Dr Robbie Lee Sabnani
National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University Singapore
About
Dr Robbie Lee Sabnani is a Lecturer and Program Leader in the English Language and Literature Academic Group at the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Her academic interests include speaking and listening, metacognition and the development of teacher expertise. Robbie publishes on education research and is regularly invited to deliver keynote speeches at conferences on language teaching and learning. Her recent publications include book chapters with Cambridge University Press and Springer as well as articles in international journals such as TESOL Quarterly and several others. Robbie was awarded the prestigious Dean’s Commendation for Research for her publications of outstanding quality. Robbie chairs and teaches on several courses on language enhancement and academic discourse skills. In recognition of her impactful contributions, Robbie received the distinguished Excellence in Teaching Commendation award.Sessions
All Levels Extensive Reading and the Development of Speaking Skills more
This presentation highlights the value of extensive reading as a resource of comprehensible input for ESL and EFL learners and its myriad benefits for the development of their language and speaking skills. It examines classroom observations from case studies of two experienced English teachers and shares their practices to develop Primary 5 students’ extensive reading and listening skills to hone their knowledge of the sounds, words and structures of English. Teachers’ modelling of extensive reading and listening and thoughtful design of speaking tasks helped students to improve their content and language. The scaffolded practice enabled students to use the speaking structures to participate in interactions right away, adapting the ideas from classroom talk. Finally, the presentation concludes with a discussion of the implications for instruction and teachers’ important roles in creating conducive environments in class to model and promote extensive reading to enhance students’ language and speaking skills.