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Change and Continuity in the Singapore Literature-in-English Curriculum

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Change and Continuity in the Singapore Literature-In-English Curriculum

Chin Ee, Loh

National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

To cite: Chin Ee Loh (2018) Change and Continuity in the Singapore Literature-in-English

Curriculum, Changing English, 25:1, 85-96, DOI: 10.1080/1358684X.2017.1388157

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Running Head: Change and Continuity in the Singapore Literature Curriculum

In March 2013, the decline and uptake of Literature as a General Certificate of Education (GCE)

O-level subject in Singapore featured prominently in a local newspaper in The Straits Times (ST),

after Nominated Member of Parliament, Janice Koh, raised questions during one parliament

session (Ng 2013). In the Forum section of ST, readers argued for the humanistic value of the

subject and its potential for building national identity, for nurturing greater linguistic fluency and

for encouraging critical and creative thinking, thereby making Literature an important, if not

compulsory, subject in the school curriculum. It was not the first time the decline in the number

of students taking Literature had sparked interest in Singapore news. Editorials defending the

necessity of Literature have been featured periodically since 1995 when Literature became

optional at the O-levels (Ong 2002) and when certain independent schools took the lead in

making the subject optional because it was perceived to be difficult to obtain a good grade in

(Gopinathan & Tan 2000). This is reflective of the predictable pragmatism in Singapore schools

when it comes to subject choice. The relevance of Literature is dependent on its perceived

utilitarian value.

In this paper, I examine the underlying ideology sustaining curriculum consistency and

change in the Singapore Literature curriculum. Graff (1987) has argued in his study of literacy in

the West that a situated and historical understanding of the definition and development of

literacy is required for meaningful and critical engagement with the role of literacy in the present

and for the future. In the same way, understanding the shifts in how Literature is conceptualised

and received in the educational domain against the backdrop of macro-educational change

provides insight into why particular traditions have endured, and when and why changes occur.

Drawing on national syllabi and O-level assessment papers from 1990 to 2014, I demonstrate

how the dominant logic of national interest – in the form of fostering a decontextualised critical

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Running Head: Change and Continuity in the Singapore Literature Curriculum

thinking and building a national identity – has guided the evolution of the national Literature

syllabus. At the same time, I argue that despite the movement of Singapore’s curriculum towards

what Kennedy (2013) called the beginning of a “genuine post-colonial curriculum” that is

sensitive to local needs, the generally conservative Literature curriculum reveals residual British

beliefs and values in the kinds of texts chosen and the kinds of sanctioned reading practices

evidenced in examination expectations, contributing to a sense of continuity with regard to what

counts as Literature education in Singapore.

Dominant, Residual and Emergent Forms in Literature Education

Raymond Williams’ (1977) conceptual framework of dominant, residual and emergent forms

serve as a starting point for examining the development of Literature as a subject in the school

curriculum. Williams’ concepts of the “residual” and the “emergent” within the dominant allow

one to make sense of the process of cultural emergence. Culture is not static and unified, and the

dominant ideology is a balance between dominant perspectives, traditions and enduring traits

that are in fact a form of “predisposed continuity” (p. 116) and newer or emergent ideas. In

England, the development of English Literature as a category for study can be seen in the

discipline that emerged from Renaissance notions of literacy (i.e., being able to read), and in how

it achieved its specialised meaning of printed books of a certain quality in the nineteenth century.

English Literature could be seen as an emergent form and an alternative idea to the study of

Latin and Greek that was eventually accepted as the dominant idea. The rise of British

nationalism and the failure of religion in England were among the reasons that accounted for the

rise of English Literature as the repository of all that was great and good about English culture

(Eagleton 1983).

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Running Head: Change and Continuity in the Singapore Literature Curriculum

The status of Literature as a subject worth studying required a cultural shift for English

Literature from being a discipline on the margins to an essential university discipline. This mind-

set change is also reflected in the mainstream education system, where the study of English

Literature was practically tied to national objectives, such as in the Newbolt Report (Board of

Education 1921) which emphasised the central role of Literature in the education of the young in

post-war Britain. The development of Literature as a core subject in England illustrates how the

school curriculum is a selective tradition of what a nation deems necessary for the education of

its young to produce a particular kind of citizen. Kliebard (2004) has shown, through a historical

examination of changes in the American curriculum, how interest groups struggle to shape what

counts as relevant knowledge for each generation of students.

