Supervisors: Associate Prof. Rani Sumant Rubdy (Ph.D. Thesis), Associate Prof. Lionel Wee (M.A. Thesis), and Prof. Peter Collins (B.A. Hons. Thesis) Address: National Institute of Education (NTU),
1 Nanyang Walk
Room: 3-3-125
Singapore 637616
First International Conference on English Learning and Teaching Skills, 2018
This talk focuses on the importance of revision in the English Language writing classroom by firs... more This talk focuses on the importance of revision in the English Language writing classroom by first reviewing studies on revision and the impact of revision on students’ papers; followed by an examination of the different types of revision activities that can be incorporated in the English Language classroom. The talk presents the findings of how student texts and consequently their writing evolved with different revision activities.
"‘Teach the young to dream, to speak, to sing in the language of the mother.
Let the stories an... more "‘Teach the young to dream, to speak, to sing in the language of the mother.
Let the stories and the poems be in everyone’s tongue, the songs in
everyone’s throats’ (Alunan, 2010, p. 188)
Alunan’s (2010) call for educators to promote literacy in mother tongue languages as well as Licuanan’s (2010) observation that the promotion of a multilingual education would empower students in Philippines indicate a growing acceptance of the role and impact of the multilingual landscape of the classrooms.
The rich linguistic practices present in this multilingual and multicultural context can be harnessed by teachers to utilize children’s representation of knowledge during writing instruction in the 21st century classrooms as well.
Despite the push to draw on students’ prior knowledge, non-school literacies in multilingual homes are generally not seen as supporting school-based literacies. One important reason for this view is that family literacy practices tend to be more reliant on oral than literate practices (Barton, 2007). Schools often tend to compensate for the perceived influence of non-school literacies by providing additional support for children in the writing classroom (Street & Street, 1991; Kendrick, M. & McKay, 2002).
Unfortunately, this approach neglects the fact that children primarily draw on their perceptions and interpretations of social interactions about the cultural materials, and experiences to which they are exposed to both inside and outside school. As children construct their texts in relation to how they define themselves and their relations with parents, siblings, teachers, and peers, non-school literacies and home literacy practices represent a significant repository of knowledge that children draw on to craft their texts. Hence, by decontextualizing writing tasks and advocating only canonical texts and genres in the classroom, we risk alienating children from their writing.
The talk concludes with a discussion on how teachers could draw on students’ mother tongue to encourage them to write in the medium of instruction in the writing classroom.
References
Alunan, M. (2010). Saving a language through literature. In Nolasco, R., Datar, F. and Azurin,
A. (Eds.) Starting where the Children are: A Collection of Essays on Mother Tongue-based Multilingual Education and Language Issues in the Philippines. Philippines: Talaytayan MLE Inc
Licuanan, P. (2010). Students learn better when the mother tongue is used. In Nolasco, R., Datar,
F. and Azurin, A. (Eds.) Starting where the Children are: A Collection of Essays on Mother Tongue-based Multilingual Education and Language Issues in the Philippines. Philippines: Talaytayan MLE Inc.
Street, B. and Street, J. (1991). The schooling of literacy. In D. Barton and R. Ivani (Eds.)
Writing in the Community. London: Sage.
Barton, D. (2007) Literacy: An introduction to the ecology of written language. Oxford:
Blackwell Publishing.
Kendrick, M. & McKay, R. (2002). Uncovering literacy narratives through children’s drawings.
Canadian Journal of Education, 27 (1), 45-60.
"
Project Work provides a firm grounding in critical literacy, encourages collaboration with others... more Project Work provides a firm grounding in critical literacy, encourages collaboration with others, and fosters learner independence. This is a first publication by Junior College Project Work researchers and practitioners in Singapore. The editors and contributors come from a wide range of disciplines and theoretical beliefs, and as such, have a synergy of knowledge that aptly encapsulates the nature of project-based learning. Taking a selective rather than a comprehensive focus to Project Work-as it would be a task we would have to engage in for a lifetime if we tried to capture all the facets of multi-disciplinary project-based learning-it describes the nature, processes, outcomes, research and resources in this subject. Target Audience:- Department: Education Level: In-service education professionals, pre-service educators, practitioners of team-building activities, creative educators, research student, facilitator, or any reader looking for further information on issues and practices of project-based learning in Junior College. Text Type: Main Text Salient Features: This is a first publication by Junior College Project Work researchers and practitioners in Singapore. Covers a fairly extensive spectrum of concepts, practices and skills ranging from those that relate to the processes as well as to the products of project work to the vital components of research techniques and tools, and assessment rubrics. Insight to the knowledge and expertise of experienced supervising tutors in junior colleges with suggested scheme of work and framework for different aspects of assessments. An easy reference for both teachers and students.
Written feedback on students’ papers often results in the ‘red marker that scolds’ (White, 2006) ... more Written feedback on students’ papers often results in the ‘red marker that scolds’ (White, 2006) phenomenon where teachers make margin comments on the student’s text which tend to alienate students rather than develop them as writers. Students tend to have difficulties deciphering and interpreting teachers’ margin comments. Given the time constraints and the high volume of grading that teachers do in Singapore, it is not always possible to give detailed summative note at the end of each essay or provide face-to-face consultations to each student.
One way to address the gap between identifying errors and providing holistic and summative feedback is to provide screencast feedback using a free software JING. Screencast feedback is a digital recording that captures actions that take place on a computer screen with voice-over narration from the instructor. Studies (Thomson & Lee, 2012; Vincelette & Bostic, 2013) have reported that students found screencast feedback to be useful as it replaced impersonal comments on their writing which can often be misconstrued by students as negative feedback.
The talk will demonstrate the use of the software and present ways to explore an alternative medium to give feedback on students’ writing.
First International Conference on English Learning and Teaching Skills, 2018
This talk focuses on the importance of revision in the English Language writing classroom by firs... more This talk focuses on the importance of revision in the English Language writing classroom by first reviewing studies on revision and the impact of revision on students’ papers; followed by an examination of the different types of revision activities that can be incorporated in the English Language classroom. The talk presents the findings of how student texts and consequently their writing evolved with different revision activities.
"‘Teach the young to dream, to speak, to sing in the language of the mother.
Let the stories an... more "‘Teach the young to dream, to speak, to sing in the language of the mother.
Let the stories and the poems be in everyone’s tongue, the songs in
everyone’s throats’ (Alunan, 2010, p. 188)
Alunan’s (2010) call for educators to promote literacy in mother tongue languages as well as Licuanan’s (2010) observation that the promotion of a multilingual education would empower students in Philippines indicate a growing acceptance of the role and impact of the multilingual landscape of the classrooms.
The rich linguistic practices present in this multilingual and multicultural context can be harnessed by teachers to utilize children’s representation of knowledge during writing instruction in the 21st century classrooms as well.
Despite the push to draw on students’ prior knowledge, non-school literacies in multilingual homes are generally not seen as supporting school-based literacies. One important reason for this view is that family literacy practices tend to be more reliant on oral than literate practices (Barton, 2007). Schools often tend to compensate for the perceived influence of non-school literacies by providing additional support for children in the writing classroom (Street & Street, 1991; Kendrick, M. & McKay, 2002).
Unfortunately, this approach neglects the fact that children primarily draw on their perceptions and interpretations of social interactions about the cultural materials, and experiences to which they are exposed to both inside and outside school. As children construct their texts in relation to how they define themselves and their relations with parents, siblings, teachers, and peers, non-school literacies and home literacy practices represent a significant repository of knowledge that children draw on to craft their texts. Hence, by decontextualizing writing tasks and advocating only canonical texts and genres in the classroom, we risk alienating children from their writing.
The talk concludes with a discussion on how teachers could draw on students’ mother tongue to encourage them to write in the medium of instruction in the writing classroom.
References
Alunan, M. (2010). Saving a language through literature. In Nolasco, R., Datar, F. and Azurin,
A. (Eds.) Starting where the Children are: A Collection of Essays on Mother Tongue-based Multilingual Education and Language Issues in the Philippines. Philippines: Talaytayan MLE Inc
Licuanan, P. (2010). Students learn better when the mother tongue is used. In Nolasco, R., Datar,
F. and Azurin, A. (Eds.) Starting where the Children are: A Collection of Essays on Mother Tongue-based Multilingual Education and Language Issues in the Philippines. Philippines: Talaytayan MLE Inc.
Street, B. and Street, J. (1991). The schooling of literacy. In D. Barton and R. Ivani (Eds.)
Writing in the Community. London: Sage.
Barton, D. (2007) Literacy: An introduction to the ecology of written language. Oxford:
Blackwell Publishing.
Kendrick, M. & McKay, R. (2002). Uncovering literacy narratives through children’s drawings.
Canadian Journal of Education, 27 (1), 45-60.
"
Project Work provides a firm grounding in critical literacy, encourages collaboration with others... more Project Work provides a firm grounding in critical literacy, encourages collaboration with others, and fosters learner independence. This is a first publication by Junior College Project Work researchers and practitioners in Singapore. The editors and contributors come from a wide range of disciplines and theoretical beliefs, and as such, have a synergy of knowledge that aptly encapsulates the nature of project-based learning. Taking a selective rather than a comprehensive focus to Project Work-as it would be a task we would have to engage in for a lifetime if we tried to capture all the facets of multi-disciplinary project-based learning-it describes the nature, processes, outcomes, research and resources in this subject. Target Audience:- Department: Education Level: In-service education professionals, pre-service educators, practitioners of team-building activities, creative educators, research student, facilitator, or any reader looking for further information on issues and practices of project-based learning in Junior College. Text Type: Main Text Salient Features: This is a first publication by Junior College Project Work researchers and practitioners in Singapore. Covers a fairly extensive spectrum of concepts, practices and skills ranging from those that relate to the processes as well as to the products of project work to the vital components of research techniques and tools, and assessment rubrics. Insight to the knowledge and expertise of experienced supervising tutors in junior colleges with suggested scheme of work and framework for different aspects of assessments. An easy reference for both teachers and students.
Written feedback on students’ papers often results in the ‘red marker that scolds’ (White, 2006) ... more Written feedback on students’ papers often results in the ‘red marker that scolds’ (White, 2006) phenomenon where teachers make margin comments on the student’s text which tend to alienate students rather than develop them as writers. Students tend to have difficulties deciphering and interpreting teachers’ margin comments. Given the time constraints and the high volume of grading that teachers do in Singapore, it is not always possible to give detailed summative note at the end of each essay or provide face-to-face consultations to each student.
One way to address the gap between identifying errors and providing holistic and summative feedback is to provide screencast feedback using a free software JING. Screencast feedback is a digital recording that captures actions that take place on a computer screen with voice-over narration from the instructor. Studies (Thomson & Lee, 2012; Vincelette & Bostic, 2013) have reported that students found screencast feedback to be useful as it replaced impersonal comments on their writing which can often be misconstrued by students as negative feedback.
The talk will demonstrate the use of the software and present ways to explore an alternative medium to give feedback on students’ writing.
It’s often stated that writing teachers need to have a good understanding of the theoretical fram... more It’s often stated that writing teachers need to have a good understanding of the theoretical frameworks influencing writing pedagogy (Gebhardt, 1976) and be writers themselves (Hairston, 1982; Graves, 1983). Effective writers make better writing teachers who are able to implement suitable writing strategies based on the needs of their class when they start teaching (Chambless & Bass, 1995; Lapp & Flood, 1985; Street, 2002).
This conference presentation examines how the various courses offered by TLDC of National Institute of Education, Singapore helps to deepen pre-service teachers’ subject content knowledge on the various types of texts that they are required to teach in their classrooms. TLDC offers courses on learning to write academic essays (Academic Discourse); increase language proficiency (Digital Storytelling, Online Journalism) and develop appropriate professional communication strategies (Communication Skills for Teachers).
