Mother Tongue Languages

1. What is the minimum Mother Tongue Language (MTL) requirement for further studies?

To fulfil the MTL requirement to be eligible for admission into a Junior College or Millennia Institute, students are required to obtain a minimum grade of :

• D7 for MTL;

• E8 for Higher MTL;

• or a Pass for MTL ‘B’ syllabus at the GCE O Level examination.

For admission into a local publicly-funded undergraduate programme, students are required to obtain a minimum grade of D7 for Higher MTL at GCE O Level examination, or S grade for H1 MTL/ H2 MTL Language and Literature, or a Pass for MTL ‘B’ syllabus at the GCE A Level examination.

2. How can MTL be used in the computation of aggregate score?

• For MTL at O Level, MTL can be used as one of his Relevant or Best subjects in L1R5/L1R4/ELR2B2/ELB4 computation. MTL'B' cannot be used for his aggregate computation.

• For HMTL at O Level, HMTL can be used as his L1 for L1R5/L1R5 computation.

• For MTL at N(A) Level and N(T) Level, MTL can be used as his ELR2B2/EMB3 computation.

3. How else can MTL help my son/ward in his post-secondary educational pathways?

• As stated above, MTL can be used for his aggregate computation for admission to tertiary institutions.

• For students with A1 to C6 in HMTL and EL at O Level, they can get 2 bonus points in the computation of their aggregate.

• For students who have applied for the respective Language Elective Programme in JC (CLEP/MLEP/TLEP) and have been selected for the programme will also get an additional 2 bonus points in the computation of their aggregate. Visit this website for more details.

4. When will my son/ward take his MTL National Examination?

4.1 For students taking their official MTL at O Level：

• Students will sit for the Mid-Year O Level MTL examination in Secondary 4/5.

• The written papers usually take place in the first week of the June Holidays.

• The Oral and Listening Comprehension examinations usually take place after school in July.

• Students will receive their O Level MTL results in Mid-August (after National Day). They have the option of re-sitting for the End-of-Year O Level MTL together with the other subjects.

• For students who received D7-F9 for O Level MTL and Ungraded for O Level MTLB, they will be required to retake the O Level MTL / MTLB (Year-end) paper.

• For students who received E8 or F9 for O level MTL, they can choose to retake O Level MTL or take O Level MTLB at the end of the year.

4.2 For students taking their official MTL at N(A)/N(T) Level:

• The Oral examination will usually take place in August.

• The Listening Comprehension examination and written papers usually take place in September.

4.3 For students taking Third Languages or MTL-in-Lieu, please refer to the SEAB website for more details as the national examination timing varies for different languages.

4.4 For students taking HMTL at O Level, please look under Higher Mother Tongue tab for more details.

5. Should my son/ward re-sit his O Level MTL examination at the end of the year?

• The school strongly encourages students to re-sit for their O Level MTL examination at the end of the year if they did not obtain a distinction (A1/A2) for their Mid-Year O Level MTL examination.

• For students who did not pass Mid-Year O Level MTL or MTLB examination (i.e D7, E8 or F9 for MTL, and UG for MTLB), they would be required to retake the Year-End O Level MTL / MTLB examination.

• For students who obtain an E8 or below for Mid-Year O Level MTL examination, we would advise them to take MTL'B' at the end of year O Level examination. This is to ensure that they meet the minimum MTL requirement for admission to JC/MI.

Some considerations when deciding whether to re-sit for the end-of-year MTL examination:

• Grade for Paper 3 (Oral and Listening Comprehension): The grade for Paper 3 (Distinction/Merit/Pass) will be reflected in the Mid-Year MTL examination result slips. As there is only one sitting for the Oral and Listening examination, the same grade for paper 3 will count towards the end-of-year O Level examination grade.

• Results of other subjects: Your son/ward needs to review the results of his other subjects, and think through which are the subjects he will want to include in his aggregate computation for admission to tertiary institutions.

