Dr Kwek Siew Hoon
Profile
Siew Hoon began her teaching career in Dunman Secondary school after she graduated from the National University of Singapore in 1988 and the National Institute of Education (NIE) in 1989. In the interest of developing her academic knowledge of education, she then proceeded to complete her Master of Educational Studies in 1998 at The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. This paved the foundation for her to pursue her Doctor in Education (EDD) in the NIE from 2012 to 2019.
Having taught at a diversity of schools such as ACS (Independent), St Gabriel’s Secondary, Raffles Institution and Singapore Chinese Girls School, Siew Hoon had gained great insight into teaching students of varying profiles throughout her 15 years of teaching experience. Teaching students of diverse abilities in a variety of school settings had been a humbling experience which drove her to continue to develop her passion for helping students learn the Chinese Language (CL) with joy and enthusiasm.
In her career development, she had the opportunity to hold leadership positions such as Subject Head, Curriculum Head, and Head of Department. Siew Hoon’s stint at Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board (SEAB) also contributed to her developing interest in assessment, which then became her current research and teaching interest.
In 2011, Siew Hoon took up the position of a Teaching Fellow in SCCL, to develop her growing interest in teacher-training. In 2013 she was appointed a CL Master Teacher, which saw her continuing to train and mentor CL teachers at both primary and secondary schools. In 2019, she took up the role of Principal Master Teacher (PMTT).
As a PMTT, Siew Hoon wishes to influence and impact a wider community through different professional development platforms to help fellow CL teachers strengthen their pedagogical and subject content knowledge. Siew Hoon believes that in our current CL teaching settings, it is essential that teachers address students’ learning needs, learning interest, and readiness to learn first before selecting appropriate pedagogical practices. This, she believes, is to ensure that the students can learn their mother tongue with both joy and rigor.
Research Interests
- Assessment
- Curriculum
- Learning Study
Publications:
Conference
2017 Pioneer Learning Study Research Model in the Singaporean School Chinese Language Classroom—Eliciting deeper learning in teacher and student (WALS)
2019 Situating learning-oriented assessment in the Singapore Secondary Chinese Language classroom (CLATA)
Book chapter
郭秀芬，（2014）。浅谈适合多语家庭背景学生的口语课设计–基于小学导入班校本研究经验与反思。《深入教学—新加坡华文特级教师的教学实践与反思》。台湾，万卷楼图书股份有限公司。
郭秀芬，（2015）。通过阅读培养应试能力与21世纪能力-实践方式探索。《21世纪华文教与学新方法的探索》。新加坡，南大-新加坡华文教研中心出版社。
Journal article
周红霞，吴福焕，郭秀芬（2013）。基于语料库的新加坡华族小学生华语口语词表与课本收词对比分析。《汉语教学学刊》，第9期，79-90页。北京，北京大学出版社。
郭秀芬，刘曾娇，杨斯琳（2014）。情境教学模式下的口语教学策略初探–以新加坡小二导入班口语课堂为例。《华文学刊》，12（1），总第23期。