New English in the Education System-Focusing on Singaporean English

The English language has attained the unprecedented status of being an
international language. As it has become more widespread, the problem of
norms has emerged in the "outer circle" of English-speaking countries, where
English has a range of internal functions. English is no longer an extension of
American or British culture but an instrument for the expressions of culturespecific
meanings. There are two points of view on the issue as to whether or
not new varieties should be recognized formally in the education system.
Prator (1968) and Quirk (1982) took the position that only the native British
or American standard was safe to be recognized as an adequate model for
teaChing purposes. On the other hand, there are arguments in favor of the local
standard being a teaching model, such as those put forward by Kachru (1982),
Platt (1982), Platt et al. (1984), and Strevens (1980). Key issues in the above
arguments were intelligibility and identity. This study deals with the issue of
recognition of New English in the education system with respect to one of the
varieties of New English-Singaporean English. Further discussion will then
be made in the light of findings with respect to teaching English as an
international language in Japan.