This article presents the findings of an observation study of reading lessons in English at Primary Three in Singapore. The aims of the study were first to establish whether a common pedagogy to teach reading in English exists at this transition year of children’s schooling, and second what the cultural effects of this pedagogy might be for children. In the article I show how features in common over the observed lessons form a pedagogy derived internationally. Next, through a detailed analysis of this pedagogy, a locally written text and the talk around the text in a single lesson, I show and discuss the possible cultural consequences of the pedagogy for Singaporean children.
Anderson N. ( 1999) Exploring Second Language Reading: Issues and Strategies . Boston: Heinle and Heinle.
2.
Anderson RC ( 1994) Role of the reader’s schema in comprehension, learning and memory. In: Ruddell RB, Ruddell MR, and Singer H (eds) Theoretical Models and Processes of Reading. Newark, Delaware: International Reading Association , 4th ed, 469-95.
3.
Anderson RC, Freebody P. ( 1983) Reading comprehension and the assessment and acquisition of word knowledge. In: Hutson B (ed) Advances in Reading Language Research, Vol. II. Greenwich , Connecticut: JAI Press Inc., 231-56.
4.
Aries P. ( 1962) Centuries of Childhood: A Social History of Family Life. Translated from the French by Robert Baldick. New York : Random House.
5.
Austin H., Dwyer B., and Freebody P. ( 2003) Schooling the Child. London : Routledge.
6.
Baker C. ( 1991) Literacy practices and social relations in classroom reading events. In: Baker C, Luke A (eds) Towards a Critical Sociology of Reading Pedagogy. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 161-88.
7.
Baker C. ( 1997) Ethnomethodological studies of talk in educational settings . In: Davies B, Corson D (eds) Encyclopedia of Language and Education, Vol. 3: Oral Discourse and Education. Dordrecht : Kluwer, 43-52.
8.
Baker C., Freebody P. ( 1989) Children’s First School Books. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
9.
Birch BM ( 2002) English L2 Reading: Getting to the Bottom. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., Publishers .
10.
Brooker L. ( 2002) Starting School: Young Children Learning Cultures . Buckingham, PA: Open University Press.
11.
Carrell PL, Eisterhold JC ( 1988) Schema theory and ESL reading pedagogy. In: Carrell PL, Devine J, Eskey DE (eds) Interactive Approaches to Second Language Reading. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 73-92.
12.
Cheah YM ( 2003) English language teaching in Singapore today. In: Ho WK, Wong RYL (eds) English Language Teaching in East Asia Today: Changing Policies and Practices. Singapore: Times Academic Press, 351-74.
13.
Corden R. ( 2000) Literacy and Learning Through Talk: Strategies for the Primary Classroom. Buckingham, PA: Open University Press.
14.
Curriculum Planning and Development Division ( 1991) English Language Syllabus. Singapore: Ministry of Education.
15.
Curriculum Planning and Development Division ( 2000) English Language Syllabus. Singapore: Ministry of Education.
16.
Derewianka B. ( 1990) Exploring How Texts Work. Newtown , NSW: Primary English Teaching Association.
17.
Dewey J. ( 1938) Experience and Education. New York : Simon & Schuster.
18.
Foley JA, Kandiah T, Bao Z, et al. (eds) (1998) English in New Cultural Contexts: Reflections from Singapore. Singapore: Singapore Institute of Management, Oxford University Press.
19.
Freebody P. ( 2003) Qualitative Research in Education: Interaction and Practice . London: Sage Publications .
20.
Gee J. ( 2002) A sociocultural perspective on early literacy development . In: Neuman S, Dickinson D (eds) Handbook of Early Literacy Research. New York: The Guilford Press, 30-42.
21.
Gibbons P. ( 2002) Scaffolding Language, Scaffolding Learning: Teaching Second Language Learners in the Mainstream Classroom. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
22.
Grabe W., Stoller F. ( 2002) Teaching and Researching Reading. Harlow: Pearson Education.
23.
Gunning TG ( 2004) Creating Literacy: Instruction for All Students in Grades 4 to 8. Boston, MA: Pearson .
24.
Heap J. ( 1985) Discourse in the production of classroom knowledge: reading lessons. Curriculum Inquiry15(3): 245-79.
25.
