Invest in literature education for our young - Forum article by Suzanne Choo, Straits Times, 23 July 2014
Read more at: http://www.straitstimes.com/premium/forum-letters/story/invest-literature-education-our-young-20140723
Citizens of the world - Featured article in SingTeach, NIE, issue 47, Mar/April 2014
Literature students in Singapore are trained to know the studied literary text inside out. Want to test this out? Randomly pick a passage from the text and show it to them. A good student would likely be able to tell you what it’s all about and dissect for you the plot, and analyse its characters and their motivations. This is because our Literature curriculum encourages students to read “deeply” into a work. This emphasis on depth is important, says Dr Suzanne Choo from the English Language and Literature Academic Group in NIE. It is not just about reading a book, but critically appreciating how it has been constructed. While Literature education has been very effective in inculcating such skills in students, perhaps it can offer even more. Through its connection to cosmopolitanism, Literature can educate students to be responsible citizens of the world.
Read more at: http://singteach.nie.edu.sg/issue47-research01/
Nurturing global-ready youths - Featured article in ReEd (Research in Education), NIE, Vol. 12, 2013
In a world of constant change, being adaptable is important. But more than that, one also has to be prepared for a globalizing world that many say is flattening. What exactly does it mean to be a global citizen? How are schools preparing our youths to be one? To answer these questions and more, Assistant Professor Suzanne Choo and her team are studying two schools (one in Singapore and one in the US) that adopt a whole-school approach to
preparing their students to be global-ready.
Read more at: http://www.nie.edu.sg/files/OER-NIE-ReEd12_FinalforWeb.pdf
Are you media literate? - Featured article in ReEd (Research in Education), NIE, Vol. 11, 2013
Most kids are adept at using a tablet, surfing the Web, making a virtual phone call. But are they engaging with the new media, or are they just engaging with the technology? NIE researchers want to make the difference more explicit so that teachers and students understand what it means to be media literate.
Read more at: http://www.nie.edu.sg/files/OER-NIE-ReEd11_FinalforWeb.pdf
Literature Festival books record turn out - News article by Lim Min Zhang, Straits Times, 16 July 2013
Fewer Singapore students may be taking literature as a subject, but there was no shortage of bookworms at the National Schools Literature Festival yesterday as it reported a record turnout. This annual teacher-run event was held this year at Dunman High School and 82 schools took part, compared to just 30 when it first started in 2005. More than 1,500 students and teachers attended yesterday. However, cultivating a love for literature here is a process that will still take time, said the festival's founder Dr Suzanne Choo, who believes it is the only subject to have a nationwide festival run entirely by teacher volunteers.
Read more at: http://news.asiaone.com/news/edvantage/literature-festival-books-record-turnout#sthash.XBHy5fpI.dpufhttp://news.asiaone.com/news/edvantage/literature-festival-books-record-turnout
No literature? Sadly, a missed opportunity to teach values - Invited article contributed by Suzanne Choo, Straits Times, Think, 5 March 2013
Once the most central subject in schools in Britain and its colonies during the age of Empire, English literature has now lost its place of prominence. This phenomenon is apparent in the case of Singapore.
That it is not a new occurrence but evidence of a steep decline over the past two decades is obvious from figures released last month, showing a sharp fall in enrolment for O- and N-level literature since 1992.
Read more at: http://education.asiaone.com/content/no-literature-sadly-missed-opportunity-teach-values#sthash.x6xODSri.dpuf
Suzanne Choo wins Walter M. Sindlinger Award - Featured article by Liz Hoelzle, Arts & Humanities department blog, Teachers College, Columbia University, 17 May 2011
Read more at: http://artsandhumanities.pressible.org/lizhoelzle/choo-sindlinger-award
Bringing new direction to the humanities: Suzanne Choo wins International Award for Excellence - Featured article by Liz Hoelzle, Arts & Humanities department blog, Teachers College, Columbia University, 3 May 2011
Read more at: http://artsandhumanities.pressible.org/lizhoelzle/suzanne-choo-award
Testing Beyond Words: Multimodal Assessment in the English Classroom by Caroline Chan and Suzanne Choo - Featured article in SingTeach, NIE, issue 27, Nov/Dec 2010.
