Teaching Chinese Composition in Singapore Secondary School

Abstract

This essay contemplates to trace the teaching of Chinese composition in Singapore from the 1970s to the present time. The chapter stated the lack of motivation, lack of composition writing skills and lack of knowledge as the greatest hurdles faced by Singaporean secondary school students. It also offered concrete teaching objectives and their corresponding teaching methodologies tailored for each level of secondary school students, in which the competence and skills approach stood out as the teaching principle as advocated by the Singaporean Ministry of Education. Categorizations were laid out in this chapter with regard to the different stages of essay writing and essay writing skills respectively. The author herself also shared her experience of teaching writing online via forums and postings in websites. Her conclusion was positive and optimistic towards the scientific approach of teaching Chinese composition.