Caroline Mei Lin Ho

Designing and implementing virtual enactive role-play and structured argumentation: promises and pitfalls

This paper focuses on the design and implementation of an innovative technologically mediated intervention for argumentation pedagogy in two classes comprising 17- to 18-year-old students in Singapore. The design research involves integrating the Second Life immersive virtual environment and web-based scaffolding through a customized structured argumentation board into a language-based curriculum at the pre-university level (Grade 12), the General Paper, which emphasizes argumentation and critical thinking. Of specific interest in this paper are the processes and factors that impact both the technical aspects of implementation and pedagogical findings. It discusses the benefits and drawbacks arising from the design, planning and implementation of both platforms of technology into the curriculum. Recommendations to overcome problems identified and suggestions for future research in the field are proposed.

Developing multimodal communication competencies: A case of disciplinary literacy focus in Singapore

In science education, there is a growing understanding that learning science involves developing a repertoire of disciplinary-specific literacy skills to engage with the knowledge and practices of the scientific community (Kelly 2008). Such ‘disciplinary literacy’, or the specific ways of talking, reading, writing, doing, and thinking valued and used by the discipline (McConachie et al. 2006; Moje 2007), is central rather than peripheral to the development of scientific understanding (Norris and Phillips 2003). For decades, researchers from multiple disciplines have shed light on the language and discursive features of academic science (Halliday and Martin 1993; Lemke 1990) as well as pioneering various reading and writing strategies to help students master scientific discourse (Hand et al. 1999; Yore and Shymansky 1985). However, in more recent years, there has been increasing attention toward the role of visual, graphical, mathematical, and gestural modes of representation in scientific communication (Kress et al. 2001; Lemke 1998). Research in this area reveals how each mode of representation plays a unique function in representing different aspects of scientific meaning. More studies are also beginning to show how scientific knowledge in specific content consists of a characteristic and recognizable pattern of relationships among multimodal representations (e.g., Hubber et al. 2010; Tang 2011; Tytler et al. 2006).

Meeting Disciplinary Literacy Demands in Content Learning: The Singapore Perspective

This chapter examines how systemic language and literacy support for content-area teachers to enhance their students’ learning is realised in Singapore with a focus on science at the secondary level. It highlights theoretical underpinnings that inform the perspective of disciplinary literacy guiding this work and describes how disciplinary literacy is contextualised in Singapore against what is broadly understood as effective communication. It unpacks the nature and extent of systemic support for developing literacy in science with specific reference to the professional learning courses and school-based collaborative research. The chapter addresses the challenges encountered and discusses the implications which impact curriculum and pedagogy in the integration of disciplinary literacy practices to meet students’ needs in the learning of science.

A Review of “Advances in language and education”

their teaching according to research findings and implement the necessary changes in the classroom, bridging the gap between researches and teaching almost immediately. The studies in this volume cover a wide range of methodology and classroom contexts, and demonstrate how instructors with even limited research experience can successfully execute empirical studies in their own classroom. The edition presents an opportunity to showcase research from a variety of contexts not usually explored in scholarly journals, and allows for a variety of research methodologies and interests to be explored in the same volume. Both quantitative and qualitative data collection methodologies are discussed in detail, including self-observation logs, journals, web and focus group discussion, audio journal use, questionnaires and participant and non-participant observation, to name a few. In addition to the detailed procedural descriptions, most studies include appendices with the instruments used, further encouraging future action research studies. Though there are many positive aspects to the book, it is not without limitations. The research inexperience of some of the authors is evident in the at-times inadequate literature reviews and the rudimentary and difficult-to-follow result sections that sometimes arrive at questionable claims. Non-empirical language, such as ‘bomb’ to describe poor student performance in exams (82), detracts from the richness of the findings. Organising the chapters according to research interest or language context instead of authors’ last name would greatly assist the reader in making comparisons between studies. Despite its limitations, the volume provides a valuable contribution to the field of language teaching research and achieves its goal of encouraging and empowering instructors to take on research projects to improve their classroom environments. Through descriptions of their own experiences of teacher-driven research and reflections on how the action research process affects their personal growth as language teachers, the authors demonstrate the value of observation, increased language awareness and collaboration and the increased confidence in teaching decisions that arises as a result of this process. Even the most experienced and research-oriented applied linguist can appreciate the authors’ passion and genuine concern for improving the teaching in their language classroom. Park eloquently articulates the motivation for action research in her reflection, stating that ‘collecting and analysing data about our own students, and applying those analyses to our work in the classroom may be the best way to serve the students we teach’ (151). The text provides compelling evidence that action research can be an effective way of bridging language research and teaching, and reminds us all of the importance of collaboration and continued innovation both in and outside of the L2 language classroom.