Debbie G. E. Ho

The Focus Group Interview: Rising to the Challenge in Qualitative Research Methodology.

Debbie Ho, Universiti Brunei Darussalam Having earned her PhD in Applied Linguistics from the University of Adelaide in Australia, Debbie G.E. Ho has taught English and ESL to secondary and senior students in both international and state schools in Singapore, Brunei and Hong Kong. Currently, she lectures in Applied Linguistics in the Department of English Language and Applied Linguistics at Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Brunei. Her research interests are in ESL pedagogy and the role of classroom discourse in L2 development.

Why Do Teachers Ask the Questions They Ask

Although teacher questioning has received much attention in the past few years, studies on teacher questions in the ESL classroom have so far revolved around the ‘closed’/‘open’ or ‘display’/‘referential’ distinction. Findings from classroom observations show excessive use of closed questions by teachers in the classroom. The argument that has been more or less accepted is that such questions seek to elicit short, restricted student responses and are therefore purposeless in the classroom setting. This paper attempts to conduct an analytical discussion of the argument. The questions of three non-native ESL teachers during reading comprehension in the upper secondary school in Brunei are analysed using a three-level question construct. Through this three-level question analysis, it is possible to challenge the argument concerning question types and purposes. Particularly, it illustrates (i) the problem of assigning teacher questions into narrowly defined categories and (ii) that questions asked by teachers in the language classroom are purposeful when reflected against the goals and agenda of the educational institution.

Systemic Text Analysis in the ESL Writing Classroom: Does It Work?.

■ The Systemic Textual Analysis (STA) is a text-based approach to teaching writing based on a combination of the genre-based theory and systemic functional linguistics. Central to this approach is the teacher-learner collaborative analysis of various text types in terms of structure and texture through the use of genre analysis and systemic functional grammar. The critical question posed in this paper is: To what extent does STA help ESL learners become proficient writers? In other words, how can helping students analyse the macro and micro elements of a text help them improve the overall structure and texture of their own writing? This paper attempts to address this question and compares the pre- and post-instruction pieces of review writing produced by an ESL undergraduate in the English class. Using STA as an instruction method, the paper discusses the extent to which progress has been made in the student’s post-instruction text in terms of structure and texture and also the implications of such an approach for further language teaching and learning directions.

‘I'm not west. I'm not east. So how leh?’

WHILE recent articles and research studies on Singapore Colloquial English (SCE, or simply ‘Singlish’) have so far tended to focus on the structure, grammar and the functional roles of Singlish in Singapore, this paper presents an insiders viewpoint of this local variety from a perspective that incorporates both linguistic ideology and cultural politics. Focusing on the spoken version at the basilectal end of the English speech continuum, the article attempts to explore Singlish from a cultural-political viewpoint and challenges popular belief that Singlish encapsulates an established Singapore identity. In the process, it throws up some insights about language, identity and culture. Based on two significant contributing factors to the unmarked use of Singlish in Singapore, the paper argues that – more than just a language used for wider intra-communication in this tiny republic and city state – this variety, with its odd mix of English and local ethnic languages, mirrors a people who find themselves struggling with a myriad conflicting and contrasting cultures, a people in cultural and linguistic flux, who are still searching – desperately – for an identity, and a language they can call their own.

English in the Expanding Circle — A Third Diaspora?

Abstract In looking at the spread of English to the rest of the world, two diasporas have currently been discussed in World Englishes literature. The first diaspora of English is found in countries such as Britain, the United States and Australia, where English is the native language. This is due to the early migration and settlement of native speakers of English into these countries, later regarded as homelands to these peoples. The second diaspora of English is found in countries such as India and parts of Africa, countries which were historically colonised at one time or other by Britain, one of the native English speaking countries. Although there may be local languages spoken in these countries, English continues to assume an important position because of its ties with the coloniser. Within Kachru’s conception of the three circles of English speakers in the world, the Inner Circle constitutes the first diaspora while the Outer Circle forms the second diaspora. This paper puts forward the view that the third and Expanding Circle should not be considered in the same light as the Outer Circle due to the absence of colonisation in its historical background. It is further argued that non-colonisation holds the key to understanding the attitudes of speakers in this Circle towards a nativised variety of English in general and the potential establishment of a nativised pedagogical model for teaching and learning.

Thematic Options and Success in ESL Writing: An Analysis of Promotional Texts

Successful texts exhibit two characteristics: (1) its communicative purpose (s) being effectively conveyed to the target audience within a particular context; and (2) the linguistic features in the text, which represent a cohesive unit of meaning appropriate to its context. For example, a recipe is quite different from an advertisement promoting a product in that each exhibits structural elements and lexico-grammatical features that are appropriate within their particular contexts and each targets a particular group of people. Genre analysis based on functional grammar has been applied to teaching students to write successful texts. While a genre-based approach to teaching writing has raised student awareness of the obligatory and optional structural elements or stages exhibited by different genres or text types, not much attention has been paid to looking at the textual dimension of a text, although it has been accepted that both aspects are important for success in writing. Butt et al. (2001:3) state that a good text is one which contains both ‘certain obligatory structural elements appropriate to their purpose and context’ and ‘a harmonious collection of meanings appropriate to its context.’ This chapter offers a genre-based approach to teaching writing from a systemic functional linguistics perspective and argues that success in writing requires not only attention paid to the structural elements in a text but also to the textual features in it, with particular focus on the thematic choices employed by students in foregrounding the message of the text.

The Attitudes of University Students Towards Their Native and Non-native English Speaking Lecturers in Brunei

Despite the observation that many language classrooms around the world today are taught by non-native English speaker teachers, native English speakers often still express surprise when they encounter a non-native English speaker teacher in the language classroom.