In this presentation, I will discuss how the section on written communication in the Communication Skills for Teachers module, supports writing teacher’s understanding of professional communication while the Academic Discourse module provides them with a platform to learn the mechanics of academic research writing. Both modules aid in increasing pre-service teachers’ content knowledge of different types of expository texts such as the research project essay and persuasive essay.
Other modules such as Digital Storytelling and Online Journalism, provides them with a platform to experience process writing and gain pedagogical knowledge, as well as increase their knowledge on other types of texts such as narratives and visual texts.
The presentation examines how the various courses synergizes to support the theory-practice nexus of both their subject content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge to develop pre-service teachers as effective writing teachers.
References Chambless, M. S., & Bass, J.A. (1995). Effecting changes in student teachers’ attitudes toward writing. Reading Research and Instruction, 35, (2), 153-160.Gebhardt, 1976 Graves, D. (Ed.) (1999). Writing, reaching, learning: A sourcebook. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton Cook. Hairston, M. (1982). The winds of change: Thomas Kuhn and the revolution in the teaching of writing. College Composition and Communication, 33, 76-88. Lapp, D. I. A. N. E., & Flood, J. A. M. E. S. (1985). The impact of writing instruction on teachers’ attitudes and practices. In Proceedings of the thirty-fourth national reading conference on issues in literacy: A research perspective (pp. 375-380). Street, C. (2003). Pre-service teachers' attitudes about writing and learning to teach writing: Implications for teacher educators. Teacher Education Quarterly, 30(3), 33-50.
Critical Competencies for the 21st Century Language Classroom RELC Conference, Apr 16, 2014
MOE’s 21st century competencies framework identifies two components that are relevant to language... more MOE’s 21st century competencies framework identifies two components that are relevant to language classrooms which are (a) information and communication skills and (b) critical and inventive thinking. This talk discusses how a two week intensive course on Digital Storytelling (DST) taken by Diploma and Degree level pre-service teachers at the National Institute of Education, Singapore helped the participants develop their skills as writers and as writing teachers and enhanced their ability to integrate 21st century competencies into their classrooms.
Three key stages in their development as writers and writing teachers are analyzed by examining firstly their prior experience with process writing, secondly, what they learnt and experienced during the module and finally, their experience in their first writing classroom sometimes as observers and often as practitioners. The preliminary findings reveal that despite some previous exposure to process writing, experiencing the whole cycle themselves and consciously reflecting on it helped pre-service teachers craft better texts as writers and enhanced their understanding of how to support the development of their students as critical 21st century writers.
Introduction Why don’t they see that the approaches we are using to teach them are those we hope they will use in their own classrooms?” This was the question we asked ourselves when we read feedback at the completion of one of our courses. The end-of-course survey indicated that most of the participants had enjoyed the course and felt that their language skills had improved, but they did not necessarily feel they could apply what they had learned to their own teaching. This surprised us because we had assumed they would realize that we were modeling techniques they could use when they began teaching.
We had, after all, been using a process approach to writing that they had just studied in another course. So it puzzled us that the participants did not recognize that the opportunity for personal creativity and the support through collaboration and feedback we provided were models of instructional practice we hoped they would provide to their own students. The response of one participant to our approach showed a change in her perception of writing:
”Personally, I came from a point of view that I disliked writing and anything that had to do with coming up with a story. However, as I progressed with my group mates, tutor, and even whole class sharing, I felt that I started to like writing more. This activity really helps to boost individual’s interests and it is because of this interest and supportive peers who gave many suggestions to add into my storyboard, I felt more confident in completing this piece of work. Also, what really boosted my interest level was the freewill to choose how we wanted to present this digital story. In the end, I now have a little crush on reading and writing as well.”
We remained concerned because this indication of interest in writing seemed exceptional. Why was it that our preservice teachers did not recognize how this approach would transfer to their own practice? Perhaps the reason was because our approach seemed “so different from teaching writing and oral skills the conventional way,” as the participant stated.
Billet (2013) argued that “developing adaptable learning,” which he defined as “knowledge applicable to circumstances beyond those where it is learnt,” is “central to the educational project and the purpose of educational institutions” (p. 6). Our experience taught us, however, that the desired reapplication of knowledge and of approaches that seemed unfamiliar was not likely to happen unless we made more overt links between what we were teaching and the development of practice by our students.
We identified this as a theory-practice gap in our course and discussed ways to bridge it. In this chapter, we describe the changes we introduced and illustrate the results through the voices of participants.
It is now generally accepted in writing process research that revision is one of the key compone... more It is now generally accepted in writing process research that revision is one of the key components of writing in general, and of learning to write in particular. Ever since Flower and Hayes (1981) presented their writing process model, there has been a steady stream of research and debate on the effectiveness of feedback in the development of student writers (Guenette, 2007; Hyland, 2013). This has resulted in teachers exploring alternative modes of providing feedback as well as including peer feedback in their classrooms. Despite teachers including peer feedback as a tool to support the “learning” process of writing, only in the last few years has considerable progress been made in gaining a better understanding of how, when, and whether feedback influences the writing process positively.
As Goldin, Ashley, and Schunn (2012) point out, the contextual diversity of peer feedback in an education setting on writing tasks is so broad that there are inevitably many variations on peer feedback, and hence many conflicting reports, specifically in the context of L2 writing (Nelson & Carson, 2006). For example, peer feedback can be given online or on paper (Ellis, 2011), which in turn can be face-to-face or anonymous; synchronous or asynchronous; multiple feedback stages with multiple feedback givers or a single stage with one feedback giver.
Given this diversity, it is entirely appropriate that current researchers on teacher and peer feedback in the writing process are using an equally wide range of tools and methods to gain a better understanding of peer feedback processes and how they influence the writing process.
The panel of speakers examines teachers’ perceptions about providing alternative feedback; students’ perceptions of teacher feedback; how a group of teachers managed to facilitate peer-feedback and the nature of peer feedback which is likely to result in revision. The four studies were conducted in different contexts with a focus of exploring an effective mode of feedback that will result in a revision of texts as well as the development of student writers.
This paper reports findings from a case study of pre-service teachers’ development as writers and... more This paper reports findings from a case study of pre-service teachers’ development as writers and writing teachers as a result of experiencing process approaches to writing. Data collected from the reflections of 61 pre-service primary school teachers on a short intensive program was analysed to establish their prior perceptions of writing and to explore the ways in which they developed as writers and writing teachers. The study found that the experiential approach taken on the course increased the participants’ awareness of the choices writers make to reach out to their target audience and of the value of peer collaboration and feedback as part of the writing process. It also helped them better appreciate how to support their future students in the development of their writing skills. The study has implications for approaches used in the training of pre-service writing teachers.
In many countries concerns have been raised about the proficiency levels of teachers of English a... more In many countries concerns have been raised about the proficiency levels of teachers of English and various proposals have been made to address them. This study explores one possible solution to this problem by integrating language skills development with an awareness of pedagogical approaches. The participants in this study, pre-service teachers who were preparing to teach in Singapore primary schools, attended a short intensive course that helped develop and support their own English language skills while modelling approaches they would be expected to use in their own classrooms. Data were collected using a pre-course survey, reflective tasks during and after the course, and a post-course task based on practical school experience. The findings demonstrate how the participants became more aware of their own language skills and noted improvements. At the same time experiencing and reflecting on the pedagogical approaches used in the course helped shape their perceptions and beliefs, and had potential and real impacts on their subsequent teaching. Clarke and Hollingsworth’s (2002) Interconnected Model of Teacher Professional Growth (IMTPG) was used to analyze the data and highlighted the individuality of the process of teacher professional growth, while at the same time revealing some common patterns.
It’s often stated that writing teachers need to have a good understanding of the theoretical fram... more It’s often stated that writing teachers need to have a good understanding of the theoretical frameworks influencing writing pedagogy (Gebhardt, 1976) and be writers themselves (Hairston, 1982; Graves, 1983). Effective writers make better writing teachers who are able to implement suitable writing strategies based on the needs of their class when they start teaching (Chambless & Bass, 1995; Lapp & Flood, 1985; Street, 2002).
This paper examines how the various courses offered by TLDC of National Institute of Education, Singapore helps to deepen pre-service teachers’ subject content knowledge on the various types of texts that they are required to teach in their classrooms. TLDC offers courses on learning to write academic essays (Academic Discourse); increase language proficiency (Digital Storytelling, Online Journalism) and develop appropriate professional communication strategies (Communication Skills for Teachers).
In this presentation, I will discuss how the section on written communication in the Communication Skills for Teachers module, supports writing teacher’s understanding of professional communication while the Academic Discourse module provides them with a platform to learn the mechanics of academic research writing. Both modules aid in increasing pre-service teachers’ content knowledge of different types of expository texts such as the research project essay and persuasive essay.
Other modules such as Digital Storytelling and Online Journalism, provides them with a platform to experience process writing and gain pedagogical knowledge, as well as increase their knowledge on other types of texts such as narratives and visual texts.
The presentation examines how the various courses synergizes to support the theory-practice nexus of both their subject content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge to develop pre-service teachers as effective writing teachers.
References References Chambless, M. S., & Bass, J.A. (1995). Effecting changes in student teachers’ attitudes toward writing. Reading Research and Instruction, 35, (2), 153-160
Graves, D. (Ed.) (1999). Writing, reaching, learning: A sourcebook. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton Cook.
Hairston, M. (1982). The winds of change: Thomas Kuhn and the revolution in the teaching of writing. College Composition and Communication, 33, 76-88.
Lapp, D. I. A. N. E., & Flood, J. A. M. E. S. (1985). The impact of writing instruction on teachers’ attitudes and practices. In Proceedings of the thirty-fourth national reading conference on issues in literacy: A research perspective (pp. 375-380).
Street, C. (2003). Pre-service teachers' attitudes about writing and learning to teach writing: Implications for teacher educators. Teacher Education Quarterly, 30(3), 33-50.
This article discusses a Digital Storytelling course that is used as a means to promote pre-servi... more This article discusses a Digital Storytelling course that is used as a means to promote pre-service teachers ’own language proficiency and at the same time develop their awareness of teaching techniques they can later adopt in their own classrooms.
It looks at how three teacher educators at the National Institute of Education, Singapore interpreted the course and at how content, in this case teaching ideas and approaches, was integrated with activities promoting language development.
The three teacher educators describe the conceptualization of the course, which takes a project- and task-based approach and blends in class and online modes, how links between the language focused activities the participants experienced and methodologies were made more explicit, and how a process writing approach was actualized.
They also consider the wider applicability of this interpretation of CLIL in the training of language teachers.
The National Institute of Education (NIE) is the provider of teacher education in Singapore and
i... more The National Institute of Education (NIE) is the provider of teacher education in Singapore and is an institution within the Nanyang Technological University; NIE is simultaneously accountable to the Ministry of Education in Singapore. A Communication Skills for Teachers course (CST) was introduced for all pre-service teachers at NIE in July 2005. A catalyst for the development of this course, which focuses on speaking and writing skills, was the perception that the standard of English of Singaporean teachers had declined. Since 2010, the course has been offered as a blended course and increasingly, several aspects of course administration have also been conducted online. The two main areas of assessment for the course are an oral presentation and a written test. In order to ensure that grading is consistent, standardisation meetings for these tests are important but not always possible given the tutors’ varied schedules. This paper outlines the development and implementation of online standardisation for the written assessment component of the CST course. Utilising collaborative tools for standardisation saves time and reduces the need for face-to-face meetings for this important aspect of assessment.