The practice of any dominant ideology, often internalised in institutions and in official

and everyday talk, is thus rife with contradictions and unresolved conflicts. Williams explained

that by examining the “residual” and the “emergent” within the dominant, one is able to make

sense of the process of cultural emergence.

By “residual” I mean something different from the “archaic” though in practice these are
often very difficult to distinguish. Any culture includes available elements of the past, but
their place in the contemporary cultural process is profoundly variable…. The residual,
by definition, has been effectively formed in the past, but is still active in the cultural
process, not only and often not at all as an element of the past, but as an effective element
of the present.’ (Williams 1977: 122)

The residual form is an active form of the selective past that continues to influence cultural

process as an effective element of the present. In the context of the establishment of Literature as

a subject, the notion of reading particular kinds of texts as a form of polite learning maintained

its importance in the new version of Literature as a subject even though the content of what was

to be studied shifted.

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Running Head: Change and Continuity in the Singapore Literature Curriculum

In post-colonial contexts, the rise of Literature can be attributed to colonial imposition

rather than nationalism, where Literature served as a tool to cultivate a class of educated elite to

be able to help the colonial masters run the country (Holden 2000; Viswanthan 1989). However,

the dominance of Literature over other languages and literature is not the single unmediated

imposition of an undivided imperialistic ruler over submissive colonial subjects. Rather, as

Viswanthan (1987) observed in the case of India, the dominance of English Literature (over

vernacular Arabic or Sanskrit Literature) is the result of contestations between various interest

groups such as the East India Company, the English Parliament, missionaries and the Indian elite

class. Although Literature was initially studied for language purposes, the version of Literature

that evolved in the 1800s had a strong moralising quality to it. The strategy to convince the

natives of British superiority was to promote British interests “through representations of

Western literary knowledge as objective, universal, and rational” (Viswanathan 1987: 18).

Persuaded of the moral, intellectual and superior value of English Literature, the Indians

themselves were complicit in agreeing to submit to the hegemonic imposition as legitimate and

inevitable. Paradoxically, the reading of Western texts provided the Indian elite with access to

nineteenth century ideas of nationalism and liberalism, which fuelled the fight for independence

(Gowda 1958). India’s example demonstrates that the dominant version of Literature in various

contexts is the result and subject of ongoing contestations rather than simple unilateral

imposition.

Literature Education in Singapore

In the days prior to and in the early days of Singapore’s independence, the study of Literature

was largely limited to students studying in English-medium schools. It was viewed as a subject

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Running Head: Change and Continuity in the Singapore Literature Curriculum

that would complement the technical study of English language by providing students with

cultural knowledge of the British Empire, and, as with India, the civilising and imperialistic

objectives to cultivate surrogate Englishmen were masked by the rhetoric of universalism

(Holden 2000).

This view of Literature as culture-blind was over-ridden in the 1960s and 1970s where it

was a matter of “practical politics” for the newly formed Singapore government to “lay the

foundations for a Malayan culture” (Rajaratnam 1987: 119). In the “Enright Affair”, a series of

verbal confrontations between D. J. Enright, who was a Professor of English at the University of

Malaya in Singapore, and S. Rajaratnam, then Minister of Culture for Singapore, the notion of a

universal culture was rejected in favour of a national culture, specific to individual countries.

This nation-specific version of culture in a climate of anti-colonial nationalism and nation-

building formed the basis for the relegation of Literature to the backseat as the Singapore

government turned to Malaya and later Asia to cultivate an alternative to the imposed British

culture (Wee 2007). Holden (2000) pointed out that the version of culture adopted embraced

Asian values to the exclusion of Literature, and that a static view of culture as unchanging

precludes the “the possibility of literature in English becoming part of an evolving Singaporean

culture” (p. 40). In contrast, the English language maintained its elevated position as the

language for interracial communication and national productivity (Gopinathan 2003), and the

nationalisation of schools in 1987 saw English adopted as the official language of education.

