Collaborative Grammar Teaching
in English and MFL
Sarah Campbell
MFL teacher
UKLO Committee
LAGB Education Committee
Overview
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A brief history
Challenges
Current good practice
A way forward….
1960s
• Little notice given to potential benefits of collaborative
grammar teaching, due in part due to the differing
aims of and methods used in English and MFL.
• Attempts at collaboration were rare, and usually
initiated by MFL teachers.
• English teachers viewed this as their MFL colleagues
shirking responsibility!
1970s
• Academic feeling beginning to shift.
• 1972 Council of Europe conference in Helsinki.
• 1974 CILT conference, ‘The space between’, drew tentative
conclusion that there was a place for collaborative teaching
and a ‘common model’ for grammar teaching.
• Resourcing, training, timetabling raised as important issues.
• Linguistics described as an ‘interdisciplinary bridge’
1990s
• 1999 CILT and QCA (Qualifications and Curriculum Authority) funded
school based projects designed to work ‘across the space between’
• National Literacy Strategy provided a springboard for renewed work in the
area
• Collaborative planning, mutual observation, sharing best practice were key
for teachers
• Most projects involved used of common methodologies and terminologies
to extend and develop pupils’ writing
• Many invoked pupils’ knowledge of English to support MFL, but one drew
on MFL grammar knowledge to develop understanding in English.
Today?
• Previous projects were valuable, but impact remained short term.
• Common stumbling blocks appear time and again:
– Timetabling
– Lack of training
– Over dependence on an individual
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Other issues potentially affecting long term success include:
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Pupils’ attitudes
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Grammar’s ‘bad reputation’
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Pupils not seeing relevance
Why try again?
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New National Curriculum for Languages aims to ensure that all pupils:
– understand and respond to spoken and written language from a variety of authentic
sources
– speak with increasing confidence, fluency and spontaneity, finding ways of
communicating what they want to say, including through discussion and asking
questions, and continually improving the accuracy of their pronunciation and intonation
– can write at varying length, for different purposes and audiences, using the variety of
grammatical structures that they have learnt
– discover and develop an appreciation of a range of writing in the language studied
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Statutory Key Stage 2 Languages from September 2014
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Increased interest in global education
Current good practice
• Porter Croft Primary School, South Yorkshire
• Winners of 2013 EU Language Label Award
• “…creation and delivery of…modules that mirror and
reinforce the English learning objectives for grammar
and genres within weekly MFL lessons for the mutual
benefit of teaching and learning in both languages”
• “Transformational” effect for the school
Where next?
• Network of educators and academics driving a
renewed push?
• Criteria for success?
– Senior Leadership support
– Time, support and resources
– Timetable flexibility
– Sustainability
– Recognition of wider benefits