Grammar: A Turning-Point?

1. Grammar:A Turning-Point? Debra Myhill

2. Grammar – or not? • Formal grammar teaching: naming of parts; rules; parsing… • USA, UK, New Zealand, Australia and Canada all abandoned grammar teaching in the sixties; • Mainland Europe: grammar has remained part of the language curriculum • England and Wales: • National Curriculum in 1995 explicitly included grammar • National Strategies – strong emphasis on grammar • Australia: now including grammar in their first National Curriculum

3. Grammar Annex The grammar of our first language is learnt naturally and implicitly through interactions with other speakers and from reading. Explicit knowledge of grammar is, however, very important, as it gives us more conscious control and choice in our language. Building this knowledge is best achieved through a focus on grammar within the teaching of reading, writing and speaking. Once pupils have been introduced to a grammatical concept, they should be encouraged to apply their learning by using that grammar in their own speech and writing and noting where it is used in the speech and writing of others. Young pupils, in particular, use more complex language in speech than in writing, and teachers should build on this, aiming for a smooth transition to sophisticated writing.

4. Which pair of pronouns is best to complete the sentence below? The teacher split …………….. into teams. …………….. were batting; the other team was fielding. Tick one they Them  us We  her She  them I 

5. Different Views of Grammar • Learning grammar rules; • Correcting grammar errors; • De-contextualised exercises; • A focus on error and accuracy. OR • Developing knowledge about language; • Using metalanguage to talk about language; • Making connections between grammar and writing; • A focus on meaning and effects

6. What’s the Problem? • No clearly articulated rationale for grammar in the curriculum; • Public/political/professional disagreement; • Robust research showing that teaching grammar has no impact on quality of writing; • A growing emphasis on grammar in English-speaking countries. • If grammar is embedded within the teaching of writing, does it improve students’ writing?

7. Contextualised Grammar Teaching • A rhetorical view of grammar – exploring how language works • Investigating how language choices construct meanings in different contexts • The teaching focus is on writing, not on grammar per se • The teaching focus is on effects and constructing meanings, not on the feature or terminology itself • The teaching goal is to open up a repertoire of infinite possibilities, not to teach about ‘correct’ ways of writing

8. The Exeter Research Project • A randomised controlled trial with a complementary qualitative study • One class of Year 8 students in 32 schools • Initial test of teachers’ grammar knowledge • 16 schools randomly allocated to intervention; 16 to comparison groups • Lesson observations • Teacher interviews • Student interviews • Pre and post intervention writing test to measure improvement

9. The Intervention • Designed 3 schemes work (1 per term) focusing on a different written genre: Narrative Fiction; Argument; Poetry • Each unit matched the Framework for English • Grammar features which were relevant to the writing being taught were embedded into the teaching units • Intervention group had detailed teaching materials for each lesson • Comparison group addressed same learning objectives, same resources and produced same written outcomes, but had no lesson plans

10. Results? • Statistically significant positive effect for intervention group • Intervention group improved their writing scores by 20% over the year compared with 11% in the comparison group. • The grammar teaching had greatest impact on able writers • But able writers in the comparison group barely improved over the year • Teachers’ subject knowledge of grammar was an influencing factor

11. Key Teaching Principles • Links are always made between the feature introduced and how it might enhance the writing being tackled; • Grammatical metalanguage is used, but it is explained through examples; • Discussion is fundamental in encouraging critical conversations about language and effects; • The use of ‘creative imitation’ offers model patterns for students to play with and then use in their own writing; • The use of authentic examples from authentic texts links writers to the broader community of writers; • Activities support students in making choices and being designers of writing; • Language play, experimentation, risk-taking and games are actively encouraged.

12. Making Connections Links are always made between the feature introduced and how it might enhance the writing being tackled • The goal in embedding attention to grammar within a writing curriculum is to support writing development, not to learn grammar; • Understanding ‘effects’ is part of beginning to understand the writer’s craft and the possibilities open to a writer; • Considering how grammatical structures create meaning in specific contexts reinforces the importance of context • Making meaningful connections between writing and grammar avoids redundant learning, such as complex sentences are good sentences

13. A Classroom Example Context: Writing fairy tales Learning Focus: the simplicity of noun phrases in fairy tales Connections between grammar and writing: • Fairy tales draw on oral narratives and written versions retain many of the patterns of oral language. These helped listeners to follow and remember the story. Nouns and adjectives are often used very simply. • Repetition of adjectives Eglong, long ago; far, far away, a dark, dark wood. • Short noun phrases with just one adjective Egwicked stepmother; enchanted forest; handsome prince; golden apple • Predictable ‘stock’ of nouns and adjectives • Eg beautiful; evil; castle; king; forest; princess;

14. Using Grammatical Metalanguage Grammatical metalanguage is used, but it is explained through examples • Hearing the terminology used in relevant contexts may support learning; • Being able to use the terminology allows for more succinct talk about writing but the terminology may be a barrier for some students; • Providing examples allows students to access the structure and discuss its effect even if they don’t remember the grammatical name. • Seeing examples is more concrete learning compared with the abstract learning needed with terminology

15. A Classroom Example Context: writing a persuasive speech Learning Focus: how modal verbs can express different levels of assertiveness or possibility in persuasion Resource with modal verbs listed: can; could; may; might; must; shall; should; will; ought to TASK: Imagine that you are Roy Hodgson talking to the England team before the penalty shoot-out in the Euro 2012 match against Spain. Write a short ‘pep talk,’ arguing that it’s still possible to win, using some of these modal verbs to predict what might / can / will happen in the shoot out. You could start: ‘We can win a penalty shoot-out.’

