Developments in approaches
to grammar in the Key Stage 3
National Strategy
© Crown
© Crown
Copyright
copyright
20032004
or…
Touching the Void
Key Stage 3 National Strategy English
© Crown copyright 2004
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Key Stage 3 National Strategy English
© Crown copyright 2004
Pre-Strategy
•
The Grammar Papers : not whether but how
(QCA 1998)
•
Improving Writing at Key Stages 3 and 4
(QCA 1998)
•
Grammar for Writing
(NLS 1999)
Key Stage 3 National Strategy English
© Crown copyright 2004
2001
‘Tools, not rules’ – optional module in training materials
for English departments
- 3 x 75 minute training modules:
•
10.1 Modification
•
10.2 Coordination and subordination
Cohesion: pronouns
•
10.3 Cohesion: tense
Cohesion: connectives
Teaching grammar
Key Stage 3 National Strategy English
© Crown copyright 2004
Sentence level:
grammar for writing
Aims
•
To review and consolidate knowledge about
grammar
•
To connect grammar to speaking, reading and
writing
•
To establish some consistency in the use of terms
•
To develop knowledge of word choice and
modification and apply it to pupils’ writing
Key Stage 3 National Strategy English
© Crown copyright 2004
Sentence level:
grammar for writing
A teaching sequence
•
Explore the objective
•
Define the convention
•
Demonstrate how it is written
•
Share the composition
•
Scaffold the first attempts
Key Stage 3 National Strategy English
© Crown copyright 2004
2001
Literacy Progress units includes unit on Sentences
(revised 2003)
- 17 x 20 minute scripted catch-up sessions to
build a repertoire of sentence structures and use
them effectively
- Pupils at level 3:
•
make limited use of complex sentences;
•
struggle with commas to mark boundaries within
sentences;
•
use pronouns and verb tenses inaccurately;
•
are uncertain over speech punctuation.
Key Stage 3 National Strategy English
© Crown copyright 2004
2001/2
Year 7 Sentence Level Bank
‘It is important to realise that grammatical choices stem
from the context in which they are used. Writers shape
their expression to suit the audience and purpose of the
text. While grammar is rule-governed, and texts
themselves determined largely by convention, we make
innumerable small decisions about the sequence, register,
form, degree of formality, vocabulary and expression to
suit the context. There is no suggestion in this booklet that
grammatical conventions can float free of their context.
The conventions have been brought into sharp relief so
that they can be studied, described, and then used.’
Key Stage 3 National Strategy English
© Crown copyright 2004
Anti-creative?
•
Freedom from constraint?
or
•
Freedom through the discipline of structure,
technique and form?
Defining thought and crystallising expression
‘Conscious manipulation of syntax deepens
engagement and releases invention’
(Ted Hughes)
Key Stage 3 National Strategy English
© Crown copyright 2004
2002/3
•
Approaches to grammar incorporated into core
training
-
Guided writing (year 7)
-
Shared reading (year 9)
‘The meaning of a text is not separate from its
grammar, but is defined, and, precisely, created by
it.’
Key Stage 3 National Strategy English
© Crown copyright 2004
2002/3
Key Objectives Banks (Years 7,8,9)
•
Framework Objectives for Sentence level grammar:
-
About this objective
-
What to Teach
-
Teaching approaches
-
Assessment
Key Stage 3 National Strategy English
© Crown copyright 2004
2003
Grammar for Reading
•
Modular, optional training materials:
-
to expand teachers’ explicit knowledge and
understanding of grammar;
-
to explore ways in which this knowledge and
understanding can be used to inform shared
reading and writing in the classroom;
-
pre-course reading; 2 hour taught module;
materials to trial in the classroom.
Key Stage 3 National Strategy English
© Crown copyright 2004
She should have died hereafter:
There would have been a time for such a word.
Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life’s but a walking shadow; a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
Act 5, scene 5, lines 9–28
MFL Pilot
‘In the MFL Framework, grammar is not a separate
heading…not presented as a separate issue but
rather as a system or set of underlying operational
principles that support learning about words,
sentences, texts and communication.’
Key Stage 3 National Strategy English
© Crown copyright 2004
MFL Pilot
7S2:
How to work out the gist of a sentence by picking out
the main words and seeing how the sentence is
constructed compared to English
He gives Maria a present
Il donne un cadeau à Marie
Er gibt Maria ein Geschenk
Key Stage 3 National Strategy English
© Crown copyright 2004
2003/4
Improving Writing
•
Core training for every English department
-
Designing writing
-
Text structure and organisation
-
Sentences within paragraphs
-
Key messages leaflets
Key Stage 3 National Strategy English
© Crown copyright 2004
Improving Writing
Video: Year 8 in Southampton
•
What makes an effective paragraph
•
The use of complex sentences to convey their
argument
•
Organising sentences into an effective sequence
•
Links between and across sentences within and
between paragraphs
•
Using connectives to strengthen an argument in
writing
Key Stage 3 National Strategy English
© Crown copyright 2004
Impact: English
‘Pupils demonstrate more effective skills of inference
and interpretation in reading literary and non-literary
texts. They have a better grasp of terminology to
describe and analyse language. Many pupils now write
more confidently in a wider range of genres, with
greater awareness of audience and purpose. The
Strategy is contributing to improvement in the accuracy
of pupils’ writing. This improvement is greatest among
higher-attaining pupils and, in some schools, significant
problems with the presentation, accuracy and detail of
the writing of lower-attaining pupils remain and form a
major barrier to achievement generally.’
(HMI 2004)
Key Stage 3 National Strategy English
© Crown copyright 2004
Impact: LAC
‘In almost all schools teachers are aware of the
importance of promoting understanding and accuracy
in the use of key subject terms. In many lessons,
displays form part of the teacher’s focus on learning
objectives and link key words with subject knowledge
and relevant work produced by pupils. A focus on the
significance of individual words is commonly observed
in lessons other than English. Teachers regularly offer
models of language use to pupils and use varied forms
of support, most commonly writing ‘frames’, to provide
a structure on which pupils can build their work.’
(HMI 2004)
Key Stage 3 National Strategy English
© Crown copyright 2004
Impact: MFL
‘The impact on pupils’ attitudes and learning has been
positive. Generally, pupils enjoy applying their
knowledge of form and structure to be more creative
and write at greater length and with more spontaneity.
Some pupils are also writing with greater accuracy. In
several schools the motivation of boys has been
increased because they enjoy the clear structure to
lessons, lively delivery and finding out how language
works.’
(HMI 2004)
Key Stage 3 National Strategy English
© Crown copyright 2004
Impact: MFL
‘The increased emphasis in the framework on
teaching grammar, while at the same time giving due
attention to the development of pupils’ listening and
speaking skills, clearly creates pressure on the use of
time. Some departments have reviewed the content of
their lessons with a view to finding ways of saving
time, for example by eschewing lengthy and
ineffective listening comprehension exercises.’
(HMI 2004)
Key Stage 3 National Strategy English
© Crown copyright 2004
The challenge – how are we
doing?
‘The big challenge for teachers is to make the teaching
of grammar at the word and sentence level relevant,
and part of a larger purpose. If, for example, the
teaching of prepositions and the analysis of postmodifying relative clauses is linked to the texts children
read, and to authentic writing tasks in which children
have something meaningful to communicate, then the
study of grammar can achieve its goal of being a
powerful medium for teaching writing.’
Colin Harrison: ‘Key Stage 3 English:Roots and Research’
(DfES 2002)
Key Stage 3 National Strategy English
© Crown copyright 2004