School library learning commons innovation and educational spaces: How design can revitalize our school libraries and learning
Guide to NIE projects researching English language and literature teaching from pre-school to pre-university: Completed 2010-2020
Reading the word and the world: Critically and culturally reflexive conversations in the LangLit classroom
Reading does not merely consist of decoding the written word or language; rather, it is preceded and intertwined with knowledge of the world. Language and reality are dynamically interconnected. The understanding attained by a critical reading of a text implies perceiving the relationship between text and context. (Freire & Macedo, 1987, p. 29)
This chapter discusses how literature can be used in the langlit classroom towards learning about language and the world. Literary texts are rich sources for conversations about culturally relevant issues (Applebee, 1996), and if well-chosen, can become discursive spaces for thinking and talking about what is critical and meaningful in today’s world. I argue that literary texts are rich sources for learning how to read the word and the world (Freire, 1991; Freire & Macedo, 1987), and that it is important to teach students to read in what I term a critically and culturally reflexive manner. I then use Tan Hwee Hwee’s (2007) Mid-Autumn, a short story from Island Voices: A Collection of Short Stories from Singapore (Poon & Sim, 2007) to illustrate how awareness of language and worldviews can provide a framework for thinking about the use of literature in the language classroom.
Building a reading culture in a Singapore school: Identifying spaces for change through a socio-spatial approach
Research tells us that reading is correlated to academic achievement but how do we motivate students to read? How can reading cultures be developed in schools? Through the case study of a government secondary school in Singapore, I examine how attention to the invisible network of resources that support reading can provide insight into students’ resources for reading, both at home and in school. Additionally, I explain, through the mapping of the school library as a reading space, how a socio-spatial approach that maps the physical, social and affective spaces of the library can provide a framework for strategic and focused action to cultivate a school’s reading culture.
"Because I have my phone with me all the time": The role of device access in developing Singapore adolescents' critical news literacy
Given constant online access to information, critical news literacy, or the ability to access and critically evaluate the news, is essential for adolescents to learn about the world and obtain civic knowledge to participate as national and global citizens. Although there has been much research focusing on how youths critically read and produce media, less attention has been paid to the issue of access as an essential element of news literacy. Drawing on survey data (N = 5732) and focus group discussions (N = 67) with Singapore adolescents aged 13–17 years old, this study examines (1) whether adolescents access the news and if so, via what technologies, and (2) the factors that influence their news access. Findings show that adolescents prefer to read news online and that older adolescents (aged 15–17 years old) read more than younger adolescents (aged 13–14 years old). Factors shaping access to news include technological (portability, personalization, curation, and notifications), social (families, peers, and schools as sponsors), and personal factors (active seeking of news vs. incidental news exposure). Policymakers, scholars, and educators should consider the physical, social, and curatorial dimensions of news reading to implement policies and design practices to encourage news access and exposure. Educators can foster adolescents' motivation to read news by engaging them with news of interest to them, creating opportunities for them to receive the news through their smartphones and other devices, and developing their civic knowledge base.
Examining the cognitive task potential of writing in the literature classroom: Case studies of two 12th grade students’ written work
This case study is part of a larger study, the National Study of Writing Instruction. Through the examination of the written work and interview data of two 12th grade High School English students from two different classes in the same school, I seek to paint a picture of the kinds of writing the students do in their English classrooms, and what the writing reveals about what teachers value and what students learn in particular classrooms. The analysis reveals how teachers use writing as a learning tool to shape students’ knowledge of particular ways of thinking and knowing within and about the discipline. Additionally, it shows how they inculcate students into discipline-specific ways of writing in each particular classroom. Teachers in both classes taught students to write in line with their idea of “good” writing within the context of the discipline, school policy, and high stakes testing. I argue that the teachers’ awareness of their own expectations, the potential of a task and student expectations will allow for more deliberate design of written tasks that encourage general and discipline-specific learning.
The effect of the COVID-19 lockdown on bilingual Singaporean children's leisure reading
Long-term school absences during pandemic lockdowns may result in learning gains and losses much like the summer reading loss, but little is known about the actual effects of such lockdowns. This mixed-methods study examined changes in reading enjoyment, amount and resources in three groups of bilingual children—English-Chinese, English-Malay, and English-Tamil speaking children—during the COVID-19 lockdown in Singapore. Results reveal a lockdown reading gap between children’s stronger language (English) and weaker language (Chinese/Malay/Tamil). Within each language, results show differential reading gains and losses for children who enjoyed and did not enjoy reading in print and digital formats. Children’s reading enjoyment before the lockdown, changes in reading enjoyment and print reading amount during the lockdown in English and Chinese/Malay were significantly correlated. Children preferred print reading over reading digitally both before and during the lockdown, and devices were underutilized for reading purposes.
Designing school libraries of the future study: Report 2024
In a constantly shifting world of increasing literacy expectations, technological advancements and global flows, school libraries as learning hubs are crucial to support students’ reading and learning. Following an earlier study documenting the positive impact of well-designed and stocked school libraries on students’ reading, the research team, with the support of CPDD, MOE and the three schools in the study, embarked on a library redesign project from 2019 to 2020. An ERPF grant, DEV02-20 Designing School Libraries of the Future, awarded to the research team, allowed the team to document the redesign process and study the impact of library redesign at the three Library of the Future (LOTF) prototype schools for one full year each between 2022 and 2023.