Looking Ahead: New Technology, New Society, and Chinese Language Education in Singapore

The Chinese language education in Singapore has undergone numerous changes and drastic transformations since the 19th century. In the past decades, there has been a growing concerning with the issue of declining Chinese language proficiency among local Chinese students. This roundtable discussion shifts away from extant emphasis on how to re-energize Chinese language education for Singaporean students in anglophone setting, and instead adopts an anticipative perspective to explore how Chinese language education should respond to the new trends in technology, particularly artificial intelligence, and to the new social realities that the new immigrants are becoming the major group of local Chinese language speakers, in order to nurture a new generation that can lead Singapore into the future.

The discussion will bring together representatives from the Ministry of Education, universities, research institutions, and the Chinese media, with the aim of engaging wider societal discussions and raising awareness on these pressing issues.

To attend in-person: https://sccc-lectureseries-4mar2023.peatix.com

Complimentary lunch will be provided.

Speaker(s) biography:

Morning Session: 10am–12pm

Heng Boey Hong (Ministry of Education)
Foo Suan Fong (Singapore Centre for Chinese Language)
Pang Choon How (Society of Chinese Education Singapore)
Tan Chee Lay (National Institute of Education)
Kang Ger-Wen (Ngee Ann Polytechnic)

Afternoon Session: 2pm-4pm

Lee Wee Heong (Singapore University of Social Sciences)
Ong Chang Woei (National University of Singapore)
Qu Jingyi (Nanyang Technological University)
Wee Wai Lin (Mediacorp)
Lee Huay Leng (SPH Media)

Moderator:

Professor Ong Chang Woei
Head, Department of Chinese Studies
National University of Singapore