A Study of Attitudes of Dialect Speakers Towards the Speak Mandarin Campaign in Singapore

Dr. Patrick Ng is currently a Professor of Applied Linguistics and TESOL at the International Studies and Regional Department, University of Niigata Prefecture. His current research focuses on Language Planning Policy, Bilingualism, Multilingualism, Chinese Language Studies, English as a Lingua Franca, World Englishes, Language Identity, Intercultural Communication, Teacher Education, Teacher Agency, Teacher Identity, English-Medium Instruction, Narrative Inquiry, Native-Speakerism, Language Death and Maintenance, Language Revitalization, Mother Tongue Education and the Speak Mandarin Campaign. Dr. Ng is also the Book Reviews Editor of Current Issues in Language Planning, an international refereed journal that provides major thematic review studies on Polities & Language Planning. In addition to being a book editor, a panel speaker, workshop presenter, conference moderator and Ph.D. dissertation examiner, he is also an invited manuscript reviewer for leading journals and book series, including SAGE Open, Intercultural Communication Studies Journal, International Journal of Bilingual Studies and Bilingualism, and the Springer Language Policy Series. He is also a member of the Research Professional Council and TESOL International, and a founding member of the English as Lingua Franca research SIG at JACET (the Japan Association of College English Teachers).

This book makes an original contribution to the fields of sociolinguistics, language planning policy and Chinese language studies. It examines the effectiveness of the Singapore's Speak Mandarin Campaign in changing the language use of dialect speakers towards Mandarin.Singapore may be only "a small red dot" and barely visible on the world's map. However, its complex and dynamic linguistic diversity and its quadrilingual educational system make it a unique and fascinating research site for examining deliberate language planning on the part of governmental authorities. 2017 marks the 38th anniversary of the Speak Mandarin Campaign, a focused language-planning policy aimed at changing the deeply entrenched sociolinguistic habits of Chinese Singaporeans who are used to speaking Chinese dialects.  This book provides a revealing update on dialect speakers' attitudes towards the campaign by including discussions and other related issues such as the recent call for the revitalisation of Chinese dialects by younger dialect speakers, Chinese students' attitude towards learning Mandarin in schools, the encroachment of English in the home environment, the spread and dominance of English in the local linguistic landscape, and the challenges of maintaining Mandarin as a language of use and preference.

Helps readers understand the specific context in which the Speak Mandarin Campaign has been implemented and the attitudes of dialect speakers towards the campaign

Chapter 1 Introduction.- Chapter 2 Review of literature on Planning for Language.- Chapter 3 Singapore: The contextual background.- Chapter 4 Review of literature on the Speak Mandarin Campaign (SMC).- Chapter 5 Quantitative analysis: Reported language use and attitudes.- Chapter 6 Qualitative analysis: Views towards the Speak Mandarin Campaign.- Chapter 7 Conclusion.