from 40 marks (20 marks each for Content and Language) to 36 marks (18 marks each for Content and Language).Paper 2 (Language Use and Comprehension)Reduced from 47.5% to 45%Visual TextTotal mark and number of questions reduced from 8 to 5. Students will be given 2 texts instead of 1.

1 question will require students to make comparisons between the 2 texts. EditingTotal mark and number of questions reduced from 12 to 10. Paper 4 (Oral)Increased from 15% to 20%Reading AloudTotal mark increased from 10 marks to 20 marks. A preamble stating the purpose, audience and context will be provided.Stimulus-based Conversation (SBC)Total mark increased from 20 marks to 25 marks. A real-life photograph instead of a poster or drawing will be used as the stimulus.

Only 3 main prompts will be asked.

Mother Tongue

Although English is the language of instruction in Singapore schools, Mother Tongue is a compulsory subject at the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE), Singapore-Cambridge GCE Ordinary Level ('O' Level) and Singapore-Cambridge GCE Advanced Level ('A' Level). Students with strong aptitude for their mother tongue could take up Higher Mother Tongue (together with standard Mother Tongue) at the PSLE and 'O' Levels. If they pass 'O' Level Higher Mother Tongue, they need not study Mother Tongue in junior college, but can choose to take Mother Tongue Literature.

In secondary school, interested students may study a third language, such as Mandarin (for non-Chinese); Malay or Indonesian (for non-Malays); Arabic, Japanese, French, and German (the last three are restricted to the top 10% of the PSLE cohort)."Language Programmes", Ministry of Education.

In 1972, both languages were given double weighting at PSLE. However, since 1980, both languages, along with mathematics and science, have been given equal weighting of 25%. High dropout rates sparked the 1979 introduction of a streaming system, whereby the academically weakest students were transferred to the Monolingual stream and prepared for vocational education.Barr, M.D. & Skrbis, Z. (2008). Constructing Singapore – Elitism, Ethnicity and Nation Building, Denmark: NIAS Press. This was replaced in 1992 by EM1 (for top students), EM2 (for average students) and EM3 (for the weakest students) at the primary level, followed by Special, Express, Normal Academic and Normal Technical at the secondary level. Policymakers assumed a correlation between intelligence and language learning, to the extent that the only difference between EM1 and EM2 was that the former offered Higher Mother Tongue (likewise for Special and Express). In 2004, the Ministry of Education started replacing the streaming system (first merging EM1 and EM2) with the current system of ability banding for each subject."Refinements To Primary School Streaming ", Ministry of Education, 18 March 2004.

Mother Tongue Exceptions