"'…any vision we may have of the scientist-researcher working away in the lab or in the field and... more "'…any vision we may have of the scientist-researcher working away in the lab or in the field and then retiring to a quiet place to type up quickly the experimental report according to some stereotyped format is decidedly at odds with reality'. (Swales, 1990, p. 117)
Learning to write academic papers is a challenging task for novice writers, who must be able to cope with the demands of conducting research and learn to ‘converse’ in a new discourse. Novice writers need to understand task requirements, the instructor’s expectations, and the rudiments of writing up their research in an acceptable format. Even when novices are receptive to the challenge, this is particularly demanding for them since they have little experience of the meticulous academic writing skills expected of them.
This study addresses the perceived problems that novices enrolled in a university’s Foundation program face when writing their first academic research project papers. An investigation of the coping strategies used by novices in overcoming these problems should therefore help shed light on how they may be helped to effectively tackle the demands of academic research and academic report writing skills that they require in order to be accepted in the community of practice. The main findings are that novice writers struggle to acquire academic writing literacy and to understand academic writing requirements, expectations and conventions. The study then looks at how a group of novice writers in a foundation programme responded to the demands of completing their first research projects. The thesis is based on the premise that the beliefs and practices of novice writers are shaped by their knowledge repository of what constitutes research and academic writing as well as their nascent knowledge of academia."
Project based instruction is a valuable tool in the classroom to promote language, skills and con... more Project based instruction is a valuable tool in the classroom to promote language, skills and content. In this paper I will illustrate how it can be an excellent means to socialize novice writers to the academic genre with ample scaffolding in linguistic competency and research skills.
This paper focuses on Project Work which is taught as an examinable subject for Year 11 and 12 students in Singapore. The aims of Project Work as envisioned by the Ministry of Education are to provide students with an opportunity to explore, integrate and make meaningful links between different disciplines and to encourage students to break away from compartmentalized learning. Although it is an excellent platform for fostering critical thinking there seems to be minimal linguistic scaffolding provided for learners to complete the task.
Drawing from a data of surveys, drafts, written essays and with reference to project based instruction pedagogy, a framework called ‘Integrated Project Work Approach’ is proposed. The data revealed that the most difficult component of Project Work that students faced was in writing their reports and that students were largely unaware of the academic benefits that could be gained from the task.
Hence the model focuses on effectively socializing novice researchers into the academic culture and in promoting learner independence via teaching communication skills, inculcating good research skills, fostering independent learning and developing interdisciplinary domain knowledge. The development of a systematic tool will also raise learners’ awareness to demands of academia. Furthermore, it has the potential to facilitate the teaching of academic genre through a task based approach and aims to provide sufficient attention to both the process and product.
Rhetorical choices made by novice academic writers show writers’ understanding of academic conven... more Rhetorical choices made by novice academic writers show writers’ understanding of academic conventions. What students choose to include in their papers and why they do so will provide an insight into what sorts of variations and practices exist amongst novice academic writers.
This paper examines how novice writers frame their first research papers and whether there are recurring patterns of discourse organizational structures in these papers. The data for this study comprise 45 novice research papers of about 3000 to 4500 words written by first year university students. Macro (discourse organizational structures) (Paltridge, 2006) and Micro organization (Moves and Steps) (Swales, 1990 & 2004) of the papers were analyzed.
A common suggestion made by researchers (e.g., Paltridge, 1994; Bhatia, 2002) who have studied macro-structures is that such studies need to incorporate an analysis of the social context of the text and consider writers’ beliefs, expectations, and understanding of the writing task. The social and cultural context of the text provides an insight into why writers frame their texts as they do. Equal importance should then be given to the social construction of texts as well as to the texts themselves and not be limited to linguistic analysis. The question to ask in text analysis is thus why instead of what. Text analysis that asks why is more likely to inform the development and implementation of language pedagogy usefully.
The findings in this study show that research papers emulate Moves that expert writers use in their writing to a certain extent. At the same time they are easily distinguishable from expert papers in several ways such as the use of experiential evidence, explicit discussion of secondary literature and use of narrative genre in research papers. The hybrid nature of texts makes it ‘less academic’ and the writer’s presence is a constant presence in the writing. As novices, they are at the bottom of the rung in being socialized into academia. As such, they often express their difficulties in completing the projects or benefits that they have personally gained in doing the project. The presence of such reminiscing is largely in the conclusion sub-genre which gives the impression that the academic portion of the research project ends with the discussion component which is similar to the macrostructures of research articles.
References
Bhatia, V. (2002). A generic view of academic discourse. In J. Flowerdew (Ed.), Academic discourse (pp. 1-19). London: Pearson Education.
Paltridge, B. (2004). Genre and the language learning classroom. Michigan: University of Michigan Press.
Paltridge, B. (2006). Discourse analysis. New York: Continuum.
Swales, J. (1990). Genre analysis: English in academic and research settings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Swales, J. (2004). Research genres: Explorations and applications. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
"This paper analyzes the academic writing experiences of student writers in a Singapore universit... more "This paper analyzes the academic writing experiences of student writers in a Singapore university. The writers had reported that they faced difficulties in reviewing relevant literature for their research papers. They found it challenging to cope with the demands of conducting research and learning to ‘converse’ in a new discourse. Swales and Lindemann (2002) too had pointed out that even amongst doctoral theses, university lecturers found the literature review chapters to be poorly organized.
This paper focuses on what student writers chose to include in their papers and why they did so, to examine writers’ understanding and perception about the role of secondary data in their research. The student writers took 10 hours of academic writing classes in English per week for a year. In the academic writing course, student writers examined rhetorical structures in journal articles and discussed the various structures such as IMRD (Swales, 1990, 2004) used by experts in prominent English language journals. They were also exposed to a variety of genres through their readings and were encouraged in their class discussions to explore the suitability of the use of the various rhetorical structures in their assignments. The discussion of this paper is part of a larger study comprising research papers by student writers, interviews and journal entries which were collected over a period of 2 years.
Student writers found the literature review component of the research paper to be one of the more difficult ones to write. This is most likely due to the broad purpose they believed to be inherent in this section, which they expected to be both informational and interestingly, experiential in scope. As perceived by the novice writers, the informational expectations are to: show an understanding of the task prompt; show evidence of a wide range of readings and to evaluate the readings. Meanwhile, the experiential expectations are to: impress the reader by showing how much work had been done; position themselves as experts and to add on information from their personal experience.
References
Swales, J. (1990). Genre analysis: English in academic and research settings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Swales, J. (2004). Research genres: Explorations and applications. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Swales, J. & Lindemann, S. (2002). Teaching the literature review to international graduate students. In A. M. Johns (Ed.), Genre in the classroom: Multiple perspectives (1 ed., pp. 105-119). New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc."
Building on the curricular development work done by the National Institute of Education (NIE) of ... more Building on the curricular development work done by the National Institute of Education (NIE) of the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore during a multi-year consultation with the Ministry of Education of Bahrain, the international faculty members of the Bahrain Teachers’ College (BTC) are now adapting the program to reflect the needs of pre-service teachers in Bahrain. The English for Educators module (Ellis & Pillai, 2009a) was developed to equip pre-service teachers with academic reading, writing and oral skills. The learning needs of these pre-service teachers were best met when BTC introduced bilingual team-teaching, i.e. Arabic and English language teachers co-teaching the module. Pre-service teachers and instructors were able to instruct and participate in a bilingual context providing pre-service teachers with the necessary skills to bridge their content and pedagogical knowledge between the two languages. It was also observed that when both Arabic and English language teachers were in the same classroom, there was an increase in the level of participation from pre-service teachers. Both staff and pre-service teachers benefited from the mutual cross-cultural exchange of pedagogy and teaching practices. This chapter provides an overview of the module and its implementation. From a broader perspective, this chapter will also provide recommendations for curriculum planners developing English language course materials for pre-service teacher training in other Gulf States.
Project Work: Exploring Processes, Practices and Strategies, 2009
Writing is a rigorous process. It is sometimes slow and is sometimes more difficult than it shoul... more Writing is a rigorous process. It is sometimes slow and is sometimes more difficult than it should be, because many students are not sure about how to approach the critical reading and writing aspects of Project Work. The Written Report (WR) is particularly demanding for an average junior college student who has largely written narrative pieces of about 300 words in secondary schools and a few argumentative text types of 500 words in the Junior College.
It is also their first encounter with the academic writing genre. Not surprisingly, many students and teachers find the writing component to be the most difficult and challenging component of Project Work. This chapter will provide a description of generic structure of written reports and explore the impact of the task prompts on the Project Work essay.
Project Work: Exploring Processes, Practices and Strategies, 2009
The introduction of Project Work in schools and particularly junior colleges is an important mile... more The introduction of Project Work in schools and particularly junior colleges is an important milestone in the education system as it explicitly prepares students for independent academic research. Project Work provides an excellent opportunity for students to develop the necessary skills to carry out independent research with ongoing guidance and close supervision from tutors in a non-threatening environment.
This chapter examines pre-service teachers’ perceptions of the research skills taught in Project Work when they were in Junior College in order to understand the level of scaffolding that they would require in the first year of university, in order to engage in independent research effectively. The skills that students are expected to learn in the Project Work classroom are described followed by a brief recount of the data collection methods and an examination of students’ perceptions of their own learning in terms of what they enjoyed, the skills they thought that they had acquired, and the components that they found challenging.
This bibliography provides researchers who are interested in studying novice academic writing and... more This bibliography provides researchers who are interested in studying novice academic writing and ‗struggling‘ novices‘ experience with an overview of the tools that they can use in their research. Researchers can study social and cultural context of academic writing by including text‘s focus, purpose, intended audience, relationship between writers and audience, expectations, conventions and requirements, background knowledge, values and understanding and its relationship with other texts (Paltridge, 2006). Likewise, Bhatia (2004) too proposes that genre knowledge needs to be investigated from an ethnographic perspective and a textual perspective.
Hence, this bibliography focuses on both the novice writer/researcher and novice writing/product. Broadly, this can be studied by analysing academic writing task prompts to understand task expectations and the impact of task requirements on novice writers and writing. Novice writing could also be analysed by examining the overall rhetorical organization (including Move & Step analysis). The strategies that novice writers use to achieve different purposes of sub-genres will enable researchers to understand novice writers‘ motivations and perceptions of academic writing essays. The novice writer‘s voice is another integral part of any text analysis and this is addressed by combining text analysis with novice writers‘ experience and perceptions as shown by the studies listed in the academic discourse socialization list.
The tools described in the bibliography are used by researchers working in three different but complementary traditions (Systemic Functional Linguistics, English for Academic Purposes/English for Specific Purposes & New Rhetoric Studies). As the tools in genre studies are mutually interchangeable, a variety of methods were adopted from genre studies research to develop the framework of analysis.
The introduction and accreditation of integrated Project Work in primary and secondary schools an... more The introduction and accreditation of integrated Project Work in primary and secondary schools and of Project Work in Junior Colleges indicate that the Ministry of education recognizes the potential that project work has to offer to the local community.
The curriculum has been conceptualized to include the tenants of project-based learning which requires the Project Work classroom to be more student-focused with opportunities to incorporate bottom-up strategies in the classroom.
This chapter provides a brief background of project-based learning; examines some aspects of how Project Work has been conceptualized in Singapore and offers some suggestions on several components that could be incorporated into the Project Work framework.
