Transcript LITERACY IMPACT!

ENLISH
Geoff Barton
Tuesday, July 21, 2015
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• Where have we come from?
• Where are we now?
• Where are we going?
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“The past is another
country:they do things
differently there”
LP Hartley
“Never such innocence
again”
Philip Larkin
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Parse the italicised words:
“The lady protests too much, methinks”
“Sit thee down”
“I saw him taken”
Rewrite these sentences correctly:
“Louis was in some respects a good man, but being a bad
ruler his subjects rebelled”
“Vainly endeavouring to suppress his emotion, the
service was abruptly brought to an end”
Alfred S West, The Elements of
English Grammar
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For each of the following write a sentence containing the
word or clause indicated:
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
f)
g)
That used as a subordinating conjunction
That used as a relative pronoun
An adjective used in the comparative degree
A pronoun used as a direct object
An adverbial clause of concession
A noun clause in apposition
A collective noun
JMB O-level English Language,
1967
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Autonomy
16+
NC
Coursework
GCSE
Framework
Performance tables
Disempowerment
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• Where are we now?
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English Review 2000-05
October 2005: Key findings
English is one of the best taught subjects in
both primary and secondary schools.
October 2005: Key findings
•
•
•
•
•
Strengths of teaching in English often include a good
pace and well structured activities.
Teachers are increasingly alert to the different ways in
which pupils learn and try to plan lessons that will
meet their needs.
However, some teachers lack the confidence and
subject knowledge to respond sufficiently flexibly to
what pupils need. They interpret the recommended
four-part lesson structure as something to be applied on
all occasions.
There is ‘a tendency towards safe and unimaginative
teaching…partly because trainees use the structure and
content of the Strategy too rigidly’.
Teachers generally have become more confident
recently in using direct teaching methods, such as
demonstrating aspects of the processes of writing or
explaining and illustrating grammatical terms.
October 2005: Key findings
However, many teachers still need to have
the courage to be innovative, making
greater use, in particular, of group,
collaborative and independent approaches
and a wider range of teaching strategies to
engage and challenge pupils.
October 2005: Key findings
 Standards of writing have improved as a
result of guidance from the national
strategies. However, although pupils’
understanding of the features of different
text types has improved, some teachers give
too little thought to ensuring that pupils fully
consider the audience, purpose and content
for their writing.
 Schools also need to consider how to
develop continuity in teaching and assessing
writing.
October 2005: Key findings
• Schools do not always seem to understand
the importance of pupils’ talk in developing
both reading and writing.
• Myhill and Fisher quote research which
argues that ‘spoken language forms a
constraint, a ceiling not only on the ability to
comprehend but also on the ability to write,
beyond which literacy cannot progress’. Too
many teachers appear to have forgotten that
speech ‘supports and propels writing
forward’.
• Pupils do not improve writing solely by
doing more of it; good quality writing
benefits from focused discussion that gives
pupils a chance to talk through ideas before
writing and to respond to friends’
suggestions.
October 2005: Key findings
• The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study
(PIRLS), published in 2003, found that, although the
reading skills of 10 year old pupils in England compared
well with those of pupils in other countries, they read less
frequently for pleasure and were less interested in
reading than those elsewhere.
• An NFER reading survey (2003), conducted by Marian
Sainsbury, concluded that children’s enjoyment of
reading had declined significantly in recent years.
• A Nestlé/MORI report highlighted the existence of a small
core of children who do not read at all, described as an
‘underclass’ of non-readers, together with cycles of
non-reading ‘where teenagers from families where parents
are not readers will almost always be less likely to be
enthusiastic readers themselves
October 2005: Key findings
The role of teaching assistants was described
in the report as ‘increasingly effective’. Many
of them are responsible for teaching the
intervention programmes and this work has
improved in quality as a result of
improvements in their specialist knowledge.
October 2005: Key findings
The quality of teachers’ marking varies too
much. At its best, marking is detailed,
provides a personal response to what pupils
write which helps to increase their
confidence as writers, and clearly identifies
specific areas for improvement.
October 2005: Key findings
Too few schools have a clear policy on
correcting errors in pupils’ work.
