This paper explores how research methodologies employed in a large-scale research project can benefit classroom teachers in helping them self-evaluate and reflect the instructional efficacy of teaching practices. Flanders Interaction Analysis System (FIAS) and Social Network Analysis (SNA) are introduced as alternative methods of research on classroom observation as well as the approaches of helping teachers conduct self-evaluation and self-improvement.

Bilingualism is becoming more common worldwide, and it remains a central educational policy in Singapore. In this document, we review research related to bilingualism and literacy development and achievement. Following an ecological framework, we outline known factors contributing to literacy achievement and discuss findings from bilingual research regarding these factors. We conclude with recommendations for educational practice informed by the research literature.

"In this paper, we describe Chinese language instruction in Singapore primary school classrooms and discuss its relationship with the government policy of language in education. We use a classroom coding approach to examine whether there are similarities and differences between EM1 and EM2 classroom instructional practices and to explore whether the goals and priorities of the policy are achieved at the level of implementation. Specifically, we examine how Chinese classrooms of the two different streams are socially organized, what pedagogical activities are carried out, what knowledge or capabilities are emphasized and how they are classified. Based on the findings, we discuss the major features of Chinese language instructional practices in the two streams in relation to the policy goals and priorities, and highlights some implications for policy implementation and pedagogic reform in Singapore and internationally."-- [p. 1].

"The aim of the research is to examine whether there are similarities and differences among the different modules of the newly developed Chinese curriculum experimented in primary schools, and between the experimental and control classes in terms of pedagogical practices. These findings have great implications for further implementation of the new curriculum in the classroom and curriculum development in the future."-- [p. 1] of executive summary.

In Singapore, the education system has been successively tried and tested by language-ineducation planning initiatives and pedagogical innovations over the past half an century. In order to change the current “unproductive” classroom practice, the Ministry of Education (MOE) has developed and experimented a modular approach in Grade 1 and Grade 2 of 25 primary schools since mid-2005. To find out whether the teaching principles of the curriculum are implemented in the classroom, we have designed a research project and used a classroom coding approach to explore whether the teaching principles and pedagogical emphasis of the new approach are achieved at the level of implementation. While this paper reports the major findings and their implications for future curriculum development in Singapore, it is our hope that our conclusions also shed some light on some other education systems as a whole.

In the ethnically heterogeneous and linguistically hybrid Singapore, its bilingualism education is characterised by the mandatory mother tongue policy for its three main ethnic groups. For Chinese students’ language acquisition, this is practised in a way that Chinese language instruction in Singapore has been differentiated into four streams according to their individual differences in language proficiency. This study reports the findings obtained from a public funded large-scale empirical research project with a focus on the Mother Tongue Language curriculum in Singapore secondary schools. The questionnaire survey consists of 4811 students from 24 Singaporean secondary schools categorised on the basis of three key family language backgrounds, namely: Chinese-dominant, Chinese-English mixed, and English dominant. Using a comparative study methodology, the study seeks to juxtapose the perceptions of Secondary 2 and 3 students regarding their current language textbooks (developed in 2011) against the textbooks published in 2002. The survey revealed two key findings which highlight the diverse learning needs of students from varying backgrounds, thus indicating a greater and more complex challenge surrounding the revision of upcoming Mother Tongue Language instructional materials. It is our hope that the details of main findings manifested in this study can shed some light on the future endeavours in innovating Chinese education in other parts of the world with the similar sociolinguistic context.

Early research perceived language planning (LP) as a one-way process, underpinned by the positivistic view that the major problems facing language maintenance and spread could be solved through the application of the scientific method and careful planning by language planners (Baldauf, 2004). This perception continued until the 1990s, when some researchers (e.g.,Haarmann, 1990) started a series of studies examining receptive processes in achieving LP goals, with the focus on a more fundamental but hidden agenda - human behavior and the psychological aspect in receiving the planned language product, which gives rise to a theory of prestige and image (Ager, 2005a & 2005b) planning in the LP research literature. In this paper, drawing upon the empirical data, we attempt to apply the theoretical framework of prestige and image LP to examine the status of Chinese in a Singaporean context. Through a correlative analysis of children's language use and the family's socio-economic status, we found that the Chinese language (CL) gradually lost its prestige in Singapore's society in general, and in particular it has lost ground to English in what Bourdieu terms as 'linguistic capital.' We argue that the future success of language policy in term of Chinese language maintenance, by and large, depends upon whether and how its prestige and image are being promoted. Our analysis therefore contributes to alternative vistas on the understanding oft he official discourse towards language issues in a multicultural society.

"This Report is submitted by the Chinese Language Research Team, CRPP, National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University. The Report provides the main results of a special focused project of CRPP, entitled "An Investigation of Singaporean Chinese Children's Oral Linguistic Competence in Mandarin: A Corpus-Driven Study". For this project, there are two main research objectives. One is to generate an oral Mandarin word list of Singaporean Chinese children for the CL curriculum developers and CL teachers. The other is to find out whether there are marked differences between children who claimed to speak English predominantly at home and those who claimed to speak Mandarin predominantly at home in terms of their oral lexical coverage and oral fluency of Mandarin before they start to learn Mandarin in primary schools."-- [p. 1] of executive summary.

To meet the changing needs of a student population that is increasingly diversified in terms of the language spoken at home, the new Chinese Language (CL) Modular Curriculum was formally launched in Singapore primary schools in 2007. Under the modular approach, students are streamed into three modules according to their language proficiency and exposure to CL. This project aimed to provide a quantitative and qualitative evaluation of this curriculum with a special focus on students' oral communicative skill (OCS). The project's findings reveal the effectiveness of the new curriculum in terms of students' oral performance and feelings towards the learning environments of CL classes; teachers' views about the implementation and impact of the new curriculum; and improvement of students' OCS from Primary 1 to 4.

"This research aims to assess the Chinese language (CL) Modular Curriculum launched in Singapore primary schools in 2007 with a special focus on students' oral communicative skill (OCS) - the very key reform focus of the new CL curriculum. Five research tools were adopted in order to show: students' performance in OCS test and their feelings towards the learning environment of CL class, teachers' views on changes in students' learning attitude and capacity, the implementation and effects of the new curriculum and the improvement of children's OCS. ." -- p. 2.

The Chinese language (CL) curriculum for Singapore primary schools proposed in 2004 highlights two pedagogical changes: the modular approach and the integration of ICT. The modular approach puts students into three different groups (or modules, including bridging/reinforcement, core and enrichment) with an aim at catering to students' diverse learning needs. To respond to differentiated learning as initiated in the new curriculum, differences in the type of ICT and the frequency of ICT use in actual teaching practice are expected. This paper endeavors to provide a detailed picture of ICT integration in the Chinese lessons in Singapore primary schools. 198 Primary two Chinese lessons in 20 schools were observed, and teachers' teaching practices were coded by applying the Singapore Chinese Pedagogy Coding Scheme. The preliminary results showed that no significant differences of ICT usage were found across the three modules, which implies that Chinese teachers’ use of ICT has not met the needs of differentiated learning as designated in the Modular Curriculum.