Building on the curricular development work done by the National Institute of Education (NIE) of ... more Building on the curricular development work done by the National Institute of Education (NIE) of the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore during a multi-year consultation with the Ministry of Education of Bahrain, the international faculty members of the Bahrain Teachers’ College (BTC) are now adapting the program to reflect the needs of pre-service teachers of Bahrain. The English for Educators module (Ellis & Pillai, 2009a) was developed to equip pre-service teachers with academic reading, writing and oral skills. The learning needs of these pre-service teachers were best met when BTC introduced bilingual team-teaching (with Arabic and English language teachers co-teaching the module). Pre-service teachers and instructors were able to instruct and participate in a bilingual context providing pre-service teachers with the necessary skills to bridge their content and pedagogical knowledge between the two languages. It was also observed that when both Arabic and English language teachers were in the same classroom, there was an increase in the level of participation from pre-service teachers. Both staff and pre-service teachers benefited from the mutual cross-cultural exchange of pedagogy and teaching practices. This chapter provides an overview of the module and its implementation. From a broader perspective, this chapter will also provide recommendations for curriculum planners developing English language course materials for the Arab world.
Ellis, M. & Pillai, A.D. (2009a). Communication for Educators: English for Educators Handbook. Bahrain: Bahrain Teachers College
The paper examines the research project task expectations of university student writers. It offer... more The paper examines the research project task expectations of university student writers. It offers a detailed analysis of the rhetorical Moves that are likely to occur in university-level research paper prompts. The analysis highlights that while, some Moves such as Background information and Assessment expectations are optional, others like Cognitive demands on students are obligatory, and that an Overview of task and Procedural directions are desirable traits of prompts. A transitivity analysis of the prompts, student interviews and reflections revealed that despite the prescriptive tone and the heavy cognitive and rhetorical demands made on student writers, the prompts did not alienate the novices who were on the whole receptive to the requirements specified by the instructors.
Teaching and Learning English for Academic Purposes: Current Research and Practices, 2018
This chapter focuses on how academic writing is taught to three different groups of novice resear... more This chapter focuses on how academic writing is taught to three different groups of novice researchers in a teacher training college in Singapore. Novice researchers refer to different groups of students enrolled in a university possessing different linguistic and/or research abilities. There are three different types of novice researchers in tertiary education and they are at different points of their education. These researchers have diverse different learning needs as well as various different learning goals. Three different types of academic writing modules were designed to cater to these students at the university. This chapter discusses how the university customizes the curriculum and assessment for those three academic writing modules to address the needs of the students and provides recommendations for customization of academic writing modules in tertiary institutions.
Multilingual Singapore Language Policies and Linguistic Realities, 2021
This chapter analyses the changing status of a minority Indian language, Malayalam, in Singapore ... more This chapter analyses the changing status of a minority Indian language, Malayalam, in Singapore and the factors that contribute to the three phrases of language use: language maintenance (1900 -1960s), language shift (1970s – 1980s) and language revitalization (1990 – 2019). In doing so, it examines (a) the factors that led to a shift away from Malayalam in a community where the language had once thrived (b) how these can be mitigated to allow the language to thrive at a community level and (c) the factors that contribute to its survival in the face of the demands made by current sociopolitical and economic imperatives within Singapore’s framework of bi/multilingualism. The chapter draws on data collected from an autobiographic narrative lens to highlight the effects of changes in demographic factors (such as the changes in population) and domains of use as well as the types of the community-driven initiatives that have kept the language alive, whilst pointing out the need for greater institutional support, moving forward.
This article was published in Tabla!, a newspaper focusing on issues related to the Indian commun... more This article was published in Tabla!, a newspaper focusing on issues related to the Indian community in Singapore. It documents the Singapore Malayalee Association's founding and growth.
The article is uploaded to support research purposes only. The copyright of the article lies with Tabla.
Reference: Pillai, A.D. (2017, Sep 1). SMA is 100. Tabla! p. 12-14.
Malayalees are the second largest sub-group within the Indian community in Singapore. The first M... more Malayalees are the second largest sub-group within the Indian community in Singapore. The first Malayalee immigrants arrived in Singapore in the early 1900s. Over a period of time, there has been a gradual shift in the linguistic proficiency and choice of matrix language amongst speakers. Singaporean Malayalam has emerged as a new code amongst second and third generation Malayalees. The new code is a result of a long-term contact with the local languages and culture. Research into language choices and language use amongst tri-generational Singaporean Malayalee families show that there is a need to analyze language use from a microscopic perspective in order to document contact-induced changes and to track future changes to the language.It is hoped that this book will generate more interest and research into the multilingual lives of Singaporean Malayalees.
Indian Heritage Centre, National Heritage Board (Singapore), 2020
Have you ever wondered how Malayalees celebrate Onam in Singapore or why it is known as the 'Nat... more Have you ever wondered how Malayalees celebrate Onam in Singapore or why it is known as the 'National Day of the Malayalees'?
Festivals help communities to forge links and relationships with one another. Celebrations like Onam brings the community together. Like many other diasporic communities, Onam celebrations in Singapore are adapted and evolved to suit the lifestyles of the citizens here.
This book documents a 100 years of celebrations of Onam in Singapore; describes the festival's origin and significance for all Malayalees, both in Kerala and Singapore, as well as highlights many of the key moments in the festivities.
The book, 'The Story of Onam' is part of a series of books published by the Indian Heritage Centre, National Heritage Board (Singapore). It draws on the data collected for the 'Singapore Malayalee Story', which was supported by a grant from National Heritage Board, Singapore.
From Kerala to Singapore: Voices of the Singapore Malayalee Community, 2017
This chapter provides an overview of the arrival of early Malayalee migrants in British Malaya an... more This chapter provides an overview of the arrival of early Malayalee migrants in British Malaya and to Singapore from 1900 to 2016. In doing so, it traces the evolution of the Singapore Malayalee identity by examining community and literacy practices.
Reference for this chapter: Pillai, A.D. (2017). Malayalees in Singapore. In Pillai, A.D. & Arumugam, P. From Kerala to Singapore: Voices of the Singapore Malayalee Community. Marshall Cavendish Editions: Singapore, p. 16-61. (All rights reserved.)
Making of Distinctions: Towards A Social Science of Inclusion , 2019
This chapter examines the process of transforming oral interviews to written discourse that can b... more This chapter examines the process of transforming oral interviews to written discourse that can be disseminated to a wider audience beyond academia. In doing so, it addresses an often overlooked issue of what the transformation of oral narratives to written discourse entails.
Reference for this chapter: Pillai, A. D., (In Press). In. Palackal, A., Giuseppina, M. & Choudhary, N. (Eds.) Making of Distinctions: Towards A Social Science of Inclusion. Information Age Publications, Charlotte, N.C.
The Singapore Ethnic Mosaic: Many Cultures, One People, Nov 2017
Far from being a melting pot, multi-racial Singapore prides itself on the richness of its ethnic ... more Far from being a melting pot, multi-racial Singapore prides itself on the richness of its ethnic communities and cultures. This volume provides an updated account of the heterogeneity within each of the main communities — the Chinese, Malay, Indian, Eurasian and Others. It also documents the ethnic cultures of these communities by discussing their histories, celebrations, cultural symbols, life cycle rituals, cultural icons and attempts to preserve culture. While chapters are written by scholars drawing insight from a variety of sources ranging from academic publications to discussions with community experts, it is written in an accessible way. This volume seeks to increase intercultural understanding through presenting ample insights into the cultural beliefs and practices of the different ethnic communities. While this book is about diversity, a closer examination of the peoples and cultures of Singapore demonstrates the many similarities communities share in this Singaporean space.
Contents:
Foreword (Janil Puthucheary)
Acknowledgements
Introductory: Ethnic Diversity, Identity and Everyday Multiculturalism in Singapore (Mathew Mathews)
Chinese:
The Chinese in Singapore (Tong Chee Kiong)
Chinese Community and Culture in Singapore (Soon Su-Chuin, Elvin Xing Yifu and Tong Chee Kiong)
Malay:
The Malays in Singapore (Suriani Suratman)
Malay Community and Culture in Singapore (Suriani Suratman and Siti Hajar Esa)
Indian:
The Indians in Singapore (Vineeta Sinha)
Tamil Community and Culture in Singapore (A Mani, Pravin Prakash and Shanthini Selvarajan)
Malayalee Community and Culture in Singapore (Anitha Devi Pillai)
Punjabi Sikh Community and Culture in Singapore (Amrit Kaur and Bhajan Singh)
Gujerati Community and Culture in Singapore (Rizwana Abdul Azeez)
Minority Indian communities in Singapore (Nilanjan Raghunath)
Eurasians and Others:
The Eurasians and Others in Singapore (Mathew Mathews)
Eurasian Community and Culture in Singapore (Alexius Pereira)
Filipino Community and Culture in Singapore (Lou Antolihao and Clement Mesenas)
Myanmar Community and Culture in Singapore (Moe Thuzar and Christine Lim Li Ping)
The first record of Malayalees in 1911 (Federated Malay States, 1911), indicate that there were 1... more The first record of Malayalees in 1911 (Federated Malay States, 1911), indicate that there were 1208 Malayalees in Singapore. In the last available census of population in 2010, the total number of Malayalees had grown to 26, 348 (Census of Population, 2010).
The early Malayalee settlers in Singapore were primarily males resulting in a gender imbalance. Malayalees did not like to move in family units (Arasaratnam, 1970). They were described as the ‘least settled Indian group in Malaya’ which they regarded … as a place to earn their income to support their families in India, hence resulting in a gender imbalance (Sandhu, 2010). In the early years they had minimal contact with Kerala and many never returned to Kerala. There was no institutionalized means of keeping their language alive or to transmit the language to the next generation either. This resulted in a clear language shift by the second generation and a formation of a unique Singapore Malayalee identity.
This paper traces the community and literacy practices of the Singapore Malayalee and the subsequent evolution of the Malayalee identity.
About 130 participants and their families were interviewed for this project. The interviewees ranged from first generation migrants to fourth generation migrants over a period of more than 100 years.
The interviewees’ families arrived in five different periods of time starting from 1906 to 2007. The data for the study comprises visual data (interviewees’ personal photographs of their ancestors, current photograph of the interviewees, family trees), audio data (oral histories and interviews) and written narratives.
A handful of recent migrants have been included in this project. Interestingly, the newer migrants’ journeys parallel those before them despite having the advantage of being able to travel back to Kerala at the drop of a hat as well as ready access to the language via the Internet and media.
References Arasaratnam, S. (1970). Indians in Malaya and Singapore. Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press.
Federated Malay States. (1911). The Census of the Federated Malay States, 1911: Review of the Census Operations and Results Including Tables Exhibiting the Population by Sex, Age, Race, Birthplace, Religion and Occupation. Publisher not identified.
Sandhu, K. S. (2010). Indians in Malaya: Some aspects of their immigration and settlement (1786-1957). Cambridge University Press.
Singapore Statistics. (2010). Census of population 2010. Retrieved January, 3, 2011.
“Because they are learning English and Tamil…..., Malayaal’am is only a side language ……… like a ... more “Because they are learning English and Tamil…..., Malayaal’am is only a side language ……… like a side dish.” (Mrs. Nair, first generation Singaporean Malayaal’i)
ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the notion of cultural identity, language use, attitudes towards language maintenance of seven tri-generational Singaporean Malayal’i families. The analysis considers both proficiency levels of third generation Malayaal’is and the role of Malayaal’am in the community in shaping their perceptions of cultural identity. The study revealed that Malayalam had less utilitarian purposes in the lives of third generation Malayalees than it did amongst first generation Malayaal’is. Singaporean Malayaal’is who have been in Singapore for the last 50 years and their family members also identified themselves as a separate group from native Malayalees from India.