Read more at: http://www.straitstimes.com/premium/forum-letters/story/invest-literature-education-our-young-20140723
Citizens of the world - Featured article in SingTeach, NIE, issue 47, Mar/April 2014
Literature students in Singapore are trained to know the studied literary text inside out. Want to test this out? Randomly pick a passage from the text and show it to them. A good student would likely be able to tell you what it’s all about and dissect for you the plot, and analyse its characters and their motivations. This is because our Literature curriculum encourages students to read “deeply” into a work. This emphasis on depth is important, says Dr Suzanne Choo from the English Language and Literature Academic Group in NIE. It is not just about reading a book, but critically appreciating how it has been constructed. While Literature education has been very effective in inculcating such skills in students, perhaps it can offer even more. Through its connection to cosmopolitanism, Literature can educate students to be responsible citizens of the world.
Read more at: http://singteach.nie.edu.sg/issue47-research01/
Nurturing global-ready youths - Featured article in ReEd (Research in Education), NIE, Vol. 12, 2013
In a world of constant change, being adaptable is important. But more than that, one also has to be prepared for a globalizing world that many say is flattening. What exactly does it mean to be a global citizen? How are schools preparing our youths to be one? To answer these questions and more, Assistant Professor Suzanne Choo and her team are studying two schools (one in Singapore and one in the US) that adopt a whole-school approach to
preparing their students to be global-ready.
Read more at: http://www.nie.edu.sg/files/OER-NIE-ReEd12_FinalforWeb.pdf
Are you media literate? - Featured article in ReEd (Research in Education), NIE, Vol. 11, 2013
Most kids are adept at using a tablet, surfing the Web, making a virtual phone call. But are they engaging with the new media, or are they just engaging with the technology? NIE researchers want to make the difference more explicit so that teachers and students understand what it means to be media literate.
Read more at: http://www.nie.edu.sg/files/OER-NIE-ReEd11_FinalforWeb.pdf
Literature Festival books record turn out - News article by Lim Min Zhang, Straits Times, 16 July 2013
Fewer Singapore students may be taking literature as a subject, but there was no shortage of bookworms at the National Schools Literature Festival yesterday as it reported a record turnout. This annual teacher-run event was held this year at Dunman High School and 82 schools took part, compared to just 30 when it first started in 2005. More than 1,500 students and teachers attended yesterday. However, cultivating a love for literature here is a process that will still take time, said the festival's founder Dr Suzanne Choo, who believes it is the only subject to have a nationwide festival run entirely by teacher volunteers.
Read more at: http://news.asiaone.com/news/edvantage/literature-festival-books-record-turnout#sthash.XBHy5fpI.dpufhttp://news.asiaone.com/news/edvantage/literature-festival-books-record-turnout
No literature? Sadly, a missed opportunity to teach values - Invited article contributed by Suzanne Choo, Straits Times, Think, 5 March 2013
Once the most central subject in schools in Britain and its colonies during the age of Empire, English literature has now lost its place of prominence. This phenomenon is apparent in the case of Singapore.
That it is not a new occurrence but evidence of a steep decline over the past two decades is obvious from figures released last month, showing a sharp fall in enrolment for O- and N-level literature since 1992.