• Subjects for his L1R5/L1R4/ELR2B2/ELB4 computation: He will need a minimum of 6 subjects for L1R5 computation for admission to a JC and a minimum of 5 subjects for L1R4 (admission to MI), ELR2B2 (admission to Polytechnics), and ELB4 (admission to ITE Higher NITEC).

1. Can my son/ward apply to take Mother Tongue Language Syllabus 'B' (MTL'B')?

MOE’s educational goal remains to support and enable every student to learn Mother Tongue Language (MTL) at as high a level as he is able to. Students are strongly encouraged to continue to take their respective MTL at standard level throughout the 4 or 5 years in ACS(BR).

MTL'B' is usually offered upon the following special considerations on a case-by-case basis:

• 【For new PSLE AL system】Students who scored AL 7 or 8 in standard MTL OR AL B or C in Foundation MTL

Previous criteria:

• Students who scored a D or below in their standard Mother Tongue Language at PSLE

• Students who took Foundation Mother Tongue Language at PSLE

• Students who failed MTL and were identified in Secondary 3 to consolidate their subjects, or

• Students who obtained E8 or below in Secondary 4/5 Mid-Year O Level examination, or failed MTL at N-Level examination (ungraded)

2. What are the implications of taking Mother Tongue Language Syllabus ‘B’ (MTL'B')?

• The MTL'B' subject is not a GCE O Level subject, and the grade will not be included in the computation of a candidate’s GCE O Level aggregate score (e.g. L1R5). Therefore, students taking MTL'B' subject will have 1 fewer subject that can be used in the computation of aggregate score.

(Note: For O Level students, they need to take at least 6 subjects for computation of L1R5. During the selection for Secondary 3 subject combination, we strongly encourage students to have at least 7 subjects for computation of L1R5.)

• Students need to obtain a pass in the MTL'B' subject to fulfill the minimum MTL subject requirement for admission to Junior College or Millennia Institute.

• The grade awarded for MTL'B' subject will be indicated as Merit, Pass or Ungraded on the student’s result slip and certificate.

3. If my son/ward takes MTL'B', when will he be taking his MTL'B' lessons?

• For students taking CL'B', they will be taking having lessons during MTL curriculum time, in a separate class.

• For students taking ML'B' and TL'B', they will be receiving differentiated instructions in their respective regular MTL classes.

4. What is the examination format for MTL 'B'?

• Paper 1: E-examination (20%), students have a choice between Picture Composition and Email writing.

• Paper 2: Language use and comprehension (30%), 20 MCQ questions.

• Paper 3 (Oral）：Reading passage (10%) and video conversation (20%)

• Paper 3 (Listening): 10 listening comprehension MCQ questions (20%)

Based on the sum of the above 4 components, students will be awarded Merit (>70 marks), Pass (45-69 marks) or Ungraded (<45 marks).

Please email Ms Loh Pei Guat (SH, CL) for more information on MTL'B' syllabus.

1. Do I need to reapply for Mother Tongue Language Exemption for my son/ward if he is already exempted in Primary school?

For students who have applied for MTL Exemption in Primary School and have received approval from MOE, there is no need to re-apply for MTL Exemption in Secondary School.

Important: Please take note that taking MTL- in-lieu should not be mistaken as being exempted from MTL.

2. What will my son/ward be doing during Mother Tongue Language lessons in school?

For students exempted from MTL, they will do self-study in the school library during MTL lessons.

3. Can I apply for Mother Tongue Language Exemption for my son/ward?

Learning difficulty in Mother Tongue Languages is not a valid reason to apply for MTL exemption. Students are encouraged to persevere and offer MTL Syllabus 'B' if necessary. MTL exemption should only be considered as a last resort for students under exceptional circumstances highlighted below:

• Mid-Stream Entry i.e. Singaporeans returning from overseas whereby for a long period of time you had no opportunity to learn an official MTL, a Non-Tamil Indian Language (NTIL) or an approved Foreign or Asian Language.