Consequently, some teachers identify all
mistakes, some almost none, and it is rarely
made clear to pupils how they should
respond. In these circumstances, pupils do
not follow up the corrections in their
subsequent work.
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What we know about Writing …
•
The standard of writing has improved in recent years but still lags 20%
behind reading at all key stages (eg around 60% of students get level 4 at
KS2 in writing, compared to 80% in reading).
•
Writing has improved as a result of the National Strategy.
•
S&L has a big role in writing - it allows students to rehearse ideas and
structures and builds confidence.
•
But S&L has lower status because of assessment weightings.
•
In teaching writing we tend to focus too much on end-products rather than
process (eg frames). We should think more about composition - how ideas
are found and framed, how choices are made, how to decide about the
medium, how to draft and edit.
•
We are still stuck with a narrow range of writing forms and need to
emphasise creativity in non-fiction forms.
•
We need to rediscover the excitement of writing.
With thanks to Professor Richard Andrews,
University of York
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What we know about vocabulary …
•
Aged 7: children in the top quartile have 7100 words; children in the lowest have
around 3000. The main influence in parents.
•
Using and explaining high-level words is a key to expanding vocabulary. A low
vocabulary has a negative effect throughout schooling.
•
Declining reading comprehension from 8 onwards is largely a result of low vocabulary.
Vocabulary aged 6 accounts for 30% of reading variance aged 16.
•
Catching up becomes very difficult. Children with low vocabularies would have to
learn faster than their peers (4-5 roots words a day) to catch up within 5-6 years.
•
Vocabulary is built via reading to children, getting children to read themselves,
engaging in rich oral language, encouraging reading and talking at home
•
In the classroom it involves: defining and explaining word meanings, arranging
frequent encounters with new words in different contexts, creating a word-rich
environment, addressing vocabulary learning explicitly, selecting appropriate words
for systematic instruction/reinforcement, teaching word-learning strategies
With thanks to DES Research Unit
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What we know about students who
make slow progress …
Characteristics: 2/3 boys. Generally well-behaved. Positive in outlook.
“Invisible” to teachers. Keen to respond but unlikely to think first. Persevere with
tasks, especially with tasks that are routine. Lack self-help strategies. Stoical,
patient, resigned.
Reading: they over-rely on a limited range of strategies and lack higher order
reading skills
Writing: struggle to combine different skills simultaneously. Don’t get much
chance for oral rehearsal, guided writing, precise feedback
S&L: don’t see it as a key tool in thinking and writing
Targets: set low-level targets; overstate functional skills; infrequently review
progress
With thanks to DfES
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What we know about functional skills …
Background: concerns from employers about
GCSE. Key skills effective but not mainstream.
Intention: students won’t be able to get A*-C without
mastering level 2 functional elements. Could be
standalone qualification. Won’t be solely multichoice.
Currently: being trialled. Watch this space.
With thanks to DfES
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PLUS …
•
MFL in crisis
•
Whole-school literacy lost momentum
•
Progress towards benchmarks plateaued
•
More savvy pupils who are intolerant of
mediocrity
•
Globalisation
•
Changing nature of texts.
With thanks to DfES
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Where are we going?
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OPPORTUNITIES FOR ENGLISH…
1. Reclaim S&L as integral to good learning
2. Rethink assessment around A4L principles
3. Recognise centrality of joined-up cross-curricular
thinking
4. “It’s the teachers, stupid”
5. Be more intolerant of mediocrity
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English Teacher
Petite, white-haired Miss Cartwright
Knew Shakespeare off by heart,
Or so we pupils thought.
Once in the stalls at the Old Vic
She prompted Lear when he forgot his part.
Ignorant of Scrutiny and Leavis,
She taught Romantic poetry,
Dreamt of gossip with dead poets.
To an amazed sixth form once said:
‘How good to spend a night with Shelley.’
In long war years she fed us plays,
Sophocles to Shaw’s St Joan.
Her reading nights we named our Courting Club,
Yet always through the blacked-out streets
One boy left the girls and saw her home.
When she closed her eyes and chanted
‘Ode to a Nightingale’
We laughed yet honoured her devotion.
We knew the man she should have married
Was killed at Passchendaele.
Brian Cox
From Collected Poems, Carcanet Press 1993.
And finally …
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