新加坡英华语学生的华语人称代词偏误研究与教学应用
This paper examines the Singaporean English-Chinese bilingual students’ use of Chinese personal pronoun, the frequency of error occurrence, and the distribution of errors in expository, narrative and practical genres of writings. Results show that most errors are redundant errors, which occur mainly at the discourse and pragmatic levels, indicating that these students tend to overlook both the functions of discourse cohesion and discourse coherence of zero personal pronoun. These students have not grasped the pragmatic functions of zero personal pronoun, which is to lessen the speaker’s involvement, and to keep narration concise. Furthermore, redundant errors at the discourse level occur most frequently in expository and narrative genres, while redundant errors at the pragmatic level occur most frequently in practical genre. Such a difference reveals a relationship between error types and genres. We further confirm that specific differences exist in the use of personal pronouns between Singaporean bilingual CSL students and Chinese native speakers, and the nature of the genre affects the Singaporean students’ choice of personal pronouns. Therefore, training bilingual CSL students in the discourse and pragmatic functions of Chinese zero personal pronoun is critical to enhance discourse communication. Lastly, pedagogical paradigms are introduced based on our findings.
本文考察新加坡英華雙語學生的華語人稱代詞偏誤及其出現頻率，並探究各類偏誤於說明文、記敘文與應用文的分布趨向。結果指出，學生作文出現最多的「多餘」偏誤，其中又以「語篇層次的多餘」與「語用層次的多餘」為主，顯示雙語學生未能很好地掌握零代詞可銜接語篇、達成連貫的語篇功能，以及可弱化發話者參與及精簡敘述的語用功能，因此在語篇和語用層面均構成表達失誤。而從文體來看，說明文與記敘文出現最多「語篇層次的多餘」，應用文則是「語用層次的多餘」，此差異透露文體特徵與人稱代詞的偏誤類型存在關聯，可見文體的溝通慣例影響學生選用代詞。本文論證雙語者運用代詞與華語母語者仍有差異，因此人稱指稱是雙語學生的華語學習必須注重的內容。最後參照結論提出教學實作範例。
鹰架教学模式中教师鹰架搭建意识及技能的分析
In Singapore, where Chinese is learned as a second language, how to provide useful guidance of writing composition to primary school students has become an important topic. On the basis of Vygotsky's (1978) Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) and Bruner's (1983) concept of scaffolding, the research team has developed a five-step scaffolding teaching model incorporated with some effective strategies of writing instruction. The model has been put into practice in two government schools for one year. Based on the authentic classroom discourses, classroom observations and teachers' interviews gained from the project, this paper intends to analyse the participant teachers' scaffolding awareness and capability development in building classroom interaction, diagnosing students' difficulties and providing scaffolding. The results show that teachers' awareness and skills of scaffolding are essential to the successful implementation of the scaffolding teaching model.
在新加坡华文作为第二语言教学的语境中，如何在华文启蒙写作教学中给学生提供有益的帮助，是一个值得深入探讨的课题。笔者以Vygotsky（1978）的“最近发展区”和Bruner（1983）的“鹰架教学”概念为理论依据，以写作教学实践中公认的有效教学策略为参考，设计出一个由五个教学步骤组成的鹰架写作教学模式，并在两所小学进行了为期一年的实验。本文以项目实践中产生的课堂语料为主要数据，参照课堂观察记录以及教师访谈资料，重点分析实验教师在建构课堂互动、诊断学习困难、提供鹰架帮助这三个方面的鹰架搭建意识及技能的应用。分析结果表明，培养教师鹰架搭建的意识及实施技能是成功推行本鹰架教学模式的重要基础。
The curricular and pedagogic creativity of Summerhill School, and related reflection on the teaching in Singapore
Through a discussion of humanities education and liberal ideals in England’s Summerhill School, this paper hopes to highlight the importance of creative thinking in education, revealing how creative thinking will be an important ability and intrinsic quality in education henceforth, and even become its main goal. This paper gathers discussions of a few representative innovative teaching methods and teaching activities in Summerhill School, and at the same time, reflects on education in Singapore’s context.
