The AFAL Team
We share a common research interest in the area of student assessment.
left to right: Ms Lin Rongchan, Dr Rachel Goh, Dr Tay Hui Yong, Asst Prof Leong Wei Shin, and A/P Kelvin Tan
About Asst Prof Leong Wei Shin
Prior to joining NIE, Wei Shin was serving as Head of Aesthetics Department with a secondary school and a Unit Coordinator at Curriculum Planning and Development Division, MOE. As a lecturer, researcher and teacher’s critical friend in NIE, he sees himself as an intermediary for schools, MOE HQ, NIE and international education institutions in negotiating the ambiguities and complexities of curricular and assessment reforms, locally and internationally. His various positions and experience of seeing and hearing teacher's professional work and knowledge, has kept him from believing that the way, teaching, learning and assessment practices are in the classrooms and schools, is the way they must be.
Wei Shin currently teaches undergraduate, graduate and executive leadership and MOE courses on curriculum planning and implementation, basic and advanced assessment literacy, formative assessment and reflective practices. As the focal contact person for NIE of the Network on Education Quality Monitoring in Asia Pacific (NEQMAP), he has been invited by UNESCO to be their assessment specialist-representative and guest speaker on formative assessment. He is a PhD graduand at University of Cambridge, on NIE Overseas Graduate Scholarship. His PhD research is on Singaporean teachers' conceptions and practices of classroom assessment. In his limited spare time, Wei Shin indulges in conversations with teacher friends, assembling and disassembling lego sets, and wondering when he can start to learn to play a new musical instrument. Read more about his views on holistic assessment in the General Music Programme.
A recipient of the MOE Postgraduate Scholarship, Rachel holds a Doctorate in Education in CTL. Her EdD research is on teacher learning through lesson study. She received The Tan Poey Quee Doctor in Education Gold Medal for Best Overall Student and Book Prize Award for Best Dissertation as well as the Dean’s Commendation for Research. She also holds a Master of Education in English Language (EL) from NIE-NTU.
Rachel trained as a secondary teacher and has experience teaching Principles of Accounting and Management of Business at junior colleges before Commerce subjects were phased-out. Redeployed to the primary school, she has taught EL, Math, and Science at the Upper and Lower Primary levels. Read more about her work in promoting the love of reading in the classroom. In her role as a Senior Teacher/ EL, she was conferred an Associate of the Academy of Singapore Teachers in recognition of her significant contribution toward the professional development of Singaporean teachers. Prior to joining CTL, she served as a Senior Academy Officer at the English Language Institute of Singapore (ELIS) where she taught EL professional learning programmes to in-service teachers.
About Ms Lin Rongchan
Rongchan started out as a Chinese Language teacher and Subject Head/Project Management (Internal) at Nan Hua High School. She was subsequently seconded to the Asian Languages and Cultures Academic Group at NIE as a Teaching Fellow. After her secondment, she worked at the Ministry of Education Headquarters, Singapore, as a Curriculum Planning Officer.
Rongchan received her B.A. from Peking University, her M.A. and PGDE from Nanyang Technological University, and her Ed.M. from Teachers College, Columbia University. She is pursuing her Ed.D. degree at Teachers College (currently on leave of absence from college). Awards received include the 2017 Asian Association for Language Assessment (AALA) Best Student Paper Award, Confucius China Studies Program Joint Research Ph.D. Fellowship (Spring 2016, Spring 2017, and Fall 2017), 2014 Tan Ean Kiam Postgraduate Scholarship (Humanities), and 2012 Tan Kah Kee Postgraduate Scholarship. Rongchan was also named as the 2016 Joan Findlay Dunham Annual Fund Scholar by Teachers College. Born and raised in Singapore, Rongchan has benefitted from Singapore’s bilingual education and is particularly passionate about language education. She chaired the Nominating Committee (2016-2017) and co-chaired the Student Committee (2015-2017) of the AALA. She also served as an editorial board member of Teachers College, Columbia University Working Papers in Applied Linguistics & TESOL in Fall 2017. Additionally, she has delivered talks and workshops on language assessment. Her research interests include assessment of integrated skills, assessment policies, rubric design, and scenario-based assessment.