USING SINGAPORE COLLOQUIAL ENGLISH AS A PEDAGOGICAL MEASURE IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE CLASSROOM

Abstract

This research sets out to investigate if there is a correlation between features of Singapore Colloquial English (SCE), students' speech and their writing. It also sets out to experiment whether the teaching of Standard English (Std E) features using SCE features (which is a more familiar register of the English Language (EL) for the students because of their widespread use and exposure to it) would help them to edit and improve the grammatical accuracy of their own writing. Data of spontaneous speech and written work obtained from the subjects of this study reveal that there are corresponding features of SCE in their speech and writing. This research focuses on such correlation in the following areas: I Non-realisation of Inflections in Nouns and Verbs; II Omission of the Main and Auxiliary Verb 'to be' III Non-realisation of Changes in Word Order and Word Forms (indicating tense, time, place and determiner) in reported speech IV Omission of 'if/whether' (in reporting questions) V Omission of 'that' (in reporting statements) Two groups of about 25-30 students each formed the subjects (i.e. the target group (TG) and control group ( CG) in this study. These students, from the Secondary Two Normal stream, study the EL as the first language ( EL1) in Thomson Secondary School. A questionnaire administered revealed that the students use spoken English in their daily face-to-face communication. Both groups of students were given three pre-lesson worksheets. After this, a series of focused-grammar lessons were conducted in which the TG was made aware of the features of SCE correlating with errors in their writings, while the CG was made aware of the above errors in their writing through normal focused-grammar lessons without the SCE variable input. After about 2 weeks of intensive focused-grammar lessons, both groups of students were given the post-lesson worksheets and two pieces of written work. The results were compared with the data obtained from the pre-lesson assignments. In particular, an examination was conducted into whether the introduction of SCE in the EL classroom resulted in any significant improvement in accuracy in the writing of the TG. It is found that students in the TG do generally better than those in the CG in the focused grammar lesson worksheets and in the post-lesson worksheets. Though the research also attempts to study whether the use of SCE features to arrive at Std E forms helps in the long-term retention of the grammatical features taught, the short time span in which the experiment was carried out does not permit a plausible analysis and conclusion in this area. However, the research does indicate that the introduction of SCE in the EL classroom helps to improve the students' writing, at least in the short run. This is evident from the fact that the TG, in general, tend to make fewer errors in their writing. Thus it is recommended that for further validation, the experimentation be carried out on a wider scale over a longer stretch of time. For the present, the procedure seems a viable approach to teaching some of the standard forms of the EL.