Research Proposal

What have motivated my study: 1. English teachers do not correct all instances of SCE in the classroom (acceptance): it is good to know which are the ones corrected, and if there is a pattern of those that do not receive feedback. This is affected greatly by the attitudes and beliefs of the teachers on SCE in the classroom. It also tells us which features may not be acknowledged by teachers as SCE features, and may also show the lack of knowledge in some English teachers. 2. English teachers have different views on what is grammatical (as in correct) in SSE, and what is not. For example, while most English teachers will believe that discourse particles, such as lah, leh are not grammatical (totally incorrect), some teachers may accept fishes. For some, they may subscribe entirely to an exonormative standard (e.g. BrE), and hence even renovate has to be used in the correct contexts (for e.g.). 3. Students use SCE differently toward different teachers. For example, in Tan & Tan, 47.4% of the students speak SCE in math class, but only 22.3% do that in English lessons. This may be affected by science teachers higher use or more lax of use of SCE in the classroom. Since all teachers are encouraged to use SSE in the classroom, and all teachers have a part to play in the acquisition of SSE, it is good to explore on the differences in attitudes between science and English teachers. My study aims to look into the differences between: 1. English language teachers (AS1 or AS2) who have not undergone AAE 234, 2. English language teachers (AS1 or AS2) who have undergone AAE 234, and 3. Science teachers (either Chemistry/Biology/Physics/Math, and having no English as AS2 or AS1) In areas of: 1. Grammaticality judgments (as in correctness) of phrases containing a range of SCE features 2. Degree of appropriateness of the use of the phrase in the classroom 3. Whether correction or feedback will be made immediately to correct the use. So to explore on/find out if: 1. English language teachers knowledge on how to differentiate between SCE and SSE features 2. What features will most likely get corrected, and what will probably not, or will less likely be not. 3. Whether English language teachers who have undergone AAE 234 have different grammaticality judgments and acceptance level of SCE in the classroom, and as such, are well informed. 4. The differences in judgments and acceptance of SCE in the classroom between English langauge and Science teachers.