Loh, Chin Ee

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.

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.

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.

Studies have shown that while Singapore students are highly literate, they may not necessarily enjoy reading. Reports of Singapore students ranking highly for reading achievement but not reading enjoyment, coupled with a recorded decline in pleasure reading underscores the need to inculcate positive reading habits- with an emphasis on pleasure reading. This study draws upon six case studies of primary school students to examine pleasure reading habits and preferences of preadolescents aged 9 to 12 years old. Data was collected by administering a Title Recognition Test, followed by semi-structured interviews.

This paper examines contestations over the value of Literature in the secondary school curriculum in the former British colony of Singapore and the way the Literature curriculum has been framed to understand the various issues surrounding the role of Literature education. Using Raymond Williams’ framework of dominant, residual and emergent ideologies, I show how the dominant perception of Literature study in Singapore as a decontextualised humanistic and aesthetic subject is influenced by its residual British colonial legacy. Significant official changes, fundamentally conservative, have been driven by the governing ideology of instrumental pragmatism and are tied to twin aims of economic well-being and national belonging. The conservative view of Literature education prevents the adoption of emergent views of Literature education as hybrid, multimodal and critical. A pragmatic re-evaluation of the aims of Literature education in the twenty-first century is required to regain renewed significance for the subject.

Does print still matter in this digital age? What is the role of technology in reading? Do adolescents who enjoy reading view the reading of print and digital material differently from those who do not enjoy reading? Drawing on survey data from 6,005 students and focus group data with 96 students across six secondary schools, this mixed-methods study examines adolescents’ print and digital reading habits in Singapore. Findings show that adolescents prefer print but move towards more online reading as they get older. Adolescents’ online reading habits are reflective of their print preferences and behavior with physical books. The article explains how both print and technology matter to motivate adolescent reading.