Reading Instruction in Lower Primary Classes: A Second Observational Study

1985 marked the beginning of the implementation of the Reading and English Acquisition Programme (REAP)—a programme aimed at retraining lower primary English teachers in reading and English language instruction. This programme covering 90 schools in 1986 evolved from research conducted by the Institute of Education personnel. The Reading Skills Project (see Ng, 1984), a 3-year study, examined pupils' reading progress from Primary 1 to 3 in 35 schools; a teacher-observation study looked into reading instructional activities in 24 of the above schools. There was simultaneously a search for reading instruction approaches suitable for the Singapore classroom followed by a small feasibility survey on a chosen approach; a re-examination of in-service reading courses and a literature search for strategies for programme implementation. The present study attempts to discuss only the teacher-observation facet of the total research work behind REAP. In view of the fact that Singapore-based teacher-observation studies are few (see Evaluation of CLIPS, 1981) and studies on the teaching of reading in lower primary still fewer (see Ng, 1980), it is important to first record the research findings for the study done in 1984, and their implications for classroom practice. As this study both replicates and extends a similar study done earlier, teacher educators and educational authorities may find, from the accumulated experience, confirming evidence of directions for a retraining programme for reading teachers, and the urgent need for both curriculum and instructional change in this field.     

The effects of cultural and historical information and contribution threshold on public contributions: an experimental study on the conservation of heritage houses in Penang,Malaysia

Budget constraints at the local government level towards the provision of public goods have fuelled interest in the voluntary contribution and provision point mechanisms. However, due to their public nature, these mechanisms are not without problems. The literature shows the presence of free riding and socially inefficient contribution levels. This paper experimentally tests the effect of cultural and historical information pertaining to heritage houses in Penang, Malaysia, on public contributions for their conservation. This paper considers a standard linear one-shot four-person public good game and the decision of the subjects being to contribute either to a private or to a public account. We devise 4 treatments: a Control treatment, a treatment where subjects are provided with cultural and historical information pertaining to the heritage houses, a treatment that includes a contribution threshold, and finally a treatment that combines the use of cultural and historical information with the contribution threshold. The main finding shows that 60–75 % of the subjects contributed more than what they believed others in the same group would contribute when they were provided with the pertinent cultural and historical information. Most of the subjects contributed less than their belief, while 75–77 % cooperated ‘selfishly’ in treatments without the information. These findings are in agreement with the literature, namely that contributions are higher in treatments with a contribution threshold. Moreover, the combination of a contribution threshold and cultural information could encourage more pro-social behaviours.