This dichotomy with regard to the role of English language and Literature is seen in the

split in the official curriculum, with a separate syllabus for English Language and English

Literature or Literature-in-English (henceforth referred to as “Literature”). Literature, stripped of

its cultural and technical function, was reduced to a subject dealing with aesthetics, and, as such,

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Running Head: Change and Continuity in the Singapore Literature Curriculum

became optional. This view of Literature as optional has contributed to the notion that it is a

subject reserved for elite students (ST 1995), resulting in declining enrolment in pragmatic

Singapore.

Change and Continuity in Literature Education in Singapore

The Literature syllabus has been more about continuity than change since the first syllabus was

established in 1999. While there have been shifts in the curriculum and assessment following

major educational reforms, these reforms have not fundamentally changed the aims of Literature

education in Singapore. In fact, the most recent 2013 syllabus explicitly states:

The Literature in English Syllabus 2013 builds on the strengths of the 2007 Syllabus to
provide teachers with a sense of familiarity while continuing to emphasise key areas
important to the teaching and learning of literature. (MOE 2013: 8, emphasis added)

The explicit aim of the 2013 syllabus is to clarify the role and goals of literary study in the

Singapore context. Along with the syllabus reviews, assessment is used as a core tool for shaping

pedagogical emphasis in classrooms. In the next section, I examine specific assessment changes

motivated by two key educational initiatives, “Thinking Schools, Learning Nation” (TSLN) and

“National Education” (NE), both launched in 1997, to demonstrate continuities within the

Literature syllabus and assessments.

Critical Thinking and Economic Success

One fundamental aim of the Singapore education system has been to prepare Singaporeans

through education to meet the human resource needs of the state for economic productivity.

While the skills-building rhetoric essential for Singapore’s success is not new, TSLN in 1997

saw the shift in emphasis towards from a manufacturing-based to a knowledge-based economy.

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Running Head: Change and Continuity in the Singapore Literature Curriculum

Singaporeans needed to be equipped with the right skills for knowledge creation, to be at the

forefront of a global knowledge economy. In his opening speech at the 7th International

Conference on Thinking, then Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong (1997) declared that “Thinking

Schools must be the crucibles for questioning and searching”. TSLN emphasised that

Singaporeans needed to be provided with the skills to become innovators in order for Singapore

to “sustain its prosperity”. TSLN shifted the focus of education from content to skills in an

ability-driven education system (Gopinathan 2007).

The Emphasis on Skills in Literature Instruction and Assessment

The emphasis on skills is evident in the 1999 syllabus. Curriculum planners from MOE’s

Curriculum Planning and Development Division (CPDD) explained that one of the critical

features was a skills-based approach.

Central to the study of literature is the need to equip pupils with the skills that would help
them understand, appreciate and respond to what they read or view, as opposed to merely
internalizing knowledge about particular texts. Literature lessons should therefore aim to
impart these skills and reinforce them at successive levels in the study of different texts.
(Chew & Wong 1999: 92)

More significantly, the O-level examination was tweaked to include an “unseen” component,

where candidates had to respond critically to either a poem or short prose extract that they had

not previously studied. To make time to prepare for the “unseen”, the number of studied

Literature texts was reduced from three to two and the context question (which consisted of a

series of short answer questions) was replaced by the passage-based question (which required

students to analyse a passage more holistically). The skills-emphasis was reinforced in the 2013

syllabus through specific “Knowledge, Skills and Dispositions” that aimed to make explicit for

teachers the expectations of the Literature curriculum (MOE 2013).

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Running Head: Change and Continuity in the Singapore Literature Curriculum

The skills- also led to a shift in the way questions were asked in the examination. A

comparison of the essay questions (Figure 1) illustrates the shift towards higher-order questions.

