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This paper investigates whether the rhythmic properties of varieties of English found in each of the concentric circles of Kachru's model can, in any way, be elucidated by the ‘Three Circles’ model. A measurement and comparison of the rhythm of three varieties of English: British English (from the Inner Circle), Singapore English (from the Outer Circle) and Mainland Chinese English (from the Expanding Circle) is done from recordings made of one subject from each variety reading The North Wind and the Sun passage. Measurements are made of successive vowel durations and the pairwise variability index (PVI) developed by Low, Grabe, and Nolan is calculated in an attempt to capture the rhythmic properties of the three varieties. The PVI has been shown to effectively capture the broad rhythmic typology between stress-based and syllable-based varieties of English. In particular, this paper examines whether it is the case that Mainland Chinese English (a norm-dependent variety) differs significantly in the rhythmic domain from Singapore English (a norm-developing variety) and be proven to be statistically similar to British English (a norm-providing variety). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Postgraduate Diploma in English Language Teaching (PGDELT) programme at the National Institute of Education (NIE), Singapore provides an interesting case study of how economic and entrepreneurial concerns and aspirations in modern university settings have played a role alongside pedagogical motivations in shaping the development of the curriculum of English Language Teaching (ELT) teacher education programmes. In this article, we trace the development of the PGDELT which began as a programme to train the classroom practitioner to one that aspires to also develop the transformative intellectual. While this evolution has clearly been motivated by sociocultural and pedagogical concerns viz. changing teacher education paradigms and national educational initiatives, economic developments such as China's rapid economic progress and the expanding role of English as a global language in the region have also provided a significant impetus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]