Assoc Prof Suzanne Choo and Dr Dennis Yeo to Publish Book on Teaching Literature in Singapore Secondary Schools

Written by education practitioners, researchers and specialists, The World, The Text and The Classroom: Teaching Literature in Singapore Secondary Schools gives voice to the Singapore Literature teacher and spotlights innovative strategies, bringing together text, world and student. Blending both educational theory and pedagogical practice, this collection of 19 papers seeks to address three key questions:

1. “What innovative pedagogies can be used to develop student voice and engagement with the world beyond the Literature classroom?”,

2. “How can we make Literature accessible and relevant to the students of the digital age?” and

3. “How can we expand our students’ understanding of the world and the human condition through the literary texts that we teach?”

Recent innovations in pedagogical approaches, including the new directions of the 2019 Literature in English Syllabus, make it necessary to take stock of the possibilities of the Literature classroom. This, coupled with evolving global mind-sets and attitudes, set the context within which teachers now go about the complex task of teaching Literature in the Singapore classroom. The product of real experiences of teachers from a range of schools and classroom contexts in Singapore, this book will prove a practical and valuable resource that will inform teaching and learning in the classroom.

The book was edited by Assoc Prof Suzanne Choo, Assoc Prof in NIE’s English Language and Literature Academic Group (ELL AG) and Asst Dean at the Office of Teacher Education; Dr Dennis Yeo, Lecturer in the ELL AG; and Ann Ang, PhD candidate in postcolonial and world literature at Oxford University.

Findings from Assoc Prof Choo and Dr Dennis Yeo’s project, Cultivating Cosmopolitan Virtues Through Critical, Aesthetic and Ethical Engagements with Literature, informed this book.