Introduction to the Project
Research tell us that ‘traditional’ (decontextualized) approaches to the teaching of grammar, while they may help children to answer questions in grammar tests, have little demonstrable impact on the development of their writing as a whole. A group of schools in Buckinghamshire, with the support of the LA School Improvement Service (now the Buckinghamshire Learning Trust), set out to learn more about how better to improve their learners’ understanding of grammar – or more sensibly, language – and thereby help to improve their outcomes in writing.
They received training from Professor David Crystal to develop their subject knowledge and worked collaboratively to discuss and plan the approaches they would trial in their own schools. Over the course of a term, they experimented with activities and recorded the impact on a particular group of children. The results of this research are contained in this document.
The nature of the schools and their learners is very diverse. Teachers have worked with learners from Reception classes to Year 10; the catchments of the schools vary from very affluent ‘leafy’ areas to areas of high deprivation. What they have all shown is that, when taught in context, focused on ‘real’ language and closely linked to the children’s needs, the teaching of grammar can not only improve the quality of their writing, but also their levels of engagement.
The teachers have been enormously generous in providing all of the teaching resources relevant to their case studies in order that the reader might replicate/ adapt what they have done. We hope you find it useful in developing your learners too!
They received training from Professor David Crystal to develop their subject knowledge and worked collaboratively to discuss and plan the approaches they would trial in their own schools. Over the course of a term, they experimented with activities and recorded the impact on a particular group of children. The results of this research are contained in this document.
The nature of the schools and their learners is very diverse. Teachers have worked with learners from Reception classes to Year 10; the catchments of the schools vary from very affluent ‘leafy’ areas to areas of high deprivation. What they have all shown is that, when taught in context, focused on ‘real’ language and closely linked to the children’s needs, the teaching of grammar can not only improve the quality of their writing, but also their levels of engagement.
The teachers have been enormously generous in providing all of the teaching resources relevant to their case studies in order that the reader might replicate/ adapt what they have done. We hope you find it useful in developing your learners too!