Posted on: 09/07/2013
This is a summarised version of a longer article that appears in July’s Primary Teacher Update magazine.
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There is a myth amongst many in education that Grammar teaching in schools is somehow a new concept, previously forgotten under the old Primary Framework and now re-edified by those in charge. This is inherently untrue. In our work with schools, we have regularly been privileged enough to watch some highly skilled teachers demonstrating exemplary grammar teaching, not only in upper Key Stage 2, but across the whole of the primary age-range. Not grammar teaching for a test, however, but modelling of the sorts of key skills that impact enormously on the way in which children select and modify language, adapt sentence structure and create whole texts. In fact, many of us still cling on tightly to our (now often battered) copies of ‘Grammar for Writing’ that helped us to understand how shared writing could be used to heighten children’s awareness of grammar within writing. It seems, upon close inspection of the new curriculum, that the main changes that have recently come into play are not around the teaching of explicit grammar objectives, but to do with the meta-language and terminology associated with grammatical learning. It is arguable that such changes will have little impact on children’s real ability to select, adapt and apply grammatical devices, when they are being asked to learn them by rote with little more purpose than for a sense of geeky satisfaction at knowing what the subjunctiveactually is. So, while teachers have long been teaching grammar, this new document gives us clear guidance on the what not the how of grammatical learning, finally giving clarity to progression, that the old framework was often guilty of lacking, and leaving us free to decide how to embed it within our existing teaching of writing.
Forgetting, for a moment, that children will be tested in a format that seems to directly contradict this statement, it appears to be giving us free reign to ditch the cloze procedures, and construct exciting and engaging teaching sequences where grammar is explicit and embedded throughout, but where creativity, enjoyment and, perhaps most importantly, quality literature is paramount. We, along with many in the profession, have long been advocates of grammar being taught in context, seeing the proof in the pudding that children need a concrete understanding of grammar in order to write effectively and communicate their ideas to their reader, but that it is simply ineffective to do it through endless photocopiable activities where children robotically slot-in, circle or highlight words, phrases or punctuation. Unless we are selecting quality literature that has a strong model of effective grammar use and constructing exciting lessons that help children to identify the grammar within writing before applying it to their own, then we can expect the teaching of out-of-context grammar to be having little, if any, impact.
Breaking down the core skills for grammar into the following three strands, Word Modification, Sentence Construction and Punctuation and Whole Text Cohesion, we have written teaching sequences, such as the exemplar sequence developed for Angela McAllister and Grahame Baker Smith’s compelling Leon and the Place Between, where every stage of the teaching sequence covers core learning for grammar.
One of the essential skills needed under the new expectations, is for children to be able to identify word classes, or the type of word, be it a verb, adverb, noun or adjective. Leon and the Place Between lends itself extremely well to word class identification, unpicking the beautiful language Angela McAllister has constructed, particularly her choice of verbs and adverbial phrases. To support identification, we always advocate beginning with a sentence or sentences from the text, such as:
where parted is the verb and with a ripple of gold braid and slowly are the adverbials. At this point circling, underlining and highlighting are welcomed (and can give children a necessary introduction to the style of questioning that they will be exposed to in the tests).
Moving on from shared identification and often a collaborative definition of the terminology, we advocate the use of a ‘Grammar Splat’ as an engaging way to encourage classification. Around the classroom we have a number of ‘splats’, covering each of the word classes that will be identified. Children listen to a short passage from the text, writing down each word they hear from one or more of the word classes, and finally ‘splatting’ them onto the wall. Not only does this give a practical context for understanding word classes, but also creates a useful word bank that can become part of the working wall, to be referred to throughout the sequence within shared writing. And we find a splat is often more of a motivational tool than a highlighter!
To support sentence structure, we often begin with a simple sentence, reinforcing the necessity to understand, construct and control sentences with single clauses, before moving on to their compound and complex counterparts. One way we do this is through demonstrating a simple sentence that children need to edit and improve, called ‘supported sentences’. Beginning with a sentence, such as:
we ask children to, first of all, identify the class of words used in the sentence and then to modify them without changing the meaning, number of words or classes. This gives children a practical application for their newly-found knowledge about words, whilst supporting them to construct a simple sentence, of which they have ownership, e.g.
Moving on from the simple sentence, we would then ask them to add phrases and clauses using a variety of approaches, such as ‘dropping in’ a clause using who, which or that, or working in pairs to ask where, when or how questions before adding adverbial phrases to the sentence.
However, there is little use in constructing sentences and modifying words unless they can be effectively ‘glued together’ in a cohesive piece of writing. The key skills for cohesion lie in the use of connectives (often adverbials that signpost the movement of time), the consistency of tense throughout a piece of writing and the use of referential pronouns, to avoid repetition.
All of these sorts of approaches give children a practical and tangible context for grammatical learning, supporting them to make sense of terminology by providing a concrete model of language, sentence structure and text cohesion. It allows them to apply their knowledge, whilst writing for a real audience, and most importantly it gives them ownership of their writing and the ability to visualise, first hand, how controlled selection of effective grammar can impact upon the quality and meaning of their sentences. So, let’s put the cloze procedures and photocopied extracts to one side and embrace these new grammar expectations in the way we are being told to, through creativity and in constructing exciting and engaging lessons. The starting point should always be a quality literature, the end point should always be a piece of purposeful, extended writing, but who’s to say we shouldn’t visit some explicit grammatical concepts along the learning journey?
The Literacy Tree will be running a course entitled Creatively Embedding Grammar. in Literacy at Winton Primary School in London on Friday 4th October 2013.