通过对英国夏山学校（Summerhill School）人文教育和自由主义理想的讨论，本文希望能够突显创造性思维在教育中的重要地位，揭示创造性思维如何成为教育将着重培养的能力和固有品质，甚至成为其主要目标。本文收集了针对夏山学校一些具有代表性的创新教学方法和教学活动的讨论，并反思新加坡环境下的教育。
Home language shift and its implications for Chinese language teaching in Singapore
In a bilingual society like Singapore, home language environment HLE) of Singaporean children is becoming increasingly concerned, specially for those who are yet to have formal education in schools. The reported rapid shift of family language has increased the tensions among families, schools and communities. This study examined some of the many facets of Singaporean Chinese preschoolers’ HLE, and further discussed how these facets are related to children’s Chinese language proficiency in oral and written forms. Three hundred and seventy-six Singaporean Chinese six-year olds completed Chinese oral and written language proficiency screening. Their parents completed a HLE survey. The findings revealed the possible trend of home language shift from Mandarin Chinese to English in the younger generation. Aside from home language use factors, the importance of other facets that form a rich language environment is also highlighted for children's language development.
Home literacy environment and its Influence on Singaporean children's Chinese oral and written language abilities
In a bilingual environment such as the Singaporean Chinese community, the challenge of maintaining Chinese language and sustaining Chinese culture lies in promoting the daily use of Chinese language in oral and written forms among children. Ample evidence showed the effect of the home language and literacy environment (HLE), on children’s language and literacy abilities. This study examined Singaporean Chinese–English bilingual children’s HLE and its influence on their Chinese oral and written language ability. Parents of seventy-six Chinese–English bilingual preschoolers completed a HLE survey. Children’s Chinese oral and written language abilities were measured with age-appropriate tasks. Results of the HLE survey revealed that, on the average, children’s Chinese language and literacy related activities, either carried out independently or with parents, were not frequent, but correlated significantly with children’s oral and written language ability. A set of regression analysis showed that, after controlling for family socioeconomic status (SES), children’s language preference at home made a unique contribution, both to their Chinese language and literacy related activities and to their Chinese oral language ability. Similarly, children’s Chinese language and literacy related activities were found to make unique contribution to their Chinese written language ability after the effect of family SES and language preference was accounted for, emphasizing the crucial aspects of home literacy activities for developing children’s Chinese written language ability.
双语环境给新加坡华人社群带来的挑战是如何推广华语成为儿童的日常用语，以便保存华语和华族文化。充分的证据显示家庭语言和知识水平环境对于儿童的语言和识字能力是有影响的，而这项研究就针对新加坡英汉双语儿童的家庭环境来探讨它如何影响儿童华语口头与书写能力。这研究包括使用适龄测试来衡量76名学龄前儿童的口头和书写能力，并让他们的家长填写一份关于他们家庭语言和知识水平环境的问卷。问卷成绩显示语言和识字相关的活动虽然在家中不是很频繁，但对儿童的语言和识字能力有相对的影响。一组回归分析显示：在对照家庭社会经济地位后，儿童在家中的语言偏好促成他们语言和识字相关的活动以及华语口头能力。
Exploring Singaporean Chinese language teachers’ technological pedagogical content knowledge and its relationship to the teachers’ pedagogical beliefs
The notion of technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) has recently emerged as a key theoretical framework that could help explain the complexity involved when teachers integrate ICT into classroom teaching. While the framework has been employed in hundreds of published studies, surveys of teachers’ TPACK for specific subject matter, especially for language teaching, has been rare. In addition, there is also a lack of studies about the relationship between teachers’ TPACK and teachers’ beliefs. This study investigates the profile of Singaporean Chinese language teachers’ technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) and their pedagogical beliefs. It first validated an adapted questionnaire entitled ‘‘Technological Pedagogical Chinese Language Knowledge’’. Based on the data collected from the questionnaire, the findings reveal that the teachers rated themselves as most competent in content knowledge but least competent in TPACK. The qualitative findings provide further support on the teachers’ self-rated profile. The relationship between Teachers’ TPACK and how it is related to teachers’ constructivist or traditional pedagogical beliefs are investigated through Pearson’s correlation. The findings suggest that teachers’ TPACK is more related to the teachers’ constructivist pedagogical beliefs than to the traditional beliefs. Implications of the current study in terms of Chinese language teachers’ professional development are discussed.