ABSTRACT

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.

摘要

虽然新加坡对中小学英语教育进行了多项研究，但对高等教育学术写作课程的研究较少。本研究介绍了一项调查的结果，旨在找出新加坡高等教育写作教师优先考虑的教学方法和技能。该项目以以下问题为指导：（1）新加坡教授写作课程的主流方法是什么？(2) 新加坡写作教师的教育背景是什么？这与他们的教学方法有关吗？(3) 这些教师在其作为教师的工作和学习成果中优先考虑哪些实践？(4) 典型作业、班级人数是多少？新加坡写作/交流课程的教学负担？结果表明，大多数新加坡写作课教师都具有语言学背景，并采用学术英语（EAP）方法；然而，也有一些证据表明 EAP 和成分研究之间存在混合方法。该研究提出，随着新加坡学生的英语能力越来越熟练，这种混合方法可能会成为新加坡学术写作教学的最佳途径。