Heap JL ( 1997) Conversation analysis methods in researching language and education. In: Encyclopedia of Language and Education Vol. 8: Research Methods in Language and Education. Dordrecht: Kluwer, 217-25.
26.
Hendrick H. ( 1997) Constructions and reconstructions of British childhood: an interpretative survey, 1800 to the present. In: James A, Prout A (eds) Constructing and Reconstructing Childhood: Contemporary Issues in the Sociological Study of Childhood. Basingstoke: The Falmer Press, 2nd ed, 33-60.
27.
Holdaway D. ( 1982) Shared book experience: teaching reading using favorite books. Theory into Practice21(4): 293-300.
28.
International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (2001) Progress in International Reading Study. Retrieved 15 October 2009, from http://www.pirls.org/pirls2001.html
29.
James A., Jenks C., and Prout A. ( 1998) Theorising Childhood. Cambridge : Polity Press.
30.
James A., Prout A. ( 1997) Constructing and Reconstructing Childhood: Contemporary Issues in the Sociological Study of Childhood, Second Edition. London: The Falmer Press.
31.
Luke A. ( 1988) Literacy, Textbooks and Ideology. New York: The Falmer Press.
32.
Ministry of Education.Primary Education. Retrieved 1 September 2009 from http://www.moe.gov.sg
33.
Montgomery H. ( 2003) Childhood in time and place. In: Woodhead M, Montgomery H (eds) Understanding Childhood: An Interdisciplinary Approach . Chichester: John Wiley and Sons Ltd., in association with The Open University, 45-83.
34.
Pennycook A. ( 1994) The Cultural Politics of English as an International Language . New York: Longman.
35.
Pressley M. ( 2002) Reading Instruction That Works: The Case for Balanced Teaching, Second Edition. New York: The Guilford Press.
36.
Ruddell RB ( 1999) Teaching Children to Read and Write: Becoming an Influential Teacher, Second Edition. Needham Heights, MA : Allyn and Bacon.
37.
Shanmugaratnam T. ( 2002) Speech by Mr. Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Senior Minister for Trade and Industry & Education, at the Tamil Murasu Most Inspiring Tamil Teacher Award 2002 on Sunday, 13 October, 2002 at 3:15 pm [Electronic Version]. Retrieved 16 October 2009, from http://www.moe.gov.sg/media/speeches/2002/sp14102002.htm
38.
Silver RE, Hu G., and Lino M. ( 2002) English Language Education in China, Japan and Singapore . Singapore: National Institute of Education .
39.
Sripathy M. ( 1998) Language teaching pedagogies and cultural scripts: the Singapore primary classroom. In: Gopinathan S, Pakir A, Ho WK, and Saravanan V (eds) Language, Society and Education in Singapore: Issues and Trends, Second Edition. Singapore: Times Academic Press , 269-80.
40.
Stauffer R. ( 1980) The Language Experience Approach to the Teaching of Reading , Second Edition. New York: Harper and Row, Publishers.
41.
Stephens J. ( 1992) Language and Ideology in Children’s Fiction . Harlow, Essex: Longman.
42.
Street BV (ed) (1993) Cross-cultural Approaches to Literacy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
43.
Tompkins G. ( 2005) Language Arts: Patterns of Practice, Sixth Edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education Inc.
44.
Vaish V. ( 2007) Bilingualism without diglossia: the Indian community in Singapore. Bilingual Education and Bilingualism10(2): 171-87.
45.
Vygotsky LS ( 1962) Thought and Language. Translated and edited by E. Hanfmann and G.Vakar.Cambridge, MA: The Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
46.
Wee WF ( 2002a) In Step: A Course in English for Primary Schools 3B. Singapore: SNP Pan Pacific Publishing.
47.
Wee WF ( 2002b) In Step: A Course in English for Primary Schools, Activity Book 3B. Singapore: SNP Pan Pacific Publishing .
48.
Wing Jan L. ( 2001) Write Ways: Modelling Writing Forms. Melbourne: Oxford University Press.
49.
Wong R. ( 2003) Teaching Text Types in the Singapore Primary Classroom. SingaporePrentice Hall.
50.
Woods P., Boyle M., and Hubbard N. ( 1999) Multicultural Children in the Early Years. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