16. Writing Conversations Discussion is fundamental in encouraging critical conversations about language and effects • Constructive exploratory talk enables learning to develop; • Teacher input is important in initiating learning but understanding cannot be transmitted from teacher to student; • Talk fosters discussion about choices, possibilities and effects; • Talk may be the key to moving students from superficial learning about grammar (eg add adjectives to create description) to deep learning (eg some adjectives are redundant because the noun is descriptive); • Talk gives ownership to writers in making writerly decisions.

17. A Classroom Example Context: Writing Fictional Narrative Learning Focus: how short sentences can create tension in narrative TASK: In pairs, read the extract from Peter Brenchley’sJaws and find the three shortest sentences he uses. Discuss why he might have chosen to make these three sentences so short? What part do they play in the narrative structure of this incident? What effect might they have on the reader?

18. Creative imitation The use of ‘creative imitation’ offers model patterns for students to play with and then use in their own writing • Imitation is a scaffold which allows students to try out new structures or new ways of expressing something; • As a scaffold it fosters both success and experimentation; • Imitation may help to embed new structures cognitively within the student’s writing repertoire; • Creative imitation is a first step in generating original combinations.

19. A Classroom Example Context: Argument Writing Learning Focus: how using an imperative opening sentence followed by an emotive narrative can act as an effective hook for a persuasive argument which follows. TASK: Picture the scene. There are dogs running wild around a courtyard littered with muck and machinery. There are dogs rammed in cages, noses pressed against the bars. There are dogs whose fur is hanging in great clumps, with bare skin and running sores. The noise of barking and yelping is deafening, but in one cage a golden labrador lies silent, head on its paws, looking at the yard with melancholy eyes.

20. Authentic Texts The use of authentic examples from authentic texts links writers to the broader community of writers • Writers need to explore what real writers do and the choices they make; • Using authentic texts makes meaningful links between being a reader and being a writer; • Using authentic texts allows teachers to choose texts which will motivate and engage their students; • Using authentic texts avoids the pitfalls of examples artificially created to exemplify a grammar point which have no resonance of truth.

21. A Classroom Example Context: Writing Poetry Learning Focus: how noun phrases can evoke vivid images Activity: Using a Roethke’s poem, Boy on Top of a Greenhouse, students analyse how the poem is entirely comprised of a series of expanded noun phrases with no finite verb. The noun phrases build a detailed picture of the scene and the absence of a finite verb creates a sense of a frozen moment in time. Students use this as a model for writing their own poem.

22. Making Design Choices Activities support students in making choices and being designers of writing • Making choices gives more autonomy to the writer and less to the teacher; • Choice-making fosters ownership and authorial responsibility; • Making choices more visible opens up the writing process, making real the idea that writing is a complex act of decision-making • Encouraging writers to see that choices are available to them avoids formulaic writing or checklist approaches; • Awareness of the importance of choices makes writers more aware of a repertoire of infinite possibilities.

23. A Classroom Example Context: Writing Argument Focus: How sentence length and sentence structure can be used to create rhetorical effect in the closing of a persuasive argument. TASK: Students are given the sentences from the final paragraph of a persuasive speech, each sentence on a separate strip of paper. They are given two sets of the same sentences. In pairs, they create two version of the ending of the argument and discuss the different ways the two versions work. Finally they choose and justify the choice of their preferred version.

24. Playful Experimentation Language play, experimentation, risk-taking and games are actively encouraged • Playfulness helps writers to see the elasticity of language, the possibilities it affords; • Experimentation and taking risks are at the heart of creativity; • Writers need opportunities for constructive ‘failure’; • Able writers often play safe and avoid trying out new ways of writing; • Playfulness is engaging.

25. A Classroom Example Context: Writing Poetry Focus: how varying sentence structure and sentence length can create different emphases in poetry. TASK: Using an exploded version of Sylvia Plath’s Mirror presented alphabetically as a word grid, students are asked to generate pairs of sentence, experimenting with the possibilities outlined below: • Beginning with a non-finite verb, adverb or prepositional phrase • Using a short verbless sentence • Using a one word sentence • Using repetition of a single word or short phrase.

26. Metalinguistic knowledge Effective teachers in our study: • always linked the linguistic feature to a specific context-relevant effect or purpose, thus making meaningful connections between the grammar under focus and the writing; • responded to students’ own writing sensitively, asking questions which invited students to consider the writing choices they were making, or by drawing out explicitly effective choices in the writing; • had sufficient metalinguistic knowledge to notice relevant aspects of reading texts or students’ writing to draw to learners’ attention.

27. International Perspectives • ‘Whereas traditional approaches conceive of grammar as a set of structures which can be assessed as correct or incorrect, Halliday sees language as a resource, a meaning-making system through which we interactively shape and interpret our world ’and ourselves’ (Derewianka and Jones 2010) • supporting learners’ ability to think grammatically about language (Williams 2004 2005; Macken-Horarik2010), • understanding grammar’s potentiality as a meaning-making resource (Schleppegrell; Coffin 2010).(2010:9). • understanding ‘the interwoven relationship between what we say and how we say it’ (Micciche2004). • developing a ‘a repertoire of infinite possibilities’ (Myhill et al)

28. Schemes of Work Published by NATE: free to NATE members; £7.50 each to non-members. http://www.nate.org.uk/page/grammarschemes d.a.myhill@ex.ac.uk