Questions require students to “describe” and “illustrate” in 1991 but require analysis and

evaluation in 2003 and 2013. There is also a greater emphasis on language forms and features

and matters of representation in the 2003 and 2013 papers with questions requiring students to

discuss how the writer shapes the text and the readers’ response to the text.

[Insert Figure 1. A comparison of the 1991, 2003 & 2013 O-level examination questions.]

Quantitatively, a breakdown of the questions also demonstrates significant increase in questions

focusing on style (from 4% of the questions asked in 1999 to 91% in 2013) and analysis (from 48%

of the questions asked in 1999 to 83% in 2013) (Choo 2015).

This emphasis on learning a set of decontextualised skills for reading literary texts is not

new, and draws on the residual form of New Criticism entrenched in literary study. The

acceptance of New Criticism as the dominant framework structuring the O-level assessment and,

consequently, classroom pedagogy has much to do with New Criticism’s original appeal to

literary rigour, with its “scientific” method of close-reading and explication (Graff 2007),

emphasising on aesthetic appreciation of the text. Practical Criticism (Richards 1929) in the New

Criticism tradition assumed that one could examine a literary work closely, isolated from cultural

and historical contexts. New Criticism also promised measurability, a seemingly unbiased way to

assess the “literary competence” (Culler 1975) of a student who is able to demonstrate a sensitive

close reading of the text. Teachers, themselves trained in the New Criticism tradition, approved

of the idea of literary study as aesthetic appreciation and decontextualised criticality. The

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Running Head: Change and Continuity in the Singapore Literature Curriculum

“unseen” paper, as a simplified version of Practical Criticism, aligned with their personal

disciplinary understandings of Literature. Moreover, Literature as a skills-based subject is

attractive to teachers as it provides an explicit way to measure and scaffold students’ learning of

literary competence. Teachers often utilise frameworks such as Bloom’s taxonomy (Bloom 1956;

Krathwohl 2010) to help students understand the requirements of O-level examination questions

(Loh 2013).

This dominant version of Literature education has resulted in the myth of Literature as an

ahistorical skills-based subject. The literary text is viewed “primarily as a resource for the

development of the skills of literary appreciation” (Chew & Wong 1999: 92), and not as a

cultural object situated in particular contexts of use. This decontextualized skills-based form of

critical thinking has been privileged for its perceived replicability, transferability and

measurability (Koh 2002; Lim 2013) but fails to capture the discipline’s specific kinds of

thinking that can generate productive engagement with text and world. Echoing the calls of

international and Singapore educators, Poon (2010) argues instead for teaching Literature with “a

critical cosmopolitan perspective” to help prepare students “to negotiate differences in diverse

contexts and to participate more fully in a democracy” (p. 36). This kind of critical literacy is

especially pertinent in a multicultural and multimodal world where students learn to engage with

others both within and beyond the nation, to read both the “word” and the “world” (Freire &

Macedo 1987). Despite Literature educators’ calls to include critical literacy (Bean & Moni 2003;

Poon 2010) as a core element of Literature education, this emergent form is slow to take root in

the Singapore context as it goes against the grain of Literature as decontextualised texts for close

reading and analysis.

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Running Head: Change and Continuity in the Singapore Literature Curriculum

Literature and Nation-building

Another key driver for change in curriculum and assessment is National Education (NE),

launched in 1997, with the goal of fostering students’ sense of belonging to Singapore (MOE

1997). Building national cohesion through education is not new in Singapore (Chua & Kuo

1991), and the renewed emphasis through NE resulted from a fear that the young were

insufficiently rooted to the country. NE’s aim was to foster “a sense of identity, pride and self-

respect as Singaporeans” (MOE n.d.), particularly in the young who may not have sufficient

understanding of Singapore’s history. That pragmatism is the prime mover of official change is

evident by the fact that concrete plans were made for the inclusion of Singapore Literature only

after NE was launched, even though several scholars and educators had been mooted for that

very inclusion prior to the syllabus reform (Holden 1999; Yeo 1999). Changes to the O-level

examination included an option to choose Singapore texts from a list and to make compulsory a

guaranteed Singapore text for the “unseen” part of the examination (Singapore Examinations and

Assessment Board 2009). From 2008 onwards, a compulsory Singapore poem or extract from

prose was included for the “unseen” paper.

