How multilingual are Singaporeans really? A study of linguistic repertoires in Singapore's Institute of Technical Education.

该项目是Siemund等人(提交)之前开展的一个项目的后续研究，该项目收集了300名新加坡大学和理工学院学生的语言和社会学信息。这项研究是第一次采用社会语言学方法的更大规模的调查：语言学文献中对新加坡的大多数描述都与结构特征有关，而相对较少的人试图揭示这个城市国家多种语言之间的互动。此外，这项研究还考察了说话者对新加坡各种语言的态度，以及对当地政府的各种语言政策的态度。本项目旨在通过将调查对象扩大到大学和理工科学生之外，包括工业教育学院(ITE)的学生来提高这项研究的有效性。通过这样做，有人认为，将动员更具代表性的人口横截面，以进一步了解这个城市国家的语言动态。大多数新加坡中学生(84%)继续接受某种形式的高等教育：Leimgruber(2013：21-22)报告称，26%的学生选择大专(大学前)，35%的学生选择理工学院，23%的学生选择技术教育学院的职业培训。当然，这一选择取决于在中学毕业考试中的表现，即O级考试。采用相当成熟的方法，将教育程度与社会经济地位等同起来(参见：Pakir 1991；Chew 1995)，用第三部分(职业培训)补充Siemund等人研究的二元(大学-理工学院)设置，将产生更全面的新加坡社会语言图景。ITE学生之间的具体差异包括更多的语言特征，更多的语言技能，以及更平衡的种族样本，反过来导致更多的马来语和印度语。虽然对语言和政策的普遍态度预计不会与大学和理工科学生的态度有很大不同，但预计非官方语言在信息技术教育样本中享有更大的活力。

This project is a follow-up study of a previous project carried out by Siemund et al (submitted), which gathered linguistic and sociological information from 300 Singaporean university and polytechnic students. The study was the first larger-scale survey to take a sociolinguistic approach: most descriptions of Singapore in the linguistics literature are concerned with structural features, whereas comparatively few seek to shed light on the interaction between the many languages in the city-state. In addition, the study included an examination of speaker attitudes towards the varieties spoken in Singapore, as well as towards the various government language policies in place.The present project seeks to enhance the validity of this study by extending the informant base beyond university and polytechnic students, to include students of the Institute of Technical Education (ITE). By doing so, it is argued that a more representative cross-section of the population would be mobilized to further inform our understanding of the language dynamics in the city-state. Most (84%) Singaporean secondary school students carry on with some sort of post-secondary education: Leimgruber (2013: 21-22) reports that 26% choose a junior college (pre-university), 35% go to a polytechnic, and 23% opt for vocational training at the Institute of Technical Education. This choice is, of course, subject to performance in the secondary school leaving examinations, the O Level examination. Taking the rather established methodological route of equating educational attainment with socioeconomic status (see e.g. Pakir 1991; Chew 1995), complementing the binary (university-polytechnic) setup of Siemund et al's study with a third (vocational training) component will produce a more comprehensive picture of the sociolinguistic landscape of Singapore.Specific differences expected among ITE students include a larger array of language profiles, with a more multilingual repertoire, as well as a more balanced ethnic sample, resulting in turn in more Malay and Indian languages. While general attitudes towards languages and policies are not expected to differ greatly from those gathered among university and polytechnic students, it is expected that non-official languages enjoy greater vitality in the ITE sample.