LITERACY IMPACT!

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?EN?LISH?
Geoff Barton
Tuesday, May 26, 2015
www.geoffbarton.co.uk
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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 countrythey 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
• 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
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October 2005 Key findings
English is one of the best taught subjects in
both primary and secondary schools.
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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 teachingpartly 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.

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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.
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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.

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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.

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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 childrens
  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

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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.
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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.
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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.
• SL has a big role in writing - it allows
  students to rehearse ideas and structures and
  builds confidence.
• But SL 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. Dont get much chance for oral
rehearsal, guided writing, precise feedback SL
dont 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 wont be able to get A-C
without mastering level 2 functional elements.
Could be standalone qualification. Wont be
solely multi-choice. 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

• Reclaim SL as integral to good learning
• Rethink assessment around A4L principles
• Recognise centrality of joined-up
  cross-curricular thinking
• Its the teachers, stupid
• 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
saidHow good to spend a night with
Shelley. In long war years she fed us
plays, Sophocles to Shaws 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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The new multi-media course by Geoff
Barton Published by Pearson
www.geoffbarton.co.uk