Read more at: http://education.asiaone.com/content/no-literature-sadly-missed-opportunity-teach-values#sthash.x6xODSri.dpuf
Suzanne Choo wins Walter M. Sindlinger Award - Featured article by Liz Hoelzle, Arts & Humanities department blog, Teachers College, Columbia University, 17 May 2011
Read more at: http://artsandhumanities.pressible.org/lizhoelzle/choo-sindlinger-award
Bringing new direction to the humanities: Suzanne Choo wins International Award for Excellence - Featured article by Liz Hoelzle, Arts & Humanities department blog, Teachers College, Columbia University, 3 May 2011
Read more at: http://artsandhumanities.pressible.org/lizhoelzle/suzanne-choo-award
Testing Beyond Words: Multimodal Assessment in the English Classroom by Caroline Chan and Suzanne Choo - Featured article in SingTeach, NIE, issue 27, Nov/Dec 2010.
Abstract: The Visual Arts, once a distinct discipline on its own, has now been infused in almost all aspects of 21st century culture so that modern society is often described as ‘media-saturated’ and its citizens commonly termed ‘technological natives’ (Freedman 2003). Within this context, two observations may be made concerning the notion of the ‘text’. The first is that whereas writing was the dominant mode of communication a few centuries ago, this has now been replaced by the dominance of the image (Kress, 2003; Kress & Van Leeuwen, 2006). In an examination of learning materials in schools such as text-books, web-resources and teacher-produced materials, Kress and Bezemer (2008) note that images have overtaken writing as the primary carriers of meaning. In science and mathematics textbooks for example, illustration and pictures play an important role in clarifying complex concepts described in words. The second observation is that information is no longer conveyed through one single mode but a multiplicity of modes. For example, it is rare to find the front page of a newspaper consisting of only words or only images. In fact, it is often a combination of both words and images. Furthermore, if one were to read the news from the internet, one would probably find that the information is presented through a combination of words, images, sound and video. Scholars, in the likes of Arizpe and Styles (2003), Callow and Zammitt (2002), Lankshear, Snyder and Green (2000), Lankshear and Noble (2003) have also been examining `new’ literacy and pedagogical theories to respond to the `new’ teaching, learning and assessment environment. The paper is therefore premised on the argument that a multimodal framework for English Language assessment is essential in order to make assessment more relevant to the real-world context. The first part of this paper begins with examining the make-up of typical mainstream secondary school English Language comprehension assessment papers. The second part then addresses some of the limitations of the assessment papers by proposing a multimodal framework which includes the types of questions we can raise from the inclusion of multimodal texts in assessment.
Read more at: http://singteach.nie.edu.sg/language-ed/315.html
Interview: Suzanne Choo: 'The Unseen' - Literature Studies in Singapore Education
(This interview was published by Chris Mooney-Singh on the Litupfestival ning on September 27, 2009: http://litupfestival.ning.com/forum/topics/interview-suzanne-choo-the
Suzanne Choo is a leading academic in teacher education in Singapore, presently studying in New York City. Chris Mooney-Singh is the Executive Editor of Writers Connect.org
Chris Mooney-Singh: What is the historical background behind 'The Unseen ' in Singapore education?
Suzanne Choo: I remember distinctly that in late 1999, after I had just started graduated from the National Institute of Education and had just started teaching, I was informed by the head of department of my school that there was to be a change in the literature syllabus the following year. There was a lot of excitement and, at the same time, anxiety over this new component that was to be included in the ‘O’ level Literature exam. The Unseen was taught to the first batch of secondary three students in 2000 who then sat for the exam in 2001. For six years, the format of the Unseen has remained unchanged. Essentially, students are required to select either a poem or a prose and write a critical appreciation of it. In 2006, after the Ministry of Education’s periodic review, it was decided that the format of the Unseen should remain the same except for the fact that greater emphasis would be given to Singaporean or Malaysian texts.
CMS: What are the merits and demerits of teaching ‘The Unseen’?
SC: As far as I know, The Unseen is a term unique to the ‘O’ level literature paper. The tradition of the Unseen however, stems all the way back to the New Criticism movement in the 1920s and 1930s. At the time, when English departments in England were trying to cope with the massive wave of middle class students entering the universities, I.A. Richards, F.R. Leavis and others pioneered an efficient, methodical way of scrutinizing and talking about texts. Simply put, instead of saying anything you want about the text or bringing in extraneous material (such as the background of the author or the production of the text), students were required to focus on the text alone, analyze how the text is structured and the techniques used to persuade or move the reader. This tradition of literary analysis continues today in ‘A’ level literature examinations or undergraduate literature foundation courses and is commonly known as ‘Practical Criticism’ or ‘Critical Appreciation’.