Governing the logic of text choice was a Leavisite notion that there was a great tradition

of English Literature worth studying, and the reading of such texts could make one a better

person (Eagleton 1983). This residual British influence, in the form of a reverence for texts from

England and America, remain strong: out of 84 books on the prescribed text list between 1990

and 2015, there were 58 British and American texts, 17 postcolonial texts and 9 Singapore texts

(see Table 1 for most popular texts offered). The continuity of curriculum choices is also visible

in oft-repeated texts such as Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet and Harper Lee’s To Kill a

Mockingbird, and authors such as Arthur Miller (A View from the Bridge, An Enemy of the

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Running Head: Change and Continuity in the Singapore Literature Curriculum

People [adaptation of play by Henrik Ibsen], Death of a Salesman and The Crucible) and Anita

Desai (Fasting, Feasting and Games at Twilight). Even with NE requiring the inclusion of

Singapore texts, only two Singapore books are included in a list of 13 books in 2014 (SEAB

2014).

[Insert Table 1. Most popular O-level texts between 1990 and 2015.]

Although schools were initially slow on the uptake, more schools are now choosing a

Singapore text as their core text (from 18 schools in 2011 to 32 schools out of 70 schools in 2014;

P. Lee 2014). Moreover, it can be argued that Literature students are now more exposed to

Singapore poetry and prose extracts, even if they are decontextualised, as a result of the

compulsory inclusion of a Singapore text on the “unseen” portion of the test paper. However, in

a case study of the perspectives of students who had studied O-level Literature, participants

shared that the study of “unseen” texts in the Literature classroom did little to contribute to their

knowledge and understanding of Singapore Literature (Palaraju 2015). Moreover, including

Singapore books on the prescribed list did not mean that all students would study Singapore

novels or plays. Schools could choose which texts they wanted to teach, based on their

assessment of what would work best with their students. With elective Literature students having

to study only one novel and full Literature students having to study one novel and one play, it is

possible that students may not study a Singapore text. This choice has led to an informal

differentiation for Literature education in Singapore, with students from elite schools often

studying non-Singaporean texts and neighbourhood schools preferring to do Singapore texts

because of their perceived cultural relevance. Out of 32 schools using a Singapore text for the O-

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Running Head: Change and Continuity in the Singapore Literature Curriculum

level examination, 27 were neighbourhood schools (P. Lee 2014). This might reinforce, although

unintentionally, elitist perceptions of Literature as the purview of those who are already fluent in

the English language (Poon 2007). This is not unlike the English curriculum of USA in the 20th

century with standard literary works prescribed for those destined for college, while popular

works and “practical” English were provided for the majority (Klieberd 2004: 14).

The importance that is placed in text choice in various countries, including Singapore, the

UK, Australia and New Zealand, refutes any attempt to argue for a culture-free version of

Literature (Goodwyn 2012). Enduring debates and controversies about literary texts placed on

the school curriculum reflects precisely the value of literary texts in shaping the imagination of

the nation (Anderson 1991; Corse 1997) and of cultural values. The word “canon”, originating

from the Greek word “kanon”, means rule or standard, which is used to refer to the best literary

works in any culture; ironically, the boundaries of what counts as best is constantly shifting

depending on who is evaluating and from which position one is evaluating (Eagleton 1983).

When the national syllabus does not state the kinds of texts to be studied, teachers’ disciplinary

traditions and preferences often dictate choice of text (Luke 2004), which in the Singapore case,

often constitutes books from the Anglophile canon.