INTRODUCTION
As a fourth/third (maternal/paternal) generation Singaporean Malayaal’i, I was raised with a strong sense of belonging to a minority community and culture that seemed to be overshadowed by the larger Tamil speaking population. Malayaal’am was spoken only at home (if at all) and whenever we met other members of the family or community. At school, I opted to take Tamil as a second language as my parents had done. The other options were either Malay or Mandarin which were deemed to be far more removed from my mother tongue than Tamil. English was used in all other spheres of our lives and being the medium of instruction in school, it became the matrix language of my peers.
Not surprisingly my peers and I were more proficient in English and Tamil than in spoken Malayaal’am. Formal Malayaal’am classes had not been introduced in the early 1990s in Singapore, which meant that members of my generation never learnt to read nor write in Malayalam in a school setting. Vishu and On’am, the two main Malayaal’i festivals were often relegated to being celebrated the subsequent weekend with dear ones as it was not an official holiday on our calendar. Nevertheless, many of us developed a strong sense of allegiance to our culture namely through the efforts of our parents and the Malayaal’i community. At the same time, it is undeniable that the second and third generation Malayaal’is have acquired the habits and practices of other cultures in Singapore; and incorporated features of local languages to form a hybrid variety: Singaporean Malayaal’am (Pillai, 2010).
Cultural identities are shaped by the individual’s and community’s language choices in various societal and situational contexts (Foucault, 1977, McCarthy & Crichlow, 1993). They are shaped by the way individuals identify themselves within a larger cultural and social framework and their relationships to dominant groups in the society (Verkuyten, 1995). Linguistic minority populations like the speakers of Malayaal’am in Singapore and Malaysia, who have been reported to having experienced language shift (Govindasamy & Nambiar, 2003; Pillai, 2010) have also to grapple with an additional identity-related issue.
This chapter explores the relationship between language use and cultural identity of tri-generational Malayaal’i families in Singapore. The analysis considers both proficiency levels of third generation Malayaal’is and the role of Malayaal’am/Singaporean Malayaal’am in the community in shaping their perceptions of cultural identity.
The aim of this paper is to examine the register of conversations that characterize the English l... more The aim of this paper is to examine the register of conversations that characterize the English language in a Malayalam-English bilingual computer-mediated conversation (CMC). CMC is a form of interactive discourse that resembles a unique form of written dialogue.
Foreign Domestic Workers and the Politics of English in Singapore, 2022
While Singapore's transformation into a world class "global city" is primarily ascribed to the pr... more While Singapore's transformation into a world class "global city" is primarily ascribed to the pre-eminence accorded to English in this island state as linguistic, economic and symbolic capital (Bourdieu 1991), its economic success rests as much on its reliance on cheap immigrant labor, making it one of the largest destination countries for foreign domestic workers (FDWs) in Southeast Asia. However, the FDWs' diverse linguacultural backgrounds and limited English language skills create tremendous challenges for them in living and working in Singapore's urban, 'English-dominant' landscape. Drawing on interview responses and utilizing a narrative inquiry approach, this article examines the everyday lingua-cultural struggles of a group of fifteen FDWs from five Asian countries in communicating with their employers and other Singaporeans, with a specific focus on their coping strategies in navigating and negotiating their identities and subject-positions in overcoming them. Our analysis reveals how while the centrality of English in Singapore presents a major source of discrimination within the power dynamics of transnational employment through multiple levels of domination and control, verbal abuse, and symbolic violence, the FDWs also exhibit strong aspirations, propelled by personal goals, to better their futures by overcoming such mechanisms of oppression that impact their marginalized status.
The Malayalee community, a minority language group in Singapore, lacks institutional support for ... more The Malayalee community, a minority language group in Singapore, lacks institutional support for learning their mother tongue in schools. In school, most Malayalee children opt to study Tamil or Hindi, a Non-Tamil Indian Language (NTIL) in place of Malayalam. Over the years, ground-up initiatives by volunteers have resulted in ad-hoc community-run classes which are conducted by volunteers. In 2010, a community-run initiative, Organization X, was set up to formalize the learning and teaching of Malayalam in Singapore. This paper aims to investigate the home and school literacy practices of the children enrolled in the Malayalam classes at Organization X with a view to understand the impact of these lessons on the community. The study found that when both home and school literacy practices were viewed as social activities, it contributed to the maintenance of the language in the community.
This study analyses the literacy skills of Singapore youth in Tamil and their experiences with li... more This study analyses the literacy skills of Singapore youth in Tamil and their experiences with literacy. Despite Tamil being one of the four official languages in Singapore, the community is documented to be experiencing language shift (Gopinathan, Lakshmi, & Saravanan, 2019). It is therefore important to understand the factors that influence the acquisition of literacy practices at various stages of one’s life. To do so the study adopts Barton’s (2007) ecological framework of analysing reading and writing skills through three stages: home (emergent), school and youth and if youth literacy practices were influenced by emergent and school literacy practices. Interviews were conducted with ten Tamil youth between 21-30 years of age from varied backgrounds to understand their language learning experiences at the three different stages. This study reveals that the literacy practices of youth are influenced by home support, religious practices and parents’ attitude towards the language more than school practices. The finding of this study can inform researchers in the field of language maintenance and shift studies to use Barton’s framework of literacies as an additional methodology
An English translation of a Tamil historical fiction novel with the same name written by Kamalade... more An English translation of a Tamil historical fiction novel with the same name written by Kamaladevi Aravindan.
Published by Marshall Cavendish International (Asia) (2020)
This research project is a study of how understanding and experiencing learning as a process migh... more This research project is a study of how understanding and experiencing learning as a process might foster teachers’ own skills and also influence their classroom practice. Specifically, it looked at whether a programme under the Teachers’ Language Development Centre umbrella can have a wider impact on teachers’ understanding and application of pedagogy beyond the development of the individuals' own language and communication skills that are the focus of the programme.
In peer assessment, students learn by reciprocally giving and receiving feedback. This student-ce... more In peer assessment, students learn by reciprocally giving and receiving feedback. This student-centred assessment is in line with a series of MOE (Ministry of Education) initiatives and the concept of assessment for learning. While there are purported benefits of carrying out peer assessment, the literature points out that a key pitfall that hinders the implementation of peer assessment in classrooms is negative perceptions of teachers and students on the usefulness, validity, reliability, and fairness of peer assessment. Moreover, the majority of the studies examine peer assessment practices in higher education institutions and only a handful investigated such practices in schools, and even fewer have been published on how peer assessment is conducted in schools in the local context. Our study aims to investigate how teachers and students in Singapore secondary schools perceive peer assessment, what influences their perceptions, and how these perceptions influence peer assessment practices and learning outcomes. To do so, we introduced an online peer assessment platform to the Secondary Three cohorts in three schools. The platform allows for anonymous and multiple peer reviewing. Students as peer reviewers would receive three to four articles written by their peers for reviewing. Reciprocally they would each receive three to four sets of feedback from their peers on their essays. Students were asked to give comments (qualitative) and ratings (quantitative) on their peers’ essays. Students are also able to give feedback on the reviews that were given by their peers in the back evaluation stage. Students then revise their essays based on the comments received. To serve these purposes, the current study employs a mixed methods design and collects diverse data including pre- and post- interviews, pre- and post- surveys, and artefacts (essays uploaded on the online platform) from the students and focus group discussions with the teachers.
The focus of this study was to explore the research process (in particular the information-seekin... more The focus of this study was to explore the research process (in particular the information-seeking behaviours) and the impact of their information-seeking behaviour on product (or research paper), of pre-service teachers enrolled in an academic writing course at undergraduate level at National Institute of Education.
A TEDx talk about why everyone should write, strategies to get started and how writing can be lib... more A TEDx talk about why everyone should write, strategies to get started and how writing can be liberating.
It is widely acknowledged that writing teachers need to be readers and writers themselves to be b... more It is widely acknowledged that writing teachers need to be readers and writers themselves to be better facilitators. This workshop will provide a few strategies that writing teachers can use in their classrooms as well as provide an opportunity for teachers to hone their writing skills.
Synopsis:
This course explores competing definitions of literacy in contemporary society and e... more Synopsis:
This course explores competing definitions of literacy in contemporary society and examines the theories of language and language learning which underpin new views of literacy. It discusses the development of literacy and the relationship between people’s lives and their involvement in learning opportunities. Throughout the course, students are encouraged to examine the literacy events and practices in everyday lives.
Topics:
• The Social Basis of Literacy
• Researching Literacy Practices
• Emergent literacy amongst preschool children
• School Practices
• Adults literacy
• Literacy embedded in language: Genres
Textbook:
David Barton. (2007). Literacy: An introduction to the ecology of written language.UK: Blackwell Publishing.
A TEDx talk that explores the idea of why everyone should write, strategies on how to get started... more A TEDx talk that explores the idea of why everyone should write, strategies on how to get started and the benefits of writing. (https://youtu.be/Tz8msxyRXRc)
The aim of this paper is to examine the register of conversations that characterize the English l... more The aim of this paper is to examine the register of conversations that characterize the English language in a Malayalam-English bilingual computer-mediated conversation (CMC). CMC is a form of interactive discourse that resembles a unique form of written dialogue.
Introduction Tremendous improvements in the IT industry have played a pivotal role in aiding glob... more Introduction Tremendous improvements in the IT industry have played a pivotal role in aiding globalization and communication. As a result, communication has become more assessable and rapid with the presence of e-mails, online chat rooms and internet conferencing. One phenomenon that arose from this development was the indiscriminate subscription to on-line chat rooms by all users all over the world. A new era has been created; one of a virtual community. This study will focus on a bilingual virtual speech community. The aim of this paper is to examine the register of conversations that characterize the English language in a Malayalam-English bilingual computer-mediated conversation (CMC). CMC is a form of interactive discourse that resembles a unique form of "written dialogue". For the purpose of this study, the term CMCs will be used interchangeably with chatroom conversations. Background to Study
This chapter analyses the changing status of a minority Indian language, Malayalam, in Singapore ... more This chapter analyses the changing status of a minority Indian language, Malayalam, in Singapore and the factors that contribute to the three phrases of language use: language maintenance (1900 -1960s), language shift (1970s – 1980s) and language revitalization (1990 – 2019). In doing so, it examines (a) the factors that led to a shift away from Malayalam in a community where the language had once thrived (b) how these can be mitigated to allow the language to thrive at a community level and (c) the factors that contribute to its survival in the face of the demands made by current sociopolitical and economic imperatives within Singapore’s framework of bi/multilingualism. The chapter draws on data collected from an autobiographic narrative lens to highlight the effects of changes in demographic factors (such as the changes in population) and domains of use as well as the types of the community-driven initiatives that have kept the language alive, whilst pointing out the need for greater institutional support, moving forward.