SC: There are some obvious merits of teaching The Unseen. First, the emphasis is on skills rather than content. Before the Unseen was introduced, students were assessed largely on their knowledge of literary texts. For example, when I was studying literature for my ‘O’ levels in the 1990s, I remember how my teacher used to tell us to underline and memorize chunks of quotes from Macbeth. Now, since students have no idea what text they will be assessed on, the only way they can prepare for the Unseen paper is to acquire and practice literary analysis. This trains students to become more critical readers. Second, by de-emphasizing the text, students begin to pay more attention to the author rather than the content. So instead of writing about what the text is saying, students will be trained to talk about how the text works on the reader. I always tell my students that this is like the difference between an audience member and a film critic in a cinema. At the end of the movie, the audience member responds superficially by saying whether he/she enjoyed the movie or not while the film critic may provide a similar response but is able to say why. Finally, on a more pragmatic level, the Unseen provides a balance between set texts which students must learn and master and unseen skills. This therefore reduces the addition of having to study another literature text since any poem or prose can be assessed in the unseen.
SC: At the same time, this uncertain quality about the Unseen may possibly be absolutely terrifying for students since there is no way to know what will be assessed until one opens the exam paper. To be fair, this is a valid concern since the Unseen component weighs 25% in a high stakes examination for Pure Literature students. The other disadvantage of the Unseen is that some students may find it dry and uninteresting particularly if teachers pay great attention to teaching dry technical terms such as antithesis or symbolism.
SC: My response to the first concern is that students need to understand that examiners are not out to judge how well they understand the text. Rather the assessment is on the level of critical thinking ability. In other words, instead of worrying whether they will be able to understand what the text is about and so on, students should focus on what I call the skills of reading broadly and reading closely. By reading broadly, meaning a range of different types of texts, the student would be able to acquire intertextual skills. That is, he/she would have an awareness of particular themes, techniques and patterns in texts. By reading closely, meaning to observe the use of particular words, figurative language etc., the student would be able to train his/her eyes to look out for what is unusual in texts and then to talk about it.
SC: My response to the second concern is that teachers need to make the unseen enjoyable and engaging. The skills and literary terminology should be contextualized so that teachers provide real-world examples for students to examine. For example, I once asked my students to identify and discuss the use of metaphors in corn flakes packages and to do a comparative analysis of a Mars bar and a Snickers Bar. The field of advertising and marketing particularly abounds with many examples of how figurative language and rhetorical devices have been used powerfully to persuade or motivate.
CMS: As a literature teacher educator in Singapore have you seen any new trends disturbing or otherwise, happening in lit education practices in Singapore.
SC: It’s encouraging to see that the new Literature syllabus places more emphasis on Singapore and Malaysian texts. For too long, I have always felt that we have not moved away from the eurocentric literature education tradition we inherited from the British. So the fact that greater recognition is now given to our own poets, writers and dramatists is a positive move that should be continued. At the same time, we need to be cautious of our curriculum becoming too narrowly focused on our own literature. In the 21st century globalized world where nations are becoming even more interconnected, we need to consider how literature can be relevant in preparing students to be not just citizens of our country but global citizens. Such a global citizen has the linguistic competence and adequate cross-cultural exposure to shift among different worlds. This is also a reason why we need to consider Literature, not as an isolated subject, but one that needs to be connected to the larger Humanities.
