Educational Research AY2020/2021

This research study seeks to understand the significant challenges faced by Singapore’s English-language musicians from its historically low popularity within local grounds up to the current COVID-19 pandemic. The study specifically explores how IGNITE! Music Festival has supported the local English-language music scene during these trying times and how it continues to serve as an essential platform for local musicians to continue performing their work during the COVID-19 pandemic. In understanding the history of Singapore’s English-language popular music scene and the possible reasons for its low popularity amongst the locals, interviews with industry practitioners provide more insight into local musicians’ hardships, which take a turn for the worse as the pandemic takes root and government restrictions come into play. Solutions to raise awareness of the local music scene in the small city-state are discussed, alongside the possibility of introducing local English-language music through the music education system.

The quality of teacher-child interactions in the preschool classroom will determine how children will develop cognitively, physically, socially and emotionally (Thompson, 2001; Irwin, Hertzman, & Siddiqi, 2007; McNally & Slutsky, 2018). This study aims to analyse preschool teachers’ perception of quality teacher-child interactions and their concerns about providing such interactions in the classroom. Ten preschool teachers were interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire. The audio recordings of these interviews were later analysed using a thematic approach. Findings from this study could potentially have implications on the policies, regulations, and curriculum in the preschool sector in Singapore.

While SDT has been well researched in many areas of studies, not much study has been carried out for Art. This study aims to examine the effective strategies used by art teachers to improve students’ motivation to learn art. It will attempt to link these strategies to the three basic psychological needs (BPN) of the Self-Determination Theory (SDT) and thereby hope to understand the effectiveness of these strategies from the perspective of SDT. At the same time, this study will also explore the difference in motivation level between younger and older students and attempt to investigate whether motivation strategies are the same between the younger and older students. This study used a mixed method approach that includes both qualitative and quantitative data to collate its findings. An online Google survey form was sent out and 17 MOE art teachers and one MOE art vendor responded. This anonymous survey consisted of eight main questions, which were subdivided into 53 related questions. These include 13 open-ended, 26 ordinal, nine nominal, four binary and one matric question. In this paper, we are presenting the results of the study, which demonstrated that self determination strategies, as a motivation approach, were extremely effective when used by art teachers in art classes, as 82.4% of the qualitative links could be drawn to satisfying one or more of the three basic psychological needs of autonomy, relatedness, and competence. This study has also revealed that Upper Primary students are more inclined towards a motivation approach that is competence based.

Scholars concur that extensive reading instruction usefully improves language acquisition and supports academic achievement. To facilitate reading development, existing scholarship recommends that adolescents be exposed to books which augment reader engagement and comprehension. Culturally relevant books, which reflect the specificities of adolescents’ lived experiences, may be especially attractive to them. Nevertheless, to excite their curiosity in aforesaid narratives, we must discover what adolescents like and ply them with books that appeal to their ever-evolving interests. First, this study investigates the reading preferences of Singapore adolescents through a survey of 5,372 students, aged 13 to 17, in six secondary schools. The survey revealed that adolescents found series fiction enthralling, read fantasy and adventure novels extensively, and preferred middle-grade and young adult books. Next, this study presents a case study of three Singapore adolescents, being specifically attentive to their reasons for reading the culturally relevant RunHideSeek series. Findings reveal that adolescents found RunHideSeek’s sensitivity to Singapore’s cultural milieu appealing, but were more inclined to leverage on books as ‘windows’, through which they might apprehend culturally diverse others. Findings also suggest that adolescents appreciate creative-world building, invigoratingly novel plots, fast-paced storytelling, and complex, realistic characters. Singapore’s adolescents desire more books with these attributes.