The Art of Writing in Singaporean Classrooms

The ability to write effective sentences is vital for students to succeed in every step of their academic journey. However, this skill is oftentimes disregarded. In Singapore, the education system emphasizes students’ academic performance, especially their capability to write concise but accurate sentences. Whether the purpose is to tell stories or write a scientific report, students must learn the step-by-step process of constructing sentences for them to write clearly and effectively. 

How to Craft Effective Sentences

The common mistake among students is they tend to write quickly, leading them to overlook the importance of having sentence-building skills. Because of this, most schools in Singapore focus on teaching the students how to craft different sentences based on genre or subject matter. This helps them to effectively modify their writing styles for different instances, such as writing a history essay or crafting a science report.  

There are four basic strategies that teachers use to enhance the students’ sentence-building skills: sentence combining, shrinking, expanding, and signposting. It is best to teach each technique separately so that students can have more time to understand and apply them in their writing exercises.  

Sentence Combining

Students who often struggle with written words find sentence combining the most effective way to write effectively. This is done by merging simple sentences to form complex sentences. For instance, the two sentences “The girl was tired” and “She slept early” can be combined to form one complex sentence “The tired girl slept early”.  Sentence combining is helpful both for younger students in forming narratives and for older students in crafting more detailed thoughts and opinions. Students often use this technique when they are asked to write historical essays that usually need to be longer and broader in context.

Sentence Shrinking

On the other hand, sentence shrinking is used when students prefer writing clear and concise statements rather than long verbose phrases. For example, the sentence “The dull and somber-filled house lights up when the cheerful head of the family arrives” can be shortened to “The somber house lights up when the father arrives”. By using sentence shrinking, students learn how to take notes and concisely summarize information. This is helpful in subjects like science which requires brief but clear explanations. 

Sentence Expanding

The third technique is called sentence expanding which enhances the depth and meaning of a written thought. For instance, the simple sentence “He became so awkward” can be expanded to “He became so awkward after he spilled about Ana’s pregnancy during her best friend’s engagement party”. Students using this skill make it a point to carefully explore more ideas to depict the vivid details of a given subject.  

Sentence Signposting

The last skill is known as sentence signposting. This allows students to seek a common theme for their thoughts so they can write them cohesively. Students learning about signposting usually use connecting words such as ‘first,’ ‘therefore,’ or ‘however’ to establish the relationships between sentences. Subjects like science and design technology often require this writing style to present complicated ideas more clearly and accurately.  

The Importance of Writing Development

Many Singaporean schools focus on developing the writing skills of the students. However, after the disruptions in academic learning due to the pandemic, the national statistics show that more students struggle with their foundational writing skills once they enter secondary school. Thus, there is a need to address this difficulty in sentence-level instruction among students. Refining their sentence construction skills means they can have a strong writing foundation that can lead to more milestones in their academic journey. 

Handwriting and Spelling

In this digital age, having precise handwriting and spelling skills is vital, apart from the writing skill itself. Teachers make sure that their students are writing legibly so they can start understanding higher-order writing skills better. Moreover, mastery of spelling helps students to be confident in developing their writing style. 

Editing and Revising

The last and crucial parts of effective writing techniques are editing and revising. While editing is more focused on correcting errors, revising aims to enhance the overall quality of the write-up to satisfy the needs of the given audience or readers. In Singapore, the stiff educational competition deems it vital for students to develop their writing skills for them to craft refined written work. 

The best way to enhance the writing skills of students across all subjects is by learning sentence-level strategies such as combining, shrinking, expanding, and signposting. These can improve one’s written communication as well as their critical thinking abilities. Given the competitive academic environment in Singapore, hiring a private English tutor for students is very helpful in improving their writing skills. Tutors can also give students face-to-face guidance, as well as essential feedback and support in improving their writing style. Moreover, integrating the four writing techniques in school lessons can help students write effectively about any given subject or genre of writing.