• Special educational needs, with severe difficulties in coping with overall learning.

Please note that application and approval for MTL exemption are strictly on a case-by-case basis. For more information on the application process, please email Ms Loh Pei Guat (SH, CL) for more details.

1. What are Mother Tongue Languages (MTL)-in-lieu subjects?

MTL-in-lieu subjects refer to:

• Non-Tamil Indian Languages (NTIL): Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Punjabi or Urdu (For Indian students who are non-Tamil speakers only)

• Approved Asian Languages (AsL): Arabic, Burmese and Thai

• Approved Foreign Language (FL): French, German and Japanese

2. Is my son/ ward eligible for MTL-in-lieu?

The eligibility to offer an approved Asian Language (AsL: Arabic, Burmese and Thai) or Foreign Language (FL: French, German and Japanese) in lieu of an official MTL depends on several factors, including the student’s parentage and nationality. Application for MTL-in-lieu is on a case-by-case basis. Your son/ ward may be eligible if he has:

• lived overseas for a prolonged period of time and just joined our school system mid-stream;

• had formal learning in Asian Language (AsL) or Foreign Language (FL) overseas;

• a parent who is foreign-born and of non-Chinese/Malay/Indian ethnicity.

An application is required for eligible students and will be assessed on a case-by-case basis. For more information on the application process, please email Ms Loh Pei Guat (SH, CL).

3. Do I need to reapply for MTL-in-lieu for my son/ward if he has obtained approval to take MTL-in-lieu in Primary school?

No. If your son/ward has obtained approval for MTL-in-lieu at the primary level to take Non-Tamil Indian Languages (NTIL) / Asian Languages (AsL: Arabic, Burmese and Thai) / Foreign Language (FL: French, German and Japanese), you do not need to reapply for him in Secondary school.

Your son/ ward is required to fulfil the MTL requirement by attaining the minimum AsL/FL grade for admission into a junior college or centralised institute (D7 or above for GCE O Level), or a local publicly-funded undergraduate programme (S grade or above for GCE A Level H1).

4. What do I need to do for my son/ward if he is taking NTIL/AsL/FL as MTL-in-lieu?

For NTIL (Non-Tamil Indian Languages) students

It is compulsory for NTIL students to register at one of the approved NTIL community groups [CG: Bangla Language and Literary Society, Bangladesh Language and Cultural Foundation, Singapore Gujarati School Limited, DAV Hindi School, The Hindi Society (Singapore), Singapore Sikh Education Foundation, Urdu Development Society (Singapore)] and attend NTIL lessons with these CGs. It is also compulsory to sit for examinations set by the Board for the Teaching and Testing of South Asian Languages.

For AsL (Arabic, Burmese and Thai) and FL (French, German and Japanese) students

Students are required to learn the AsL/FL privately at the primary, secondary and pre-university levels, as instruction is not provided by MOE. Students are required to provide documentation (e.g. marked assignment, result slip, payment receipt) to the school to show that they are learning AsL/FL regularly. Students are required to take the AsL/FL papers at the GCE O Level.

5. Do the marks for NTIL/AsL/FL count towards my son/ward's overall results?

For NTIL, the CGs will administer the examination, and the results will be included in your son/ward result slip.

For FL, the school will register your son/ward for the End-of-Year Examination at MOELC for non-MOELC students, to gauge his FL proficiency. This result will be included in your son/ward result slip at the end of the year.

For AsL, currently, MOELC does not administer examination for AsL MTL-in-Lieu students. However, students need to continue to make their own private study arrangement and work towards the N/O level examination in Secondary 4.

At Secondary 4/5, your son/ ward is required to fulfil the MTL requirement by attaining the minimum AsL/FL grade for admission into a junior college or centralised institute (D7 or above for GCE O Level), or a local publicly-funded undergraduate programme (S grade or above for GCE A Level H1).

