Hi Rebecca,
In reply to your message, with my colleagues Ian Cushing and Richard Hudson I recently published 'How to Teach Grammar' (Oxford University Press 2019), which has relevance to your query. See: https://global.oup.com/education/product/9780198421511/?region=uk
Also, with colleagues in the UCL Institute of Education I have just begun a new funded research project called: 'English grammar teaching in primary schools: assessing the efficacy of Englicious' See below for a description of the project. It's aimed at younger children, but may nonetheless be of interest.
All good wishes,
Bas
Prof. Bas Aarts
Vice-Dean (Enterprise), Faculty of Arts and Humanities
Department of English Language and Literature
UCL
Gower Street
London WC1E 6BT
Tel.: 020 7679 3130
Blog: http://bit.ly/1d1zKzN
For CPD and inset dates:
‘English Grammar for Teachers’: http://bit.ly/1L78lbs
‘English Grammar in Context’: http://bit.ly/2jSFKCp
Twitter: http://bit.ly/2josDWg
Facebook: http://bit.ly/2jSPQ6j
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English grammar teaching in primary schools: assessing the efficacy of Englicious
Grammar has a much greater emphasis in the 2014 National Curriculum for England than in previous national curricula, and knowledge of grammar is tested in schools at Key Stages 1 and 2. Our research will investigate whether a method of grammar teaching that uses Englicious has benefits for children’s writing at Key Stage 1 (Age 6-7). Englicious is a web-based platform that was developed at UCL and is informed by cutting-edge linguistics. It advocates an innovative, interactive, game-based approach to grammar teaching. At the time of writing over 6,500 teachers have signed up to use the platform. As the Englicious approach differs sufficiently from previous approaches that have been evaluated, we propose to evaluate it using a Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT) design. 60 Year 2 teachers will be randomly divided into two groups: a) one group, the Englicious Intervention (EI), will be trained to use Englicious in lessons; group b) ‘business as usual’, will not receive additional training until project completion. Children’s writing will be tested, using a standardised test and a bespoke sentence construction measure: a) pre-randomisation, and b) at the end of the school year, after the treatment group has received the EI intervention. As part of the mixed methods research design the quantitative impact analysis will be supported by a comprehensive qualitative process evaluation.
Team
• UCL Institute of Education:
o Professor Dominic Wyse
o Dr Jake Anders
o Dr Yana Manyukhina
o Professor Julie Dockrell
• UCL English:
o Professor Bas Aarts
o Mr Ian Cushing
• External:
o Prof. Carole Torgerson, University of Durham
Aims:
The aims of the project are, a) to contribute to the knowledge base in relation to the ways in which the teaching of grammar impacts on pupils’ writing; b) to support teachers in relation to the teaching of writing required by the National Curriculum in England, and c) to bring new evidence to the attention of policy makers who are responsible for the teaching of English, and specifically grammar, in the National Curriculum.
The implications of the work for policy will include recommendations in relation to the teaching of writing in England’s National Curriculum. The outcomes will also be of interest to other countries, where English is the dominant language in schools, because the teaching of grammar is included as part of most national curricula for primary schools. The findings are likely to be taken up by teachers and their organisations with an interest in the teaching of grammar for writing. Education policy-makers with responsibility for the curriculum are also likely to be interested.
Research questions:
1. To what extent is the web-based Englicious intervention (EI) effective in improving pupils’ writing?
2. What are the main implications for teacher practice as a result of implementing EI, and, more generally, for evidence-informed teaching of writing?
3. In what ways do the outcomes of the research have implications for the teaching of writing in the National Curriculum for primary schools in England?
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Friends and Colleagues,
I am looking for recommendations on teaching grammar in the context of writing, or grammar to enhance writing. Of course, I know about Connie Weaver's _Grammar to Enrich and Enhance Writing_ and Morenberg's _Writer's Options_ and Kolln's _Rhetorical Grammar_...
I am very sad to say that the Commonwealth of Virginia has just redone its requirements for teacher licensure. Previously, for decades even, we have had a relatively enlightened set of licensing criteria from the Dept. of Education. For decades, linguistics appeared prominently, with secondary teachers required to learn about the Structure of English, and Standard English usage, and elementary education teachers required to learn about different systems of linguistic structure (phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax) as well as specific knowledge about dialect diversity, dialects and culture. All that is gone now. All references to linguistics in the elementary and secondary teacher licensure for VA has been removed. Knowledge of phonetics/phonology is now only in context of reading, and grammar is only in context of 'grammar, usage and mechanics in service of writing.' The only mention of linguistics and English linguistics is under the ESL licensure. So, elementary and secondary teachers at our school are no longer required to take Intro Ling and Structure of English.
Hence, I am directed to drop the linguistic approach to structure, and do grammar and writing. So, am looking for y'all's recommendations on textbooks for integrating grammar into writing. This would serve secondary education students, and also inside the Writing Concentration and Writing Minor of the English major.
Intro Ling will continue to be offered for the Linguistics Minor, and our area requirement in Global and Multicultural Perspectives (elementary ed people have, for years said this is the most valuable course they've ever taken, and were particularly impressed with the 6 week unit on language varieties, and dialect prejudice in education and society).
What say you regarding texts for teaching grammar in the service of writing.
Thx,
Rebecca
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dr. Rebecca S. Wheeler
Director, Linguistics Minor
https://cnu.edu/academics/areasofstudy/minor-linguistics/
English Language Specialist, Nepal, 2017
Fulbright Scholar, Tajikistan, 2016
Christopher Newport University
Newport News, VA 23606
(o): 757-594-8889; (c): 757-651-3659
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