Augmented Reality (AR) bridges the real and the digital. It is part of the Extended Reality (XR) spectrum of immersive technological interfaces. At one end of the continuum, Virtual Reality (VR) immerses users in fully digital simulations which effectively substitute for the real world. At the other end of the continuum, AR allows users to remain…

This study explored the patterns and predictors of code-switching (CS) in Singapore preschoolers by analyzing the data elicited from an existing early childhood corpus. Altogether 943 cases of CS produced by 111 children aged 2;6, 3;6, 4;6, 5;6, respectively, were analyzed. The results indicated that: (1) 'insertion', 'intersentential', and…

What are the challenges faced by a research team in implementing translanguaging pedagogy in a multilingual classroom? What implications does this research project have for researchers in other geographies and other languages? This paper answers these questions on the basis of 7 English reading classes and interviews of teachers and students…

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…

Singapore's bilingual policy legitimises English not only as the language of governmental administration and interethnic communication, but also as the medium of instruction in all schools on all levels and across all subjects except mother tongues (MTs). As a result of these politics of language recognition, a visible shift has occurred in all…

In any language education program, there are both commonalities and divergences in the ways in which students negotiate and form their identities. While work on bilingual education has revealed important similarities that students come to share, fewer studies have focused on explaining variation. In this paper, we explore individual differences by…

This book examines the benefits of multilingual education that puts children's needs and interests above the individual languages involved. It advocates flexible multilingual education, which builds upon children's actual home resources and provides access to both the local and global languages that students need for their educational and…

The rise of globalisation makes language competencies more valuable, both at individual and societal levels. This book examines the links between globalisation and the way we teach and learn languages. It begins by asking why some individuals are more successful than others at learning non-native languages, and why some education systems, or…

In renewing her TESOL membership for 2008, the author noted that the membership letter stated that TESOL is a "global professional organization for English language educators." This was of particular interest as she prepared for TESOL's Bilingual Education Interest Section (BEIS) 2008 session titled "Imagining Multilingual…

Singapore's officially bilingual education policy, in which the majority of children are schooled through a non-native medium with their "Mother Tongue" (an ethnic heritage language that is not necessarily spoken in the home) as a single school subject only, has resulted in dramatic language shifts in the population and high academic…

The developing understandings of teacher-trainees of language and content connections in "subject" teaching in Singapore's bilingual primary schools are explored in this article. I narrate the development of the project, the trainee responses, and my own reflections on the process. Throughout, I take an Exploratory Practice (Allwright,…

A discussion of language-learning problems in Singapore, Malaysia, where there are four official languages, and educational television's role in language teaching. (HB)

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,…

Are young children able to become competent in two languages simultaneously? In an attempt to answer this question, Singaporean Chinese, Malay, and Indian children of 3.5 through 6 years of age who attended six different types of preschool centers were grouped into age bands separated by an interval of 6 months and were given four English tests…

This paper examines assumptions about second language acquisition, bilingualism, and language planning that underlie Singapore's bilingual education policy, noting how the experience in Singapore illuminates current theories in second language acquisition and language planning. In Singapore, English is promoted as the "working language,"…