(A) About this Collection of Abstracts and Literature Reviews

This collection of Abstracts and Literature Reviews is a by-product of a two-year project entitled Annotated Bibliography on Chinese Language Education in Singapore (1965-2015), a SCCL project funded by the Ministry of Education, Singapore.

Boote and Beile (2005) observe that "To advance our collective understanding, a researcher or scholar needs to understand what has been done before, the strengths and weaknesses of existing studies, and what they might mean. A researcher cannot perform significant research without first understanding the literature in the field. Not understanding the prior research clearly puts a researcher at a disadvantage."  Earlier, Shuman (1999) has pointed out that "To be useful and meaningful, education research must be cumulative; it must build on and learn from prior research and scholarship on the topic." Specifically, a researcher must, among other things, (1) distinguish what has been done from what needs to be done, (2) acquire the subject vocabulary, (3) identify the main methodologies and research techniques that have been used, and (4) place the research in a historical context (Hart, 1999). One may further argue that, to a large extent, policy-makers and curriculum planners and developers should also distinguish what has been done from what needs to be done and also place the policy/ curriculum in a right context. A comprehensive annotated bibliography on Chinese language education in Singapore will therefore be of significant value to Singapore researchers in Chinese language education, as well as policy-makers and curriculum planners.

This bibliography on Chinese language education in Singapore, covering publications as well as conference papers delivered from 1965 to 2015, is divided into the following sections:

1   Background

2   Examinations and Assessment

3   Teaching and Learning in Chinese Language

3.1   Hanyu pinyin, Chinese Characters and Vocabulary

3.2   Reading

3.3   Writing

3.4   Listening and Speaking

3.5   Use of ICT

3.6   Use of English and Translation

3.7   Creative and Critical Thinking

3.8   General

3.9   Miscellaneous  

4   Curriculum and Instructional Materials

5   Teachers and Teacher Training

6   Learners

7   Pre-School Education

8   Bibliographies

8.1   General

8.2   Thematic

8.3   Major Journals: Table of Contents

We include journal articles, conference papers, occasional papers, book chapters, monographs, books, dissertations and theses, as well as technical reports. Critical studies on instructional materials compiled by the CPDD, MOE, will also be included.

The following, however, are excluded: (i) Non-MOE Textbooks/ Course books/ School-based Textbooks; (ii) Syllabuses/ curricula (though we shall include critical studies on Singapore Chinese language syllabuses and curricula); (iii) Guidebooks/ study guides (writing, reading, etc.); (iv) School magazines, yearbooks, gazettes, chronicles, bulletins, brochures, information booklets, etc. (v) Programmes of conference / seminar/ forum (though we shall utilize these programmes for sourcing of papers), and (vi) Newspaper articles / press releases (though we shall refer to such, where relevant, when writing our reviews)

References

Boote, David N. and Beile, Penny (2005), Scholars Before Researchers: On the Centrality of the Dissertation Literature Review in Research, in Educational Researcher (American Educational Research Association), AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2005, Vol. 34, No. 6, pp. 3–15

Hart, C. (1999). Doing a literature review: Releasing the social science research imagination. London: SAGE.

Shulman, L. S. (1999). Professing educational scholarship. In E. C. Lagemann & L. S. Shulman (Eds.), Issues in education research: Problems and possibilities (pp.159–165). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

(B) Uploading of the Abstracts and Literature Reviews

The abstracts and literature reviews, divided into the above listed categories, will be uploaded in stages. Since new materials may still be found, we may revise the collection from time to time.

They are mainly written in Chinese. Users may read and download them from the Chinese web page.

(C) About the Research Team

1   Principal Investigators and Collaborator

Chan Chiu Ming, Principal Investigator

Zhang Hui Mei, Co-Principal Investigator

Du Xin, (CPDD, MOE), Collaborator

2   Team Members

Au Siu Lun

Cheng Pei Yee

He Yanran

Ko Guat Hua

Lee Chih Hsien

Lee Yun-I

Mao Zhaohui

Yao Xiao

3   Interns

Gong Liyuan

Ng Mei Gee

Sun Lijie

Tan Li Yi

Wang Yuting

Wu Xin Ru