The lack of direction with regard to the role of Literature in NE is visible in the 2013

syllabus, where other than a mere mention that NE (along with other initiatives) are “naturally

woven into Literature” (MOE 2013, p. 2). There is no mention about how Literature and NE are

related. The syllabus does not state the range of texts teachers should teach or how best teachers

should approach teaching literature for the purposes of NE. It may be argued that the goal of NE

is broadly captured under the aim:

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Running Head: Change and Continuity in the Singapore Literature Curriculum

Engage personally with a variety of texts and draw connections between self, texts and
the world in order to develop intellectual, emotional, sociocultural and global awareness.
(SEAB, 2014, p. 2)

However, this broad appeal to the humanist sensibilities of Literature with its ability to cultivate

some sort of awareness of the world does not specify what kinds of “intellectual, sociocultural

and global awareness” are desired outcomes of studying Literature. How can these be related to

both national and global citizenship? What criteria can be used for text selection, and to what

purpose should these texts be used? When should students be exposed to these texts? How

should they be taught to read these texts? In comparison, the Australian curriculum is more

specific in stating the kinds of texts that students should study. The Year 10 range of literary text

should

comprises Australian literature, including the oral narrative traditions of Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander peoples, as well as the contemporary literature of these two cultural
groups, and classic and contemporary world literature, including texts from and about
Asia. (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, 2015)

By stating the types of texts students should read, the Australian Curriculum seeks to diversify

the reading diet of its students, and to make a statement about what is important for study, thus

signalling the values important for the study of Literature.

In Singapore, the focus on including Singapore texts as part of NE is pragmatically

driven, as is with the TSLN focus on critical thinking. Instead of a fundamental rethink of the

goal of Literature education, Singapore texts are added to the canon of British, American and

postcolonial texts as another option for Singapore students. What needs to be resolved in

syllabus revision is the inherent inconsistency between the objectives of NE and the dominant

skills-based framework guiding Singapore Literature education. The 2013 syllabus is silent on

values but extends on the skills discourse by specifying the kinds of “Knowledge, Skills and

Dispositions” central to Literature education. Yet, if Literature education is about citizenship

14
Running Head: Change and Continuity in the Singapore Literature Curriculum

education, there needs to be clearer discussion of how it can provide the space for non-

essentialist, dynamic explorations of what it means to be both national and global citizens. In

such a curriculum, an expanded text list would allow all students to read Singapore and global

literature alongside each other to explore notions of citizenship in local and global contexts (Loh

2009). Understanding the dominant view of Literature education in Singapore explains the

resistance to the absorption of other emergent trends such as the inclusion of multimodal or

hybrid texts (Lewis & Dockter 2011) or world literature, including translated texts (Choo 2012)

into the syllabus.

Conclusion

Curriculum reviews come fast and furious in the Singapore system as responses to both the needs

of nation and the winds of globalisation. Yet, rather than being fundamental reassessments of the

aims and purposes of Literature education for the 21st century, revisions and changes in the

syllabus and assessment tend to reinforce existing views. Educators trained in their specific

disciplinary traditions have strong loyalties to particular historical versions of their subject (Luke

2004), which in the Singapore case, includes a blend of New Criticism notions of textual analysis

and Leavisite notions of Great Books. As such, there is more continuity than transformation with

each evolution of the Literature syllabus and assessment in Singapore. The skills-focus of TSLN

has been interpreted to reinforce New Criticism’s decontextualised aesthetic readings. The

addition of Singapore texts as a result of NE do not detract from the emphasis on close reading

and great books. This adherence to continuity in the aims of Literature education explains why

emergent forms of Literature education, such as changing definitions of literature, multimodal

15
Running Head: Change and Continuity in the Singapore Literature Curriculum

and hybrid texts, call to include more locally relevant literature and world literature (Lewis &

Dockter 2011) continue to be ignored in previous curriculum reviews.

Perhaps an appeal to the utilitarian sensibilities, the governing ideology for curriculum

change, might be appropriate at this point: in a global world of increasing flows and need for

connection between people and places, Singapore students need to become more flexible users of

language and more thoughtful citizens. Equipping Singaporeans to be future-ready means that all

students should be taught read both word and world critically. For that to happen, there needs to

be a genuine re-examination of the objectives of Literature education in light of dominant

tendencies, residual influences and emergent forms so we may ask: “How best can Literature be

made relevant for a global world?”

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Running Head: Change and Continuity in the Singapore Literature Curriculum

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