Migration and language education : towards a typology of complementary schools

Abstract

Singapore‟s educational policy constitutes an example of affirmative language planning as it offers semi-official support to non-mainstream languages (Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Punjabi, and Urdu). Delivered through a unique model of state-community partnership, the affirmative measures have escaped scholarly attention since their introduction in the early 1990s. Addressing the gap, this paper offers an assessment of the efficacy of this model for the transmission and maintenance of community languages. The paper suggests that language-in-education judgments of mobile individuals represent calculated linguistic investments in anticipation of socio-economic returns rather than identitarian attachments. This paper, therefore, cautions that mainstreaming community languages may be more of a romantic than practical goal for education policies in increasingly globalized societies.