6. What can I do if I want my son/ward to be considered for admission at MOE Language Centre?

For Secondary 1 FL students (French, German and Japanese)

You may submit a application for your son/ ward to be placed on the waiting list. Meanwhile, your son/ ward is required to continue with private study arrangements. You will be informed through the school to make arrangement for your son/ ward to sit for a readiness test if there is a vacancy. Vacancies are limited and high in demand. Admission to MOELC is subject to students passing the test. Students who have not been notified to sit for the readiness test or did not pass the test are required to continue with their private study arrangements.

For AsL (Arabic, Burmese and Thai) students

Please note that MOE Language Centre does not provide instructions for AsL as MTL-in-lieu. Please make your own private study arrangements.

7. Can I apply to switch from MTL-in-lieu to one of the official MTL (Chinese/Malay/Tamil)?

Applications for a change of language from AsL/FL to Chinese/ Malay/ Tamil/ NTIL will not be accepted from the secondary level.

For any clarifications with regards to MTL-in-lieu matters, please email Ms Loh Pei Guat (SH, CL).

1. Can my son/ward take Higher Mother Tongue Language (HMTL) in ACS(BR)?

From past years' admissions, ACS(BR) usually does not have enough students who are eligible to take HMTL to justify opening a HMTL class in our school during curriculum time. Students who wish to take HMTL will need to travel to one of the HMTL centres in the afternoon for HMTL lessons.

(For more information, please visit: HMTL website for more details)

2. Can my son/ward take HMTL in Secondary School?

The eligibility criteria for taking HMTL is intended to ensure that students can cope with the higher academic load.

【For new PSLE AL system】

• An overall PSLE score of 8 or better

OR

• An overall PSLE score of 9 - 14 (inclusive); and attain

  • AL 1/2 in standard MTL or

  • Distinction / Merit in HMTL

Previous criteria:

Your son/ward will be eligible for HMTL in Secondary School if:

• he is in the top 10% of the PSLE

• he is in the top 30% who score an A* in MTL, or a Merit in HMTL

For students who do not meet the above criteria to offer HMTL, if they are assessed to have high ability and strong interest in MTL and are able to do HMTL without affecting their performance in other subjects, an appeal can be done at one of the HMTL Centres. Please email Ms Loh Pei Guat (SH, CL) for more details on the appeal process and details e.g. lesson timings of the various HMTL Centres.

3. Does my son/ward need to sit for O Level MTL at Secondary 3 or Secondary 4?

For HMTL students, they will be registered for their respective O Level MTL in Secondary 3. They will take the Oral and Listening in July/ August and the written papers at the end of the year.

The results from their O Level MTL (taken in Secondary 3) will be released usually in Jan the following year when they are in Secondary Four. The results will help to inform them on their suitability to continue with the rigour of HTML as an O Level subject when they progress to Secondary 4.

In Secondary 4, they will be taking their oral examination in late July to early August, and the rest of their components for O Level HMTL at the end of the year.

4. What are the advantages/ disadvantages if my son/ward takes HMTL?

Advantages:

• HMTL can be used as L1 in the computation of your son/ward's L1R5/L1B4.

• 2 bonus points for students seeking admission to JC/MI courses with grades of A1 to C6 in both their first languages (i.e. English and a Higher Mother Tongue). For more information with regards to bonus points, you may wish to take reference from the JAE Booklet here.

Disadvantages:

• As we do not offer HMTL in ACS(BR), students will need to make their way to the various HMTL centres for their afternoon HMTL lessons (once or twice per week). This requires a high level of commitment and discipline.

• Limitation in CCA choices. Students who wish to offer HMTL should take note that their CCA should not clash with their lesson timings for HMTL lessons in the HMTL Centres.

Important:

• Grades for both HMTL (such as Higher Chinese, Higher Malay and Higher Tamil) and MTL (such as Chinese, Malay and Tamil) cannot be used in the same computation of L1R5. For example, if HMTL is used as the first language, MTL cannot be used as a relevant subject (R5).

