Cross-sectional assessment of linguistic development in the English, Malay, Chinese and Tamil languages
Research into child language development in Singaporean context has been sporadic and focused mainly on the acquisition and development of English. However, such research can provide important information on typical and untypical paths of linguistic development in English and Mother Tongues, thus enabling educational practitioners to understand the needs of different cohorts of children undertaking home-school transition. It is even more important at the current moment when a large percentage of the pre-school population in Singapore is undergoing a language shift of immense proportions. The present Project is a first step in this direction.
The language development of Malay pre-school children
"The purpose of this project is to provide a detailed and systematic account of the language acquisition and development of Malay in Singapore. The project began by examining how children acquire colloquial Malay, the language to which they are exposed at home and in the speech community before they are taught the standard, formal language in school. The project tracked the children's development as they begin their long journey of receiving formal education in the pursuit of knowledge."-- [p. 1].
Early literacy classroom practices
This study explores the complex relationships between teacher beliefs and practices in developing children's literacy skills among preschool teachers from eight centres. Teacher belief is defined broadly as assumptions about students, classrooms, curriculum and the academic material to be taught. Using a 5-point Likert scale, teachers were asked to fill out a questionnaire and rate their commitment to teaching, the efficacy of the school management in planning early childhood programs, parental support, student needs and teachers' instructional focus and self-report on the various classroom pedagogical strategies they employ in the classroom. The quantitative data on teacher beliefs is then linked to observed classroom practices and the quantity and quality of classroom materials used. It was found that where the perceived objective of preschool education is primary school-readiness, classroom observations show that the curriculum is assessment-driven, and the nature of tasks and assignments given to the children is repetitive and classroom instruction didactic, with focus on developing basic literacy skills. Teaching materials generally include workbooks, worksheets and very little curriculum time is given to shared-book reading, extended discourse as well as the connectedness of the lessons to the real world. The findings have practical implications for early childhood teacher education and training as beliefs are a major determinant of behaviour as teachers make classrooms decisions and the outcome of these beliefs is the children's literacy acquisition.