RELC Journal

The need to broaden the notion of literacy has been continually emphasized within the field of New Literacy Studies in recent years. This is necessary because of the advent of information and communication technology (ICT) in our everyday, school and workplace literacy practices. A broader notion of literacy is needed to pay attention to the rearrangement in the constellation of modes of representation from print to screen which has profound consequences for meaning making and communication in the classroom (Kress, 2003). In this paper, we present our exploratory study in a Singapore high school whereby a multiliteracies curriculum was designed and implemented. We document our collaborating teacher’s changing perceptions towards meaning making and how her shifting perceptions change her pedagogical practices in her two English Language classrooms of 14-year-old students. We conclude with a discussion on the implications of developing new literacies for language teaching in Singapore.

As part of a research study on collaborative writing, this paper discusses defining and facilitating features that occur during face-to-face collaboration, based on the literature and research. The defining features are mutual interaction, negotiations, conflict, and shared expertise. Facilitating features include affective factors, use of L1, backtracking and humour. Excerpts are selected from the findings of one collaborative writing group in an ESL academic writing class to illustrate the features. The features that occur or emerge during collaborative writing reveal that students are capable of constructing knowledge and developing writing and social skills through interactions with their peers. However, affective conflict may sometimes hinder successful collaboration if not handled appropriately.

This study made frequency and functional analysis of thematization in English students’ compositions in Shahid Chamran University. Ninety students were selected and divided into three groups, followed by a homogeneity test (Fowler and Coe, 1976). An educated native speaker was also used as a criterion measure. Then, they were asked to narrate three pictorial stories, given to them, each in a 30-minute session. The data were analyzed based on Halliday (1985) and McCabe (1999) models of thematicity. The results suggested thematically different compositions in terms of interpersonal, unmarked, simple, and multiple themes. The results also showed that students’ level of language proficiency monitor the use of linear and split thematic progression chains. This study may have implications for teaching composition writing at different levels of language proficiency.

In developing strategies for increasing learner involvement, a key factor is the extent to which these strategies are compatible with learners’ own expectations and preferences. In order to explore this factor, tertiary students in four Asian countries were asked (in an online survey designed on the basis of exploratory interviews) to give their conceptions of their ideal English lesson. Factor analysis revealed three main types of lesson that different groups of students preferred: the communication-oriented lesson, the form-oriented lesson and the control-oriented lesson. Students expressed preference for communication-oriented lessons in all countries except Japan and there were differences between countries in the degree and details of students’ preferences. Overall, however, students expressed positive attitudes to a varied range of teaching strategies, giving encouragement to teachers who wish to renew their pedagogy in order to suit new individual and social needs.

This paper reports on interviews conducted with 36 teachers involved in university preparation courses at language teaching centres in New Zealand. The interviews were designed to investigate teacher attitudes to extensive reading in higher educational contexts, and current practice in such contexts. While teachers expressed positive beliefs about the language learning benefits of extensive reading, these beliefs did not generally result in the inclusion of extensive reading in the classroom programme. This may reflect the realities of the wider educational context. If extensive reading is to be more widespread in higher educational contexts, it needs to be promoted through teacher education, new research, changes in course design, raising awareness among administrators and managers, and improved resource provision.

The present paper attempts to examine the possibilities of the Classroom Language Assessment Benchmark (CLAB) as a professional development tool for EFL teachers in Japan. Two questionnaire surveys were carried out several months after the last day of the graduate course (both in 2006 and 2007) where CLAB was used as a self- and peer-assessment tool of teachers’ classroom English in their trial lesson.The questionnaire results show that the Classroom English Observation Program (CEOP) using CLAB and the Classroom Language Assessment Sheet (CLAS) is a useful approach for raising trainees’ awareness of their classroom English and helping them to strive for improved classroom language proficiency, suggesting that CLAB should be used not as a tool for their qualification assessment but as a tool for their professional development. The paper concludes that an improved, simplified benchmark and assessment sheet should be developed so that when used together they would serve as an important means for language teachers’ professional development.