SC: Since the beginning of this year, I have worked as a curriculum consultant to two organizations in New York City and one of the exciting projects I worked on involved crafting an interdisciplinary Humanities curriculum that integrates Literature, language and Global Studies. This complements my current doctoral research on World Literature in a Globalized world. I am convinced that understanding how the literature curriculum has shifted from the centrality of the western canon to the emphasis on national literatures to world literature today as well as understanding literature’s ties to Global Studies and the Humanities is fundamental to the future of Literature education. I look forward to sharing these ideas when I return to Singapore in the coming years!
Suzanne Choo taught English Language and Literature in a Singapore secondary school for five years. She is the author of several books on the Unseen. Her most recent book, “Mining for Meaning: A guide to the Unseen (Lower Secondary)”, was published by Learners Publishing in August 2009 (there is also an upper secondary edition). Suzanne worked as a lecturer in the teaching of Literature at the National Institute of Education. In 2008, she was awarded a scholarship by the Nanyang Technological University to pursue her PhD in English Education at Teachers College, Columbia University in New York. Her interests are in literature education, literature pedagogy, world & comparative literature, multimodal and media studies.
Chris Mooney-Singh: What is the historical background behind 'The Unseen ' in Singapore education?
Suzanne Choo: I remember distinctly that in late 1999, after I had just started graduated from the National Institute of Education and had just started teaching, I was informed by the head of department of my school that there was to be a change in the literature syllabus the following year. There was a lot of excitement and, at the same time, anxiety over this new component that was to be included in the ‘O’ level Literature exam. The Unseen was taught to the first batch of secondary three students in 2000 who then sat for the exam in 2001. For six years, the format of the Unseen has remained unchanged. Essentially, students are required to select either a poem or a prose and write a critical appreciation of it. In 2006, after the Ministry of Education’s periodic review, it was decided that the format of the Unseen should remain the same except for the fact that greater emphasis would be given to Singaporean or Malaysian texts.
CMS: What are the merits and demerits of teaching ‘The Unseen’?
SC: As far as I know, The Unseen is a term unique to the ‘O’ level literature paper. The tradition of the Unseen however, stems all the way back to the New Criticism movement in the 1920s and 1930s. At the time, when English departments in England were trying to cope with the massive wave of middle class students entering the universities, I.A. Richards, F.R. Leavis and others pioneered an efficient, methodical way of scrutinizing and talking about texts. Simply put, instead of saying anything you want about the text or bringing in extraneous material (such as the background of the author or the production of the text), students were required to focus on the text alone, analyze how the text is structured and the techniques used to persuade or move the reader. This tradition of literary analysis continues today in ‘A’ level literature examinations or undergraduate literature foundation courses and is commonly known as ‘Practical Criticism’ or ‘Critical Appreciation’.
SC: There are some obvious merits of teaching The Unseen. First, the emphasis is on skills rather than content. Before the Unseen was introduced, students were assessed largely on their knowledge of literary texts. For example, when I was studying literature for my ‘O’ levels in the 1990s, I remember how my teacher used to tell us to underline and memorize chunks of quotes from Macbeth. Now, since students have no idea what text they will be assessed on, the only way they can prepare for the Unseen paper is to acquire and practice literary analysis. This trains students to become more critical readers. Second, by de-emphasizing the text, students begin to pay more attention to the author rather than the content. So instead of writing about what the text is saying, students will be trained to talk about how the text works on the reader. I always tell my students that this is like the difference between an audience member and a film critic in a cinema. At the end of the movie, the audience member responds superficially by saying whether he/she enjoyed the movie or not while the film critic may provide a similar response but is able to say why. Finally, on a more pragmatic level, the Unseen provides a balance between set texts which students must learn and master and unseen skills. This therefore reduces the addition of having to study another literature text since any poem or prose can be assessed in the unseen.
SC: At the same time, this uncertain quality about the Unseen may possibly be absolutely terrifying for students since there is no way to know what will be assessed until one opens the exam paper. To be fair, this is a valid concern since the Unseen component weighs 25% in a high stakes examination for Pure Literature students. The other disadvantage of the Unseen is that some students may find it dry and uninteresting particularly if teachers pay great attention to teaching dry technical terms such as antithesis or symbolism.
