The Inspiring Teacher of English Award and the President's Award for Teachers are national awards that recognize outstanding Singapore educators. This paper delves into the practices and philosophies of six award-winning teachers, unravelling the intricacies that distinguish their pedagogical approaches. The study is centred around three pivotal…

This paper is an exercise in reflection on my role as a researcher-teacher, while designing and implementing a qualitative study in a secondary school in Singapore. The first study of its kind locally, I designed and taught a bidialectal programme with Singlish as a resource to facilitate the teaching of Standard English. The 8-week programme was…

There has been much debate over the role of grammar instruction in the teaching of writing -- whether grammar and writing should be taught separately, or in an integrated manner in the English Language writing class. This paper describes an action research project aimed at contributing to this debate through some teachers' reflections on…

The Japanese community in Singapore comprises mainly white-collar workers and their families. This article addresses issues concerning education, overseas living, and identity-related investments made visible by way of examining schooling and parenting practices. Framed within a critique which recognizes schooling and identity investment as being…

This study analyses the teaching scripts and structure of lesson practices of a Singaporean English teacher at two different levels of class through a comparative analysis. Specifically, it aims to clarify how his view of teaching as tacit knowledge determines the structure of the lessons. The emphasis here is on the examination of a Singaporean's…

This paper explores local responses by Singapore pre-school teachers to the global trend towards English as the medium of instruction at the early childhood level of education. The paper reports research into how teachers have responded to the national literacy agenda, as outlined in the Curriculum Framework for Kindergartens in Singapore, using…

There has been a rapid proliferation of electronic books in recent years. Given that dual-language books may impose extra cognitive load on children's information processing capacity, we investigated whether multimedia features in e-books (i.e., audio narration and tracking animation) were effective in directing preschoolers' attention to print in…

To better comprehend how educational reforms and classroom practice interconnect, we need to understand the epistemic environments created for learning, as well as the pedagogical activities and the modes of classroom discourse related to these activities. This article examines how a particular innovation in English literacy, Strategies for…

This profile of the English language teaching situation in Singapore examines the role of English in society and in the educational system. It is noted: (1) that English is the most important of the four official languages, (2) that education is provided in the four languages on the primary and secondary levels, and (3) that English is the medium…

Examines the sociocultural context in Singapore to determine the existence of an examination culture there. Argues that an examination culture has important repercussions for the introduction and implementation of innovative practices into the education system. Examination focuses on the 1991 English-language syllabus and how the introduction of…

A discussion of English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) instruction begins with a review of the English language teaching situation in Singapore today and goes on to examine issues in the production of ESL instructional materials. The focus is on oral language instruction. The first section, concerning Singapore, outlines the structure of syllabuses…

This document consists of the premier issue of an annual international journal on the acquisition and teaching of English as a Second Language (ESL). Its six articles and their contributors are as follows: "Adapting and Applying Levinson's Concept of the 'Dispreferred Second' to the Review of the ESL Materials" (Lawrence F. Bouton);…

This paper shows how satellite television programs can be used to advance Asian students' listening ability in English. Particular focus is on news broadcasts. The paper is divided into three sections, an introduction, some concluding remarks, and the substantive discussion headed "Using News Broadcasts in the EFL (English as a Foreign…

This study investigated the impact of parents with different language backgrounds on the language acquisition and language competency of their children in the mother tongue, Chinese, and a second language, English, in Singapore. Parents were surveyed on language usage and language materials provided to their children. Exams on vocabulary,…

The annual issue of the journal of the Hong Kong Teachers Association includes these articles: "The Time Management Issue of Tertiary Students: An Investigation of Tuition Conductors in Singapore" (Tai Chee Wong, Jessie Yuk Yong Wong); "The Analysis of the Phenomena of Parkinson in Course of School Management" (Ying Xiu Yang)…