2016 Vol.14, No.2 (issue 28) - Singapore Centre for Chinese Language

1. A Study on the Training of Textual Reading Competency in the Instructional Materials of Chinese Language for Secondary Schools (Express) in Singapore

peiyee.cheng@sccl.sg (Cheng Pei Yee) — Tue, 06 Dec 2016 16:11:30 +0800

Based on the theory of taxonomy of reading competency, this paper analyzes the textual reading exercises in the Instructional Materials of Chinese Language for Secondary Schools (Express) in Singapore. By comparing the analysis results with the syllabus requirements and the O-Level Chinese reading questions, the paper tries to explore: (1) whether the textual reading exercises in the Instructional Materials fulfill the syllabus requirements; (2) whether the practice ensures that students will sail through the Chinese reading test in the O-Level. At the end, the paper gives suggestions on how to improve the Instructional Materials from the aspects of text types, the training of reading competency and the types of exercises.

Keywords: Singapore, Chinese language for secondary schools, textual reading competency, taxonomy of reading competency, textual reading exercises

2. A Case on Chinese PIRLS Assessment for Singapore Students

peiyee.cheng@sccl.sg (Cheng Pei Yee) — Tue, 06 Dec 2016 16:09:23 +0800

Based on PIRLS reading competency assessment and questionnaire, the paper investigates the Chinese reading competency of bilingual Chinese students in Singapore. The research selected 7, 9 and 12 years old students as objects. ANOVA-Tukey method was employed to make multiple comparisons of students’ PIRLS reading test results. OLS regression analysis was also performed to explore the impact of various reading strategies on the Chinese reading competency of students of different ages and family language backgrounds. The result shows that for 9-year-old students who use EL and CL equally at home, the development of their reading competency is interfered by both languages, whereas the 12-year-olds do not have this problem. For students mainly using EL, their Chinese reading competency lags behind the other groups after the age of 9. In addition, different types of reading strategies and methods have diverse effects on the reading competency of students with various language backgrounds. Therefore, these strategies should be distinguished in terms of their ways of use and ranges of application.

Keywords: Chinese language, PIRLS, bilingual, reading competency, reading instruction

3. The Development of the Automated Essay Evaluation System

peiyee.cheng@sccl.sg (Cheng Pei Yee) — Tue, 06 Dec 2016 16:07:36 +0800

This paper begins with a brief observation of the language situation in Singapore, focusing on the Chinese composition writing competency of Singapore students and the three main types of mistakes they make. It was in view of this situation that the research team embarked on the development of the Automatic Essay Evaluation (AEE) System for Chinese compositions. The paper proceeds with an elaboration on the development of the AEE System, including its framework, interface, operation and trial test. The trial test results show that both teachers and students are positive of the System regarding its role in correcting grammatical mistakes in students’ compositions. The paper ends with a brief introduction of the plan for a large scale testing in the next stage of development.

Keywords: automated evaluation, second language learning, composition, grammar

4. Development of the Syllabus of the Graded Chinese Vocabulary

peiyee.cheng@sccl.sg (Cheng Pei Yee) — Tue, 06 Dec 2016 16:04:05 +0800

In view of the features of teaching Chinese as a mother tongue, the research team has developed the Syllabus of the Graded Chinese Vocabulary to meet the needs of Chinese education in Southeast Asia. The Syllabus is constructed based on the corpora of Chinese communicative words and topic-specific words with the methods of computational linguistics. It takes as a basic point of reference the Chinese proficiency level of primary and lower secondary school students in Mainland China and includes cultural and regional words in Southeast Asia. The Syllabus includes 13,297 entries and is divided into 6 levels. It can serve as an important reference for the compilation of Chinese textbooks and dictionaries, as well as the teaching and learning of Chinese and proficiency tests in Southeast Asia. This article expounds on the necessity to develop such a syllabus and elaborates on the development method, references, processes and results.

Keywords: Southeast Asia, Chinese, vocabulary, graded syllabus

5. An Analysis of Teachers’ Scaffolding Awareness and Skills in the Scaffolding Teaching Model

peiyee.cheng@sccl.sg (Cheng Pei Yee) — Tue, 06 Dec 2016 16:01:48 +0800

In Singapore, where Chinese is learned as a second language, how to provide useful guidance of writing composition to primary school students has become an important topic. On the basis of Vygotsky’s (1978) Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) and Bruner’s (1983) concept of scaffolding, the research team has developed a five-step scaffolding teaching model incorporated with some effective strategies of writing instruction. The model has been put into practice in two government schools for one year. Based on the authentic classroom discourses, classroom observations and teachers’ interviews gained from the project, this paper intends to analyse the participant teachers’ scaffolding awareness and capability development in building classroom interaction, diagnosing students’ difficulties and providing scaffolding. The results show that teachers’ awareness and skills of scaffolding are essential to the successful implementation of the scaffolding teaching model.

Keywords: scaffolding teaching model, scaffolding awareness, implementation skills, second language teaching