Mother Tongue

Mother Tongue Language Policy

1. The Ministry of Education’s Mother Tongue Language (MTL) policy requires all students who are Singaporeans or Singapore Permanent Residents to study their respective official MTL: Chinese, Malay and Tamil.

2. Students will offer their respective MTLs at the GCE ‘O’, ‘A’ and IBDP examinations. Please note that local publicly funded universities require minimum grades for MTL to be eligible for admission.

MTL at Anglo-Chinese School (Independent)

3. ACS (Independent) offers the following MTL / Language Acquisition subjects:

For Years 1 – 4

• CHINESE, HIGHER CHINESE, CHINESE B* (Chinese B is only conducted in school for Year 4 and otherwise conducted outside of school and in designated MOE centres)

• MALAY, HIGHER MALAY, MALAY B*

• TAMIL, HIGHER TAMIL, LITERATURE IN TAMIL*, TAMIL B*

*Conducted outside school in designated MOE centres

Please refer to http://www.moe.gov.sg/education/syllabuses/mother-tongue-languages/ ↗ (opens in new tab) for subject syllabuses.

For Years 5 – 6

Under MOE’s Bilingual Policy,

• Higher MT students who obtained at least a D7 for GCE ‘O’ Level Higher MT need not pursue MT language at ‘A’ level.

• MT students must continue to study GCE ‘A’ Level H1 MT and take the exams at JC1 or JC2.

• MT Syllabus B students must continue to study GCE ‘A’ Level MT Syllabus B and take the exam at JC1or JC2.

IBDP students must take 3 Higher Level subjects and 3 Standard Level subjects. They must select 1 subject each from Groups 1 to 5. In selecting a subject from Group 2: Language Acquisition, the student may choose:

Chinese B, Malay B, Tamil B, Hindi B at Standard Level

OR

Spanish ab initio*

 * To offer Language ab initio, students must have obtained a D7 grade or better for the GCE ‘O’ Level Higher MT exam. Otherwise they will be required to sit for the GCE ‘A’ Level H1 MT exam.

 Entry Criteria for Group 2: Language Acquisition subjects

1. Students who obtained at least a D7 for GCE ‘O’ Level Higher MT

• Allowed to study any Group 2: Language Acquisition subject (i.e., Language B or Language ab initio).

2. Students who did not meet the criteria of at least D7 for GCE ‘O’ Level Higher MT

• Allowed to study Group 2 Language B (Mother Tongue Languages).

• If students wish to offer Group 2 Language ab Initio subject, they must study on their own and sit for the GCE ‘A’ Level H1 MT subject ((i.e. CL/ML/TL including Non-Tamil Indian Language and MT which are Foreign Language/Asian Language) in Year 5 or Year 6 in order to fulfill the admission criteria to local universities.

3. Students who studied MT Syllabus B at the Secondary School

• Allowed to study any Group 2 subject with consultation from the MT Dean.

• If students wish to offer Group 2 Language ab Initio they must study on their own and sit for the GCE ‘A’ Level MT Syllabus B exam in Year 5 or Year 6 to fulfil the admission criteria to local universities.

4. Students who are exempted from the official MT languages

• Allowed to study any Group 2 subject.

5. PRC scholars and international students whose 1st language is Chinese.

• Not allowed to study Chinese B but to study Language ab initio.

Updated as of  May 2021