Based on narrative theory, this study explores the images of children, children's subject consciousness and the relationship between children and adults in the narrative texts of primary school Chinese textbooks in the early Republican period. The study finds that the textbooks try consistently to inculcate the "citizens of the Republic of China" with virtues, honesty, martial spirit, aesthetic knowledge and subject consciousness. They aim to inspire the learners in the early Republican period and help them to establish their new citizen identity. At the same time, the narrative texts try to pass on Chinese traditional cultural ideas, such as children's moral character and family affections. However, there are contradictions and conflicts in the narratives: the traditional concept of "superiority of the father and subordination of the son" continues; where children are always in subordinate positions, with adults and children in "two opposite worlds". This conservative tendency found in the primary Chinese textbooks has been changed after the enactment of the new educational system later.

Keywords: the early period of Republican, textbook, Chinese, children, narrative theory

For the spelling of Chinese words in pinyin, the new edition of Singapore Primary School Chinese Textbooks follows the rules elaborated in The Basic Rules of the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet Orthography (2012) published by the Chinese authority. According to the Basic Rules, words comprising multiple Chinese characters are to be spelt as one word; individual characters are no longer spelt separately, as they were in the previous edition of the Textbooks. The rules also require certain phonetic spellings to be capitalized. By adhering to the spelling standard of Chinese phonetic alphabet as well as international common spelling practices, this change in spelling in the new Chinese textbooks aims to cater to the changed language background of learners. The spelling rules, which are consistent with the way the human brain processes language information, help students to better understand the meaning of words, allowing them to make more accurate judgment in terms of punctuation and line breaking. As such, this way of spelling can help students to develop a better language intuition. Considering the unique characteristics of Chinese language in Singapore, minor adjustments have been made in applying the Basic Rules to the spelling of the words in the new edition textbooks. While the principles of the spelling of erhua words in the previous edition of the Chinese textbooks are retained, the new textbooks employ a more precise set of criteria in the classification of neutral-tone words.

Keywords: new edition of Singapore Primary Chinese Textbook, Chinese phonetic alphabet, pinyin spelling

This paper aims to investigate the relationship between the oral fluency and the vocabulary size of second language (L2) learners. Speech samples produced by native Mandarin teachers and L2 learners (overseas Chinese and native English speakers) were randomly selected from Spontaneous Chinese Learners Speech Corpus and assessed by untrained native Mandarin speakers in Taiwan. Eight rating questions that reflect oral proficiency were designed to evaluate speech samples' fluency, nativeness, accentedness, disfluencies, pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, and comprehensibility. A statistical analysis of vocabulary size, utterance speed and pause frequency was subsequently made to examine their correlations with listeners' perception of oral fluency. The analysis shows that the oral fluency perceived by listeners is highly correlated with disfluencies (pauses, silence, etc.) and the ability to choose the proper words, while vocabulary size is related with only L2 learners' disfluencies. Due to the small vocabulary size, L2 learners are unable to conceptualize what they wish to communicate and formulate it into a linguistic plan in time, nor can they automate the process of selecting appropriate words, which results in disfluencies. The findings of this study agree with Skehan's (2009) discussion on the correlations among vocabulary size, lexical choice and oral fluency.

Keywords: second language acquisition, oral fluency, vocabulary size, Chinese

Based on previous studies on "involvement", this research discusses the definition and structure of literacy involvement and develops a questionnaire for its measurement in strict accordance with metrological standards. Literacy involvement is first conceptualized as a three-dimensional model, composed of literacy interest, literacy efficacy and literacy strategy. In order to examine and verify the theoretical constructs of literacy involvement, Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was used to explore the underlying structure of the model, and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was also employed to test whether the data fits that model. The results of statistical tests show that the model fits to the data quite well and the good fit indicates the model is reasonable and valid to a certain extent. In addition, the questionnaire is well designed to be used to assess students' literacy involvement. It is believed that the measurement and assessment of literacy involvement will help to realize the three-dimensional goal of curriculum reform in China.

Keywords: literacy involvement, literacy interest, literacy efficacy, literacy strategy, questionnaire development

The use of literary works in second language pedagogy has gained prominence around the world. Academics are beginning to realize the important role of literary works in cultivating students' language proficiency and in preparing students for the rapid socio-economic developments and challenges of the 21st century. However, the Chinese curriculum for secondary schools in Singapore has not made full use of literary texts. With regards to Singapore's context, this paper proposes a learner-centered experiential learning model which integrates Chinese literary works to teach Chinese as a second language. Based on the Experiential Language Learning (ELL) model, this preliminary model integrates the stances of envisionment building in Reader-Response Theory (RRT) supported by empirical researches in the second language classroom. The preliminary model aims to draw on the features of literary works to improve students' language abilities as well as to pique their interest in literature so that they can better appreciate Chinese literary works.

Keywords: experience, literature teaching, stances of envisionment, language learning, activities design

Narrative composition is a compulsory writing component for all secondary one students studying Chinese in Singapore. However, as Chinese is taught as a second language, writing a good narrative composition is not an easy task for most students. Teachers often spend most of the lesson time training students just to be able to complete a composition within the time as stipulated in examinations. Students therefore generally do not have the time nor opportunity to edit and to improve on their compositions. This is one of the reasons why their cognitive abilities in writing remain stagnant. This study aims to find out whether students' writing skills can be improved through trainings in self and peer assessment and to come up with an effective process in assessing and editing of compositions. The study was conducted in a secondary one class (express stream) in a neighbourhood school in Singapore for a period of two years. The researchers conducted activities revolving around self and peer assessment. The period for each activity was between one to two months. The activities are designed to develop the basic writing skills of the students. Through observing the performance of the students in the different methods of writing assessments, we have formulated a process of composition editing. A variety of data collection methods has been adopted to verify the effectiveness of the process. Thereafter, a qualitative analysis was carried out and a comparison was made of three students' compositions before and after the composition editing. In addition, researchers interviewed six students who showed dramatic improvement in their compositions so as to gain a better understanding on the assessing and editing process they have used to improve their writing skills. The research team hopes that the effective process presented here may aid teachers to develop students' self and peer assessment skills, thereby improving students' ability in writing Chinese narrative compositions.

Keywords: process writing, self and peer assessment, editing process, narrative writing, writing skills