Far from being a melting pot, multi-racial Singapore prides itself on the richness of its ethnic ... more Far from being a melting pot, multi-racial Singapore prides itself on the richness of its ethnic communities and cultures. This volume provides an updated account of the heterogeneity within each of the main communities — the Chinese, Malay, Indian, Eurasian and Others. It also documents the ethnic cultures of these communities by discussing their histories, celebrations, cultural symbols, life cycle rituals, cultural icons and attempts to preserve culture. While chapters are written by scholars drawing insight from a variety of sources ranging from academic publications to discussions with community experts, it is written in an accessible way. This volume seeks to increase intercultural understanding through presenting ample insights into the cultural beliefs and practices of the different ethnic communities. While this book is about diversity, a closer examination of the peoples and cultures of Singapore demonstrates the many similarities communities share in this Singaporean space. Contents: Foreword (Janil Puthucheary) Acknowledgements Introductory: Ethnic Diversity, Identity and Everyday Multiculturalism in Singapore (Mathew Mathews) Chinese: The Chinese in Singapore (Tong Chee Kiong) Chinese Community and Culture in Singapore (Soon Su-Chuin, Elvin Xing Yifu and Tong Chee Kiong) Malay: The Malays in Singapore (Suriani Suratman) Malay Community and Culture in Singapore (Suriani Suratman and Siti Hajar Esa) Indian: The Indians in Singapore (Vineeta Sinha) Tamil Community and Culture in Singapore (A Mani, Pravin Prakash and Shanthini Selvarajan) Malayalee Community and Culture in Singapore (Anitha Devi Pillai) Punjabi Sikh Community and Culture in Singapore (Amrit Kaur and Bhajan Singh) Gujerati Community and Culture in Singapore (Rizwana Abdul Azeez) Minority Indian communities in Singapore (Nilanjan Raghunath) Eurasians and Others: The Eurasians and Others in Singapore (Mathew Mathews) Eurasian Community and Culture in Singapore (Alexius Pereira) Filipino Community and Culture in Singapore (Lou Antolihao and Clement Mesenas) Myanmar Community and Culture in Singapore (Moe Thuzar and Christine Lim Li Ping)
The Malayalee community, a minority language group in Singapore, lacks institutional support for ... more The Malayalee community, a minority language group in Singapore, lacks institutional support for learning their mother tongue in schools. In school, most Malayalee children opt to study Tamil or Hindi, a Non-Tamil Indian Language (NTIL) in place of Malayalam. Over the years, ground-up initiatives by volunteers have resulted in ad-hoc community-run classes which are conducted by volunteers. In 2010, a community-run initiative, Organization X, was set up to formalize the learning and teaching of Malayalam in Singapore. This paper aims to investigate the home and school literacy practices of the children enrolled in the Malayalam classes at Organization X with a view to understand the impact of these lessons on the community. The study found that when both home and school literacy practices were viewed as social activities, it contributed to the maintenance of the language in the community.
Introduction “I always wanted to write my own story but I never got down to it. This course gave ... more Introduction “I always wanted to write my own story but I never got down to it. This course gave me the opportunity to craft my own fantasy story with creativity. I realised that there was so much more to writing than I thought. In the future, I hope that my students will be inspired to write their own stories and that they will be able to derive as much joy as I felt when I finished my story.” (Janice).
The National Institute of Education (NIE) is the provider of teacher education in Singapore and i... more The National Institute of Education (NIE) is the provider of teacher education in Singapore and is an institution within the Nanyang Technological University; NIE is simultaneously accountable to the Ministry of Education in Singapore. A Communication Skills for Teachers course (CST) was introduced for all pre-service teachers at NIE in July 2005. A catalyst for the development of this course, which focuses on speaking and writing skills, was the perception that the standard of English of Singaporean teachers had declined. Since 2010, the course has been offered as a blended course and increasingly, several aspects of course administration have also been conducted online. The two main areas of assessment for the course are an oral presentation and a written test. In order to ensure that grading is consistent, standardisation meetings for these tests are important but not always possible given the tutors’ varied schedules. This paper outlines the development and implementation of onl...
Conducting and reporting on a group project is a common assignment in many university courses. Pr... more Conducting and reporting on a group project is a common assignment in many university courses. Project work simulates the working world, requires critical thinking, and gives students responsibility for their own learning. We have found that assigning group research projects in our academic English program energizes our students, engages them in meaningful work, and creates an authentic environment in which to use their English language skills. On the other hand, locating information and using it effectively in academic reports is a new experience for most of our students. Today, when even experienced researchers report being overwhelmed by the volume and complexity of information that is available to them, it is no surprise that our students are confused about where to begin. They often build their projects by cutting and pasting texts from the Internet into both their written and oral reports without a clear picture of whether the information is credible or relevant and how they s...
... Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/10497/4707. Ti... more ... Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/10497/4707. Title: Discourse analysis of research papers & the acculturation experiences of novice writers In a university foundation program. Authors: Anitha Devi Pillai. Issue Date: 2012. ...
The paper examines the research project task expectations of university student writers. It offer... more The paper examines the research project task expectations of university student writers. It offers a detailed analysis of the rhetorical Moves that are likely to occur in university-level research paper prompts. The analysis highlights that while, some Moves such as Background information and Assessment expectations are optional, others like Cognitive demands on students are obligatory, and that an Overview of task and Procedural directions are desirable traits of prompts. A transitivity analysis of the prompts, student interviews and reflections revealed that despite the prescriptive tone and the heavy cognitive and rhetorical demands made on student writers, the prompts did not alienate the novices who were on the whole receptive to the requirements specified by the instructors.
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Invited Keynote and Plenary Session Talks by Anitha Devi Pillai
Let the stories and the poems be in everyone’s tongue, the songs in
everyone’s throats’ (Alunan, 2010, p. 188)
Alunan’s (2010) call for educators to promote literacy in mother tongue languages as well as Licuanan’s (2010) observation that the promotion of a multilingual education would empower students in Philippines indicate a growing acceptance of the role and impact of the multilingual landscape of the classrooms.
The rich linguistic practices present in this multilingual and multicultural context can be harnessed by teachers to utilize children’s representation of knowledge during writing instruction in the 21st century classrooms as well.
Despite the push to draw on students’ prior knowledge, non-school literacies in multilingual homes are generally not seen as supporting school-based literacies. One important reason for this view is that family literacy practices tend to be more reliant on oral than literate practices (Barton, 2007). Schools often tend to compensate for the perceived influence of non-school literacies by providing additional support for children in the writing classroom (Street & Street, 1991; Kendrick, M. & McKay, 2002).
Unfortunately, this approach neglects the fact that children primarily draw on their perceptions and interpretations of social interactions about the cultural materials, and experiences to which they are exposed to both inside and outside school. As children construct their texts in relation to how they define themselves and their relations with parents, siblings, teachers, and peers, non-school literacies and home literacy practices represent a significant repository of knowledge that children draw on to craft their texts. Hence, by decontextualizing writing tasks and advocating only canonical texts and genres in the classroom, we risk alienating children from their writing.
The talk concludes with a discussion on how teachers could draw on students’ mother tongue to encourage them to write in the medium of instruction in the writing classroom.
References
Alunan, M. (2010). Saving a language through literature. In Nolasco, R., Datar, F. and Azurin,
A. (Eds.) Starting where the Children are: A Collection of Essays on Mother Tongue-based Multilingual Education and Language Issues in the Philippines. Philippines: Talaytayan MLE Inc
Licuanan, P. (2010). Students learn better when the mother tongue is used. In Nolasco, R., Datar,
F. and Azurin, A. (Eds.) Starting where the Children are: A Collection of Essays on Mother Tongue-based Multilingual Education and Language Issues in the Philippines. Philippines: Talaytayan MLE Inc.
Street, B. and Street, J. (1991). The schooling of literacy. In D. Barton and R. Ivani (Eds.)
Writing in the Community. London: Sage.
Barton, D. (2007) Literacy: An introduction to the ecology of written language. Oxford:
Blackwell Publishing.
Kendrick, M. & McKay, R. (2002). Uncovering literacy narratives through children’s drawings.
Canadian Journal of Education, 27 (1), 45-60.
"
Research on Developing Writing Teachers & Writers by Anitha Devi Pillai
One way to address the gap between identifying errors and providing holistic and summative feedback is to provide screencast feedback using a free software JING. Screencast feedback is a digital recording that captures actions that take place on a computer screen with voice-over narration from the instructor. Studies (Thomson & Lee, 2012; Vincelette & Bostic, 2013) have reported that students found screencast feedback to be useful as it replaced impersonal comments on their writing which can often be misconstrued by students as negative feedback.
The talk will demonstrate the use of the software and present ways to explore an alternative medium to give feedback on students’ writing.
Let the stories and the poems be in everyone’s tongue, the songs in
everyone’s throats’ (Alunan, 2010, p. 188)
Alunan’s (2010) call for educators to promote literacy in mother tongue languages as well as Licuanan’s (2010) observation that the promotion of a multilingual education would empower students in Philippines indicate a growing acceptance of the role and impact of the multilingual landscape of the classrooms.
The rich linguistic practices present in this multilingual and multicultural context can be harnessed by teachers to utilize children’s representation of knowledge during writing instruction in the 21st century classrooms as well.
Despite the push to draw on students’ prior knowledge, non-school literacies in multilingual homes are generally not seen as supporting school-based literacies. One important reason for this view is that family literacy practices tend to be more reliant on oral than literate practices (Barton, 2007). Schools often tend to compensate for the perceived influence of non-school literacies by providing additional support for children in the writing classroom (Street & Street, 1991; Kendrick, M. & McKay, 2002).
Unfortunately, this approach neglects the fact that children primarily draw on their perceptions and interpretations of social interactions about the cultural materials, and experiences to which they are exposed to both inside and outside school. As children construct their texts in relation to how they define themselves and their relations with parents, siblings, teachers, and peers, non-school literacies and home literacy practices represent a significant repository of knowledge that children draw on to craft their texts. Hence, by decontextualizing writing tasks and advocating only canonical texts and genres in the classroom, we risk alienating children from their writing.
The talk concludes with a discussion on how teachers could draw on students’ mother tongue to encourage them to write in the medium of instruction in the writing classroom.
References
Alunan, M. (2010). Saving a language through literature. In Nolasco, R., Datar, F. and Azurin,
A. (Eds.) Starting where the Children are: A Collection of Essays on Mother Tongue-based Multilingual Education and Language Issues in the Philippines. Philippines: Talaytayan MLE Inc
Licuanan, P. (2010). Students learn better when the mother tongue is used. In Nolasco, R., Datar,
F. and Azurin, A. (Eds.) Starting where the Children are: A Collection of Essays on Mother Tongue-based Multilingual Education and Language Issues in the Philippines. Philippines: Talaytayan MLE Inc.
Street, B. and Street, J. (1991). The schooling of literacy. In D. Barton and R. Ivani (Eds.)
Writing in the Community. London: Sage.
Barton, D. (2007) Literacy: An introduction to the ecology of written language. Oxford:
Blackwell Publishing.
Kendrick, M. & McKay, R. (2002). Uncovering literacy narratives through children’s drawings.
Canadian Journal of Education, 27 (1), 45-60.
"
One way to address the gap between identifying errors and providing holistic and summative feedback is to provide screencast feedback using a free software JING. Screencast feedback is a digital recording that captures actions that take place on a computer screen with voice-over narration from the instructor. Studies (Thomson & Lee, 2012; Vincelette & Bostic, 2013) have reported that students found screencast feedback to be useful as it replaced impersonal comments on their writing which can often be misconstrued by students as negative feedback.
The talk will demonstrate the use of the software and present ways to explore an alternative medium to give feedback on students’ writing.
This conference presentation examines how the various courses offered by TLDC of National Institute of Education, Singapore helps to deepen pre-service teachers’ subject content knowledge on the various types of texts that they are required to teach in their classrooms. TLDC offers courses on learning to write academic essays (Academic Discourse); increase language proficiency (Digital Storytelling, Online Journalism) and develop appropriate professional communication strategies (Communication Skills for Teachers).
In this presentation, I will discuss how the section on written communication in the Communication Skills for Teachers module, supports writing teacher’s understanding of professional communication while the Academic Discourse module provides them with a platform to learn the mechanics of academic research writing. Both modules aid in increasing pre-service teachers’ content knowledge of different types of expository texts such as the research project essay and persuasive essay.
Other modules such as Digital Storytelling and Online Journalism, provides them with a platform to experience process writing and gain pedagogical knowledge, as well as increase their knowledge on other types of texts such as narratives and visual texts.
The presentation examines how the various courses synergizes to support the theory-practice nexus of both their subject content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge to develop pre-service teachers as effective writing teachers.
References
Chambless, M. S., & Bass, J.A. (1995). Effecting changes in student teachers’ attitudes toward writing.