[For Secondary Ones only] How do I know if my son/ward is selected to take a Third Language?

• When your son/ward received his PSLE results, he would have received an application form to take Third Language if he is eligible.

• If he is successful in his application, the school will also notify you with regards to registration details at the respective Language Centres.

• For unsuccessful applications, you may email Ms Loh Pei Guat (SH, CL) if you strongly wish to submit an appeal application.

If you did not receive any notification from the school during the week of Secondary 1 admission, you may email us to check for the application status.

What are Third Languages ?

• Asian Languages: Arabic / Bahasa Indonesia / Malay (Special Programme)*/ Chinese (Special Programme)**

• Foreign Languages: French / German / Japanese / Spanish

*Malay (Special Programme), also known as MSP is offered to Non-Malay students only.

** Chinese (Special Programme), also known as CSP, is offered to Non-Chinese students only.

Are Third Languages examination or enrichment subjects?

Chinese (Special Programme)/ Malay (Special Programme)/ Arabic/ Bahasa Indonesia/ French/ German/ Japanese/ Spanish are full curriculum subjects comparable to any other subject in school. Students at the MOELC are prepared for the GCE 'O' Level Examination at the end of 4 years. The pre-university course is a further 2-year course leading to the GCE 'A' (H1 and H2) Level Examination.

Can my son/ward apply to do a Third Language?

Foreign Language as a Third Language

• To be eligible to apply to study a Foreign Language as a Third Language, applicants must satisfy all three criteria:

1. Students must be ranked in the top 10% of their Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) cohort.

2. They must be a Singapore Citizen (SC) or Singapore Permanent Resident (SPR), or the child of a SC/SPR.

3. They must have offered a Mother Tongue Language at the PSLE.

• For students interested in Japanese, their Mother Tongue Language must be Higher Chinese/Chinese, as the standard written form of Japanese uses “Kanji” or Chinese characters.

• There are limited vacancies available at the Language Centers. In the event that the number of applicants exceeds the number of places available, applicants will be selected by merit based on their PSLE results.

Asian Language (CSP/MSP/Bahasa Indonesia/Arabic ) as a Third Language

1. Academic criteria: To apply for an Asian Language course, students must have gained admission to the Express or Normal (Academic) course.

2. Nationality criteria: For Arabic/Indonesian, students must be a Singapore citizen or Singapore permanent resident, or the child of a SC/SPR.

3. Prior language knowledge criteria:

• For Malay (Special Programme) and Indonesian, students are not eligible to apply if they have offered Malay / Higher Malay at PSLE (or equivalent).

• For Chinese (Special Programme), students are not eligible to apply if they have offered Chinese / Higher Chinese at PSLE (or equivalent).

Where can my son/ward take Third Language?

Please visit MOE Languages website for more details.

Please note the lesson timing of each centre may vary from year to year.

What are the advantages/ disadvantages if my son/ward takes MTL?

Advantages:

• For Asian Languages (CSP/MSP/Bahasa Indonesia/Arabic), it opens up new horizons to better understand and appreciate Malay, Indonesian or Arabic culture. It also facilitates better interaction with native speakers and enhances future learning experiences and job opportunities.

• Students who received a pass in Chinese or Malay Special Programmes or Bahasa Indonesia will receive 2 bonus points (deduction of 2 points from L1R5 for JC/MI admission)

• For Foreign Languages ( French / German / Japanese / Spanish), they open doors to tertiary education & scholarships in France, Germany, Japan and Spain; they also increase job opportunities in MNCs in Singapore, and local enterprises with overseas networks or operations in Europe, the Americas and Japan.

• Third language can be used towards L1R5 computation.

Disadvantages:

• Limitation in CCA choices. Students who wish to offer a Third language should take note that their CCA should not clash with their lesson timings for Third language lessons in the respective language centres.

• Time management. Students will need to make their way to the various language centres for their Third Language class once to twice per week. This may be stressful for students, as they also need to balance their CCA and other subjects.