SC: My response to the first concern is that students need to understand that examiners are not out to judge how well they understand the text. Rather the assessment is on the level of critical thinking ability. In other words, instead of worrying whether they will be able to understand what the text is about and so on, students should focus on what I call the skills of reading broadly and reading closely. By reading broadly, meaning a range of different types of texts, the student would be able to acquire intertextual skills. That is, he/she would have an awareness of particular themes, techniques and patterns in texts. By reading closely, meaning to observe the use of particular words, figurative language etc., the student would be able to train his/her eyes to look out for what is unusual in texts and then to talk about it.
SC: My response to the second concern is that teachers need to make the unseen enjoyable and engaging. The skills and literary terminology should be contextualized so that teachers provide real-world examples for students to examine. For example, I once asked my students to identify and discuss the use of metaphors in corn flakes packages and to do a comparative analysis of a Mars bar and a Snickers Bar. The field of advertising and marketing particularly abounds with many examples of how figurative language and rhetorical devices have been used powerfully to persuade or motivate.
CMS: As a literature teacher educator in Singapore have you seen any new trends disturbing or otherwise, happening in lit education practices in Singapore.
SC: It’s encouraging to see that the new Literature syllabus places more emphasis on Singapore and Malaysian texts. For too long, I have always felt that we have not moved away from the eurocentric literature education tradition we inherited from the British. So the fact that greater recognition is now given to our own poets, writers and dramatists is a positive move that should be continued. At the same time, we need to be cautious of our curriculum becoming too narrowly focused on our own literature. In the 21st century globalized world where nations are becoming even more interconnected, we need to consider how literature can be relevant in preparing students to be not just citizens of our country but global citizens. Such a global citizen has the linguistic competence and adequate cross-cultural exposure to shift among different worlds. This is also a reason why we need to consider Literature, not as an isolated subject, but one that needs to be connected to the larger Humanities.
SC: Since the beginning of this year, I have worked as a curriculum consultant to two organizations in New York City and one of the exciting projects I worked on involved crafting an interdisciplinary Humanities curriculum that integrates Literature, language and Global Studies. This complements my current doctoral research on World Literature in a Globalized world. I am convinced that understanding how the literature curriculum has shifted from the centrality of the western canon to the emphasis on national literatures to world literature today as well as understanding literature’s ties to Global Studies and the Humanities is fundamental to the future of Literature education. I look forward to sharing these ideas when I return to Singapore in the coming years!
Suzanne Choo taught English Language and Literature in a Singapore secondary school for five years. She is the author of several books on the Unseen. Her most recent book, “Mining for Meaning: A guide to the Unseen (Lower Secondary)”, was published by Learners Publishing in August 2009 (there is also an upper secondary edition). Suzanne worked as a lecturer in the teaching of Literature at the National Institute of Education. In 2008, she was awarded a scholarship by the Nanyang Technological University to pursue her PhD in English Education at Teachers College, Columbia University in New York. Her interests are in literature education, literature pedagogy, world & comparative literature, multimodal and media studies.
Incorporating Film in the Literature Curriculum by Suzanne Choo, Sing Teach, NIE, 2006, issue 4
Context: The inaugural LangScape conference was held on 27 and 28 April this year. Organised by the English Language and Literature Academic Group at NIE, with the support of the Singapore Teachers Union, this conference sought to address the interests and concerns of teachers of English language and literature. Read the article here: http://oldsingteach.crpp.nie.edu.sg/content/view/142/161/
Context: The inaugural LangScape conference was held on 27 and 28 April this year. Organised by the English Language and Literature Academic Group at NIE, with the support of the Singapore Teachers Union, this conference sought to address the interests and concerns of teachers of English language and literature. Read the article here: http://oldsingteach.crpp.nie.edu.sg/content/view/142/161/