Reading Research and Instruction, 35, (2), 153-160.Gebhardt, 1976
Graves, D. (Ed.) (1999). Writing, reaching, learning: A sourcebook. Portsmouth, NH:
Boynton Cook.
Hairston, M. (1982). The winds of change: Thomas Kuhn and the revolution in the teaching of writing. College Composition and Communication, 33, 76-88.
Lapp, D. I. A. N. E., & Flood, J. A. M. E. S. (1985). The impact of writing instruction on teachers’ attitudes
and practices. In Proceedings of the thirty-fourth national reading conference on issues in literacy: A
research perspective (pp. 375-380).
Street, C. (2003). Pre-service teachers' attitudes about writing and learning to teach writing:
Implications for teacher educators. Teacher Education Quarterly, 30(3), 33-50.
Three key stages in their development as writers and writing teachers are analyzed by examining firstly their prior experience with process writing, secondly, what they learnt and experienced during the module and finally, their experience in their first writing classroom sometimes as observers and often as practitioners. The preliminary findings reveal that despite some previous exposure to process writing, experiencing the whole cycle themselves and consciously reflecting on it helped pre-service teachers craft better texts as writers and enhanced their understanding of how to support the development of their students as critical 21st century writers.
Introduction
Why don’t they see that the approaches we are using to teach them are those we hope they will use in their own classrooms?” This was the question we asked ourselves when we read feedback at the completion of one of our courses. The end-of-course survey indicated that most of the participants had enjoyed the course and felt that
their language skills had improved, but they did not necessarily feel they could apply what they had learned to their own teaching. This surprised us because we had assumed they would realize that we were modeling techniques they could use when they began teaching.
We had, after all, been using a process approach to writing that they had just studied in another course. So it puzzled us that the participants did not recognize that the opportunity for personal creativity and the support through collaboration and feedback we provided were models of instructional practice we hoped they would provide to their own students. The response of one participant to our approach showed a change in her perception of writing:
”Personally, I came from a point of view that I disliked writing and anything that had to do with coming up with a story. However, as I progressed with my group mates, tutor, and even whole class sharing, I felt that I started to like writing more. This activity really helps to boost individual’s interests and it is because of this interest and supportive peers who gave many suggestions to add into my storyboard, I felt more confident in completing this piece of work.
Also, what really boosted my interest level was the freewill to choose how we wanted to present this digital story. In the end, I now have a little crush on reading and writing as well.”
We remained concerned because this indication of interest in writing seemed exceptional. Why was it that our preservice teachers did not recognize how this approach would transfer to their own practice? Perhaps the reason was because our approach seemed “so different from teaching writing and oral skills the conventional way,” as the participant stated.
Billet (2013) argued that “developing adaptable learning,” which he defined as “knowledge applicable to circumstances beyond those where it is learnt,” is “central to the educational project and the purpose of educational institutions” (p. 6). Our experience taught us, however, that the desired reapplication of knowledge and of approaches that seemed unfamiliar was not likely to happen unless we made more overt links between what we were teaching and the development of practice by our students.
We identified this as a theory-practice gap in our course and discussed ways to bridge it. In this chapter, we describe the changes we introduced and illustrate the results through the voices of participants.
As Goldin, Ashley, and Schunn (2012) point out, the contextual diversity of peer feedback in an education setting on writing tasks is so broad that there are inevitably many variations on peer feedback, and hence many conflicting reports, specifically in the context of L2 writing (Nelson & Carson, 2006). For example, peer feedback can be given online or on paper (Ellis, 2011), which in turn can be face-to-face or anonymous; synchronous or asynchronous; multiple feedback stages with multiple feedback givers or a single stage with one feedback giver.
Given this diversity, it is entirely appropriate that current researchers on teacher and peer feedback in the writing process are using an equally wide range of tools and methods to gain a better understanding of peer feedback processes and how they influence the writing process.
The panel of speakers examines teachers’ perceptions about providing alternative feedback; students’ perceptions of teacher feedback; how a group of teachers managed to facilitate peer-feedback and the nature of peer feedback which is likely to result in revision. The four studies were conducted in different contexts with a focus of exploring an effective mode of feedback that will result in a revision of texts as well as the development of student writers.
problem by integrating language skills development with an awareness of pedagogical approaches. The participants in this study, pre-service teachers who were preparing to teach in Singapore primary
schools, attended a short intensive course that helped develop and support their own English language skills while modelling approaches they would be expected to use in their own classrooms. Data were collected using a pre-course survey, reflective tasks during and after the course, and a post-course task based on practical school experience. The findings demonstrate how the participants became more
aware of their own language skills and noted improvements. At the same time experiencing and reflecting on the pedagogical approaches used in the course helped shape their perceptions and beliefs, and had potential and real impacts on their subsequent teaching. Clarke and Hollingsworth’s (2002) Interconnected Model of Teacher Professional Growth (IMTPG) was used to analyze the data and highlighted the individuality of the process of teacher professional growth, while at the same time revealing some common patterns.
This paper examines how the various courses offered by TLDC of National Institute of Education, Singapore helps to deepen pre-service teachers’ subject content knowledge on the various types of texts that they are required to teach in their classrooms. TLDC offers courses on learning to write academic essays (Academic Discourse); increase language proficiency (Digital Storytelling, Online Journalism) and develop appropriate professional communication strategies (Communication Skills for Teachers).
In this presentation, I will discuss how the section on written communication in the Communication Skills for Teachers module, supports writing teacher’s understanding of professional communication while the Academic Discourse module provides them with a platform to learn the mechanics of academic research writing. Both modules aid in increasing pre-service teachers’ content knowledge of different types of expository texts such as the research project essay and persuasive essay.
Other modules such as Digital Storytelling and Online Journalism, provides them with a platform to experience process writing and gain pedagogical knowledge, as well as increase their knowledge on other types of texts such as narratives and visual texts.
The presentation examines how the various courses synergizes to support the theory-practice nexus of both their subject content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge to develop pre-service teachers as effective writing teachers.
References
References
Chambless, M. S., & Bass, J.A. (1995). Effecting changes in student teachers’ attitudes toward writing. Reading Research and Instruction, 35, (2), 153-160
Graves, D. (Ed.) (1999). Writing, reaching, learning: A sourcebook. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton Cook.
Hairston, M. (1982). The winds of change: Thomas Kuhn and the revolution in the teaching of writing. College Composition and Communication, 33, 76-88.
Lapp, D. I. A. N. E., & Flood, J. A. M. E. S. (1985). The impact of writing instruction on teachers’ attitudes and practices. In Proceedings of the thirty-fourth national reading conference on issues in literacy: A research perspective (pp. 375-380).
Street, C. (2003). Pre-service teachers' attitudes about writing and learning to teach writing: Implications for teacher educators. Teacher Education Quarterly, 30(3), 33-50.
It looks at how three teacher educators at the National Institute of Education, Singapore interpreted the course and at how content, in this case teaching ideas and approaches, was integrated with activities promoting language development.
The three teacher educators describe the conceptualization of the course, which takes a project- and task-based approach and blends in class and online modes, how links between the language focused activities the participants experienced and methodologies were made more explicit, and how a process writing approach was actualized.
They also consider the wider applicability of this interpretation of CLIL in the training of language teachers.
is an institution within the Nanyang Technological University; NIE is simultaneously accountable to the Ministry of Education in Singapore. A Communication Skills for Teachers
course (CST) was introduced for all pre-service teachers at NIE in July 2005. A catalyst for the
development of this course, which focuses on speaking and writing skills, was the perception
that the standard of English of Singaporean teachers had declined. Since 2010, the course has been offered as a blended course and increasingly, several aspects of course administration have also been conducted online. The two main areas of assessment for the course are an oral presentation and a written test. In order to ensure that grading is consistent, standardisation meetings for these tests are important but not always possible given the tutors’ varied schedules. This paper outlines the development and implementation of online standardisation for the written assessment component of the CST course. Utilising collaborative tools for standardisation saves time and reduces the need for face-to-face meetings for this important aspect of assessment.
Learning to write academic papers is a challenging task for novice writers, who must be able to cope with the demands of conducting research and learn to ‘converse’ in a new discourse. Novice writers need to understand task requirements, the instructor’s expectations, and the rudiments of writing up their research in an acceptable format. Even when novices are receptive to the challenge, this is particularly demanding for them since they have little experience of the meticulous academic writing skills expected of them.
This study addresses the perceived problems that novices enrolled in a university’s Foundation program face when writing their first academic research project papers. An investigation of the coping strategies used by novices in overcoming these problems should therefore help shed light on how they may be helped to effectively tackle the demands of academic research and academic report writing skills that they require in order to be accepted in the community of practice. The main findings are that novice writers struggle to acquire academic writing literacy and to understand academic writing requirements, expectations and conventions. The study then looks at how a group of novice writers in a foundation programme responded to the demands of completing their first research projects. The thesis is based on the premise that the beliefs and practices of novice writers are shaped by their knowledge repository of what constitutes research and academic writing as well as their nascent knowledge of academia."
This paper focuses on Project Work which is taught as an examinable subject for Year 11 and 12 students in Singapore. The aims of Project Work as envisioned by the Ministry of Education are to provide students with an opportunity to explore, integrate and make meaningful links between different disciplines and to encourage students to break away from compartmentalized learning. Although it is an excellent platform for fostering critical thinking there seems to be minimal linguistic scaffolding provided for learners to complete the task.
Drawing from a data of surveys, drafts, written essays and with reference to project based instruction pedagogy, a framework called ‘Integrated Project Work Approach’ is proposed. The data revealed that the most difficult component of Project Work that students faced was in writing their reports and that students were largely unaware of the academic benefits that could be gained from the task.
Hence the model focuses on effectively socializing novice researchers into the academic culture and in promoting learner independence via teaching communication skills, inculcating good research skills, fostering independent learning and developing interdisciplinary domain knowledge. The development of a systematic tool will also raise learners’ awareness to demands of academia. Furthermore, it has the potential to facilitate the teaching of academic genre through a task based approach and aims to provide sufficient attention to both the process and product.
This paper examines how novice writers frame their first research papers and whether there are recurring patterns of discourse organizational structures in these papers. The data for this study comprise 45 novice research papers of about 3000 to 4500 words written by first year university students. Macro (discourse organizational structures) (Paltridge, 2006) and Micro organization (Moves and Steps) (Swales, 1990 & 2004) of the papers were analyzed.
A common suggestion made by researchers (e.g., Paltridge, 1994; Bhatia, 2002) who have studied macro-structures is that such studies need to incorporate an analysis of the social context of the text and consider writers’ beliefs, expectations, and understanding of the writing task. The social and cultural context of the text provides an insight into why writers frame their texts as they do. Equal importance should then be given to the social construction of texts as well as to the texts themselves and not be limited to linguistic analysis. The question to ask in text analysis is thus why instead of what. Text analysis that asks why is more likely to inform the development and implementation of language pedagogy usefully.
The findings in this study show that research papers emulate Moves that expert writers use in their writing to a certain extent. At the same time they are easily distinguishable from expert papers in several ways such as the use of experiential evidence, explicit discussion of secondary literature and use of narrative genre in research papers. The hybrid nature of texts makes it ‘less academic’ and the writer’s presence is a constant presence in the writing. As novices, they are at the bottom of the rung in being socialized into academia. As such, they often express their difficulties in completing the projects or benefits that they have personally gained in doing the project. The presence of such reminiscing is largely in the conclusion sub-genre which gives the impression that the academic portion of the research project ends with the discussion component which is similar to the macrostructures of research articles.
References
Bhatia, V. (2002). A generic view of academic discourse. In J. Flowerdew (Ed.), Academic discourse (pp. 1-19). London: Pearson Education.
