9 research outputs found
A review of tertiary-level writing courses in Singapore : pedagogical approaches and practices
While there have been several studies on primary and secondary English education in Singapore, less research has been done on academic writing courses at the tertiary level. This study presents the results of a survey, which aimed to find out the pedagogical approaches and skills prioritized by tertiary-level writing teachers in Singapore. The project was guided by the following questions: (1) What is the dominant approach to teaching writing courses in Singapore? (2) What are the educational backgrounds of writing teachers in Singapore and does this relate to the pedagogical approaches that inform their teaching? (3) What practices do these teachers prioritize in the work they do as teachers and in their learning outcomes? (4) What are the typical assignments, class sizes, and teaching loads for Singaporean writing/communication classes? The results suggest that most teachers of Singaporean writing classes have a background in linguistics and take an English for Academic Purposes (EAP) approach; however, there was also some evidence of a blended approach between EAP and composition studies. The study proposes that, as Singaporean students become more proficient in English, this blended approach may present the best way forward for teaching academic writing in Singapore.Nanyang Technological UniversitySubmitted/Accepted versionThis work was supported by Nanyang Technological University, [Grant M4082339] IRB-2019-04-029-01
âPutting Words on the Backs of Rhythmâ: Woolf, âStreet Musicâ, and The Voyage Out
âWe Are a Musical Nationâ: Under Milk Wood and the BBC Third Programme
This essay examines Dylan Thomasâs 1954 play Under Milk Wood in the context of the BBC Third Programme, the âhigh cultureâ station founded in the hopes that difficult art might improve public sentiment and intellectual health. Through the artworks themselves and through its flexible scheduling and strategic use of dead air, the Third Programme promoted âalert and perceptive listening,â a niche for aesthetic reflection independent of the marketplace, building on the cultural evangelism of the BBCâs founding Director General, John Reith. Thomasâs play ironizes these aims, using the sonic textures of language, the temporal structures of ritual, and a deconstructed anthropological gaze to supplant the Third Programmeâs Arnoldian ideal of rational disinterestedness. Depicting an isolated Welsh village, Under Milk Wood implicitly critiques the horrors of war while declining to endorse the BBCâs sanctimonious promises of cultural uplift; rather, it produces an ironic, negative image of fascismâs self-defeating obsessions with civic uniformity and public health. Though Under Milk Wood promotes aesthetic reflection and aural empathy â akin to what Kate Lacey has referred to as âlistening outâ â Thomas reimagines these public values, not in the sense promoted by Matthew Arnold or Reith but in relation to the erotic, embodied rhythms of language and ritual. Under Milk Wood âremakesâ time, in an ironic reflection of the Third Programmeâs flexible scheduling, unsettling the condescension implicit in the playâs own radiophonic framing voices and demonstrating how broadcast media participate in the ritual construction of timeâs passage