Kwek Beng Kiat, Dennis

The role of rhetorical knowledge in English language learning can be framed as a fundamental problem in the study of human communication. Communication cannot be simply explained as a process of encoding by the communicator followed by a process of decoding by the audience. Given the richness of the human language, whatever can be coded in one way can be coded in some other way (Sperber & Wilson, 1990). Rhetoric is conventionally understood as the art of using written or spoken language effectively and persuasively. Being the medium of classroom teaching and learning, language plays a significant role in communicating meaning. Rhetorical analysis enables pupils to examine 'not only what authors communicate but also for what purposes they communicate those messages, what effects they attempt to evoke in readers, and how they accomplish those purposes and effects' (Graff, 2010). However, when linguistic knowledge is imparted mainly through procedural and conceptual instruction, the role of rhetorical knowledge in English language learning is at risk of being interpreted narrowly as linguistic creativity, alone. Using data taken from an on-going, large-scale study of pedagogical practices in Singapore, this paper demonstrates the value of rhetorical knowledge as a powerful tool in meaning making in English language classrooms. A case-study is presented of a teacher who generates rhetorical awareness in her pupils by weaving her pupils' current knowledge, abilities and interests with aspects of 16th century English taking into account rhetorical devices employed by Shakespeare against the historical backdrop of the Elizabethan era. Given the Ministry of Education's focus on literacy development and not just linguistic proficiency that enables students to 'make structural and linguistic choices to suit purpose, audience, context and culture' (Rubdy & Tupas, 2009), the paper concludes with recommendations for a set of pedagogical guidelines in operationalising rhetorical knowledge in English language classrooms.

In the United States, the Interstate Teacher Assessment Consortium (InTASC) Standards and Education can be generally defined as a process of receiving and providing systematic instruction, and it embodies the verbal and nonverbal networks that the stakeholders (e.g., teachers and students) co-construct. Recent years witness an increasing interest in employing network science approaches to explore the interconnected and non-linear developmental process of education. The current review starts with a brief discussion on the nature of the educational data and proceeds with an introduction to network science history. Relevant network analysis approaches and terminologies are synthesized. Three case studies in Singapore are used to demonstrate how network science approaches can be employed to conceptualize daily educational issues. The findings of the three studies with network science approaches (e.g., motifs detection) may offer educators, researchers, and policymakers novel insights into better pedagogy and strategies for learning face-to-face or online.

“This LES report is a synthesis of 14 Instructional Core (IC) studies that fit the inclusion criteria. $3,655,921 was awarded to the studies through the NIE Education Research Funding Programme (ERFP) in the 3rd tranche (2013–2017) of funding from MOE. Six of the 14 selected studies were Tier 1, 7 were Tier 2, and 1 was Tier 3 (Figure 3) (See Annex A for a detailed explanation of the selection criteria).”--Introduction.

Building Communities of Readers among Teachers (BCR) project attempted to employ a teachersas- readers professional development framework to build participating Singaporean secondary English teachers’ capacities to teach literature. Teachers-as-readers projects are designed to promote teachers’ personal engagement with narrative as a prelude to reconceptualizing English their teaching, leading them to afford students with greater opportunities to explore literary texts in depth through extended talk, writing and other forms of representation. This paper elaborates the interrelated structural and attitudinal reasons why this framework had to be abandoned in favour of more a recognizable form of professional development in order to garner sufficient teacher support to work towards the projects’ goals. Singapore’s legacy of a pragmatic and technicist orientation to education hinders the adoption of such a reflexive form of professional learning.