Paltridge, B. (2004). Genre and the language learning classroom. Michigan: University of Michigan Press.
Paltridge, B. (2006). Discourse analysis. New York: Continuum.
Swales, J. (1990). Genre analysis: English in academic and research settings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Swales, J. (2004). Research genres: Explorations and applications. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
This paper focuses on what student writers chose to include in their papers and why they did so, to examine writers’ understanding and perception about the role of secondary data in their research. The student writers took 10 hours of academic writing classes in English per week for a year. In the academic writing course, student writers examined rhetorical structures in journal articles and discussed the various structures such as IMRD (Swales, 1990, 2004) used by experts in prominent English language journals. They were also exposed to a variety of genres through their readings and were encouraged in their class discussions to explore the suitability of the use of the various rhetorical structures in their assignments. The discussion of this paper is part of a larger study comprising research papers by student writers, interviews and journal entries which were collected over a period of 2 years.
Student writers found the literature review component of the research paper to be one of the more difficult ones to write. This is most likely due to the broad purpose they believed to be inherent in this section, which they expected to be both informational and interestingly, experiential in scope. As perceived by the novice writers, the informational expectations are to: show an understanding of the task prompt; show evidence of a wide range of readings and to evaluate the readings. Meanwhile, the experiential expectations are to: impress the reader by showing how much work had been done; position themselves as experts and to add on information from their personal experience.
References
Swales, J. (1990). Genre analysis: English in academic and research settings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Swales, J. (2004). Research genres: Explorations and applications. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Swales, J. & Lindemann, S. (2002). Teaching the literature review to international graduate students. In A. M. Johns (Ed.), Genre in the classroom: Multiple perspectives (1 ed., pp. 105-119). New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc."
It is also their first encounter with the academic writing genre. Not surprisingly, many students and teachers find the writing component to be the most difficult and challenging component of Project Work. This chapter will provide a description of generic structure of written reports and explore the impact of the task prompts on the Project Work essay.
This chapter examines pre-service teachers’ perceptions of the research skills taught in Project Work when they were in Junior College in order to understand the level of scaffolding that they would require in the first year of university, in order to engage in independent research effectively. The skills that students are expected to learn in the Project Work classroom are described followed by a brief recount of the data collection methods and an examination of students’ perceptions of their own learning in terms of what they enjoyed, the skills they thought that they had acquired, and the components that they found challenging.
Hence, this bibliography focuses on both the novice writer/researcher and novice writing/product. Broadly, this can be studied by analysing academic writing task prompts to understand task expectations and the impact of task requirements on novice writers and writing. Novice writing could also be analysed by examining the overall rhetorical organization (including Move & Step analysis). The strategies that novice writers use to achieve different purposes of sub-genres will enable researchers to understand novice writers‘ motivations and perceptions of academic writing essays. The novice writer‘s voice is another integral part of any text analysis and this is addressed by combining text analysis with novice writers‘ experience and perceptions as shown by the studies listed in the academic discourse socialization list.
The tools described in the bibliography are used by researchers working in three different but complementary traditions (Systemic Functional Linguistics, English for Academic Purposes/English for Specific Purposes & New Rhetoric Studies). As the tools in genre studies are mutually interchangeable, a variety of methods were adopted from genre studies research to develop the framework of analysis.
The curriculum has been conceptualized to include the tenants of project-based learning which requires the Project Work classroom to be more student-focused with opportunities to incorporate bottom-up strategies in the classroom.
This chapter provides a brief background of project-based learning; examines some aspects of how Project Work has been conceptualized in Singapore and offers some suggestions on several components that could be incorporated into the Project Work framework.
Ellis, M. & Pillai, A.D. (2009a). Communication for Educators: English for Educators Handbook. Bahrain: Bahrain Teachers College
The article is uploaded to support research purposes only. The copyright of the article lies with Tabla.
Reference:
Pillai, A.D. (2017, Sep 1). SMA is 100. Tabla! p. 12-14.
Festivals help communities to forge links and relationships with one another. Celebrations like Onam brings the community together. Like many other diasporic communities, Onam celebrations in Singapore are adapted and evolved to suit the lifestyles of the citizens here.
This book documents a 100 years of celebrations of Onam in Singapore; describes the festival's origin and significance for all Malayalees, both in Kerala and Singapore, as well as highlights many of the key moments in the festivities.
The book, 'The Story of Onam' is part of a series of books published by the Indian Heritage Centre, National Heritage Board (Singapore). It draws on the data collected for the 'Singapore Malayalee Story', which was supported by a grant from National Heritage Board, Singapore.
NOTE that this is a draft version. (All rights reserved.) It is a chapter in the 'From Kerala to Singapore: Voices from the Singapore Malayalee Community' book.
(https://www.amazon.com/Kerala-Singapore-Voices-Malayalee-Community/dp/9814721832/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=anitha+devi+pillai&qid=1579147760&sr=8-2)
Reference for this chapter:
Pillai, A.D. (2017). Malayalees in Singapore. In Pillai, A.D. & Arumugam, P. From Kerala to Singapore: Voices of the Singapore Malayalee Community. Marshall Cavendish Editions: Singapore, p. 16-61.
(All rights reserved.)
Reference for this chapter:
Pillai, A. D., (In Press). In. Palackal, A., Giuseppina, M. & Choudhary, N. (Eds.)
Making of Distinctions: Towards A Social Science of Inclusion. Information Age Publications, Charlotte, N.C.
Contents:
Foreword (Janil Puthucheary)
Acknowledgements
Introductory: Ethnic Diversity, Identity and Everyday Multiculturalism in Singapore (Mathew Mathews)
Chinese:
The Chinese in Singapore (Tong Chee Kiong)
Chinese Community and Culture in Singapore (Soon Su-Chuin, Elvin Xing Yifu and Tong Chee Kiong)
Malay:
The Malays in Singapore (Suriani Suratman)
Malay Community and Culture in Singapore (Suriani Suratman and Siti Hajar Esa)
Indian:
The Indians in Singapore (Vineeta Sinha)
Tamil Community and Culture in Singapore (A Mani, Pravin Prakash and Shanthini Selvarajan)
Malayalee Community and Culture in Singapore (Anitha Devi Pillai)
Punjabi Sikh Community and Culture in Singapore (Amrit Kaur and Bhajan Singh)
Gujerati Community and Culture in Singapore (Rizwana Abdul Azeez)
Minority Indian communities in Singapore (Nilanjan Raghunath)
Eurasians and Others:
The Eurasians and Others in Singapore (Mathew Mathews)
Eurasian Community and Culture in Singapore (Alexius Pereira)
Filipino Community and Culture in Singapore (Lou Antolihao and Clement Mesenas)
Myanmar Community and Culture in Singapore (Moe Thuzar and Christine Lim Li Ping)
The early Malayalee settlers in Singapore were primarily males resulting in a gender imbalance. Malayalees did not like to move in family units (Arasaratnam, 1970). They were described as the ‘least settled Indian group in Malaya’ which they regarded … as a place to earn their income to support their families in India, hence resulting in a gender imbalance (Sandhu, 2010). In the early years they had minimal contact with Kerala and many never returned to Kerala. There was no institutionalized means of keeping their language alive or to transmit the language to the next generation either. This resulted in a clear language shift by the second generation and a formation of a unique Singapore Malayalee identity.
This paper traces the community and literacy practices of the Singapore Malayalee and the subsequent evolution of the Malayalee identity.
About 130 participants and their families were interviewed for this project. The interviewees ranged from first generation migrants to fourth generation migrants over a period of more than 100 years.
The interviewees’ families arrived in five different periods of time starting from 1906 to 2007. The data for the study comprises visual data (interviewees’ personal photographs of their ancestors, current photograph of the interviewees, family trees), audio data (oral histories and interviews) and written narratives.
A handful of recent migrants have been included in this project. Interestingly, the newer migrants’ journeys parallel those before them despite having the advantage of being able to travel back to Kerala at the drop of a hat as well as ready access to the language via the Internet and media.
References
Arasaratnam, S. (1970). Indians in Malaya and Singapore. Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press.
Federated Malay States. (1911). The Census of the Federated Malay States, 1911: Review of the Census Operations and Results Including Tables Exhibiting the Population by Sex, Age, Race, Birthplace, Religion and Occupation. Publisher not identified.
Sandhu, K. S. (2010). Indians in Malaya: Some aspects of their immigration and settlement (1786-1957). Cambridge University Press.
Singapore Statistics. (2010). Census of population 2010. Retrieved January, 3, 2011.
ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the notion of cultural identity, language use, attitudes towards language maintenance of seven tri-generational Singaporean Malayal’i families. The analysis considers both proficiency levels of third generation Malayaal’is and the role of Malayaal’am in the community in shaping their perceptions of cultural identity. The study revealed that Malayalam had less utilitarian purposes in the lives of third generation Malayalees than it did amongst first generation Malayaal’is. Singaporean Malayaal’is who have been in Singapore for the last 50 years and their family members also identified themselves as a separate group from native Malayalees from India.
INTRODUCTION
As a fourth/third (maternal/paternal) generation Singaporean Malayaal’i, I was raised with a strong sense of belonging to a minority community and culture that seemed to be overshadowed by the larger Tamil speaking population. Malayaal’am was spoken only at home (if at all) and whenever we met other members of the family or community. At school, I opted to take Tamil as a second language as my parents had done. The other options were either Malay or Mandarin which were deemed to be far more removed from my mother tongue than Tamil. English was used in all other spheres of our lives and being the medium of instruction in school, it became the matrix language of my peers.
Not surprisingly my peers and I were more proficient in English and Tamil than in spoken Malayaal’am. Formal Malayaal’am classes had not been introduced in the early 1990s in Singapore, which meant that members of my generation never learnt to read nor write in Malayalam in a school setting. Vishu and On’am, the two main Malayaal’i festivals were often relegated to being celebrated the subsequent weekend with dear ones as it was not an official holiday on our calendar. Nevertheless, many of us developed a strong sense of allegiance to our culture namely through the efforts of our parents and the Malayaal’i community. At the same time, it is undeniable that the second and third generation Malayaal’is have acquired the habits and practices of other cultures in Singapore; and incorporated features of local languages to form a hybrid variety: Singaporean Malayaal’am (Pillai, 2010).
Cultural identities are shaped by the individual’s and community’s language choices in various societal and situational contexts (Foucault, 1977, McCarthy & Crichlow, 1993). They are shaped by the way individuals identify themselves within a larger cultural and social framework and their relationships to dominant groups in the society (Verkuyten, 1995). Linguistic minority populations like the speakers of Malayaal’am in Singapore and Malaysia, who have been reported to having experienced language shift (Govindasamy & Nambiar, 2003; Pillai, 2010) have also to grapple with an additional identity-related issue.
This chapter explores the relationship between language use and cultural identity of tri-generational Malayaal’i families in Singapore. The analysis considers both proficiency levels of third generation Malayaal’is and the role of Malayaal’am/Singaporean Malayaal’am in the community in shaping their perceptions of cultural identity.
Published by Marshall Cavendish International (Asia) (2020)
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This course explores competing definitions of literacy in contemporary society and examines the theories of language and language learning which underpin new views of literacy. It discusses the development of literacy and the relationship between people’s lives and their involvement in learning opportunities. Throughout the course, students are encouraged to examine the literacy events and practices in everyday lives.
Topics:
• The Social Basis of Literacy
• Researching Literacy Practices
• Emergent literacy amongst preschool children
• School Practices
• Adults literacy
• Literacy embedded in language: Genres
Textbook:
David Barton. (2007). Literacy: An introduction to the ecology of written language.UK: Blackwell Publishing.