Master of Education
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Browsing Master of Education by Author "Ang, Bethany Ee Wei"
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- PublicationRestrictedGenre literacy : where’s the why and who? A study of the practices and perceptions of teachers(2008)Ang, Bethany Ee WeiThis study focuses on how the genre approach to literacy is being carried out in the Singapore classroom since the implementation of English Language Syllabus 2001. Specifically, this research focuses on the practices and perceptions of teachers in order to, first, examine how teachers deconstruct genres and teach genre writing, and secondly, elicit their views regarding the genre approach. The research site is a neighbourhood secondary school and three teachers were observed for two lessons each, one on the deconstruction of genre and the other on the preparation of the writing task. Methodology employed in this study includes lesson observations, post-observation interviews, as well as surveys on students from the classes observed and teachers from other schools. The findings reveal that while teachers have done well to explicate genre structures and language features, the first were often presented prescriptively because the functional aspect of these stages is not highlighted while the latter is taught in traditional grammar instead of incorporating some basic aspects of functional grammar. There was limited finding of how purpose and audience influence text production. Interviews and survey results indicate that while teachers are mindful of the importance of purpose and audience, these concepts did not seem to materialize in their practices, partly due to the nature of the assessment criteria used and partly due to the prevalence of an examination driven pedagogy. Findings also revealed significant differences between teacher and students in two areas that affect teachers’ practices of genre teaching: perception of how genre teaching restricts creativity and perception of commonly-encountered genres in the real-world. These findings have significant implication for educators, whether of students or of teachers-in- training, and syllabus and material designers.
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