Independent, imaginative writing: lots of problems and some solutions

This chapter describes part of a series of curriculum development projects set up to identify and tackle the difficulties of teaching imaginative story writing to children aged 7-12 years. The key aims were to develop practical teaching strategies that would work in large mixed ability classes. The projects sought to develop knowledge of writing techniques and an understanding of the writing process to help children and teachers create supportive writing communities. An underpinning principle was that teachers, rather than some pre-determined teaching sequence, should drive the curriculum. Thus, although some of the strategies were presented as teaching sequences (see Ellis & Friel, 1995), teachers were encouraged to use them flexibly to create their own teaching sequences, depending on the needs of the class

Open dialogue peer review: a response to Morag Stuart

Morag Stuart is right that how best to teach reading has been debated for years and we need clarity about what reading involves and how this develops in beginning readers. I also like her emphasis on teaching and on the importance of teaching phonics early and in a systematic way. The history of 'reading wars' has been unhelpful for researchers, policy-makers, teachers and, most importantly, children. We need to ensure that the debates this time around are more complex and measured. This means that, first, it is important to recognise the socio-cultural basis of literacy. Second, I prefer not to talk in terms of convincing anyone of the 'sense' of one view, but in terms of exploring how different views shed light on the actual task to be achieved - children who can, and do, read

The use of evidence in language and literacy teaching

Literacy education deserves evidence-based decisions. Low literacy costs the British economy between £1.73bn and £2.05bn per year (KPMG 2006) and the social and emotional costs are equally high. Yet we know that children who struggle with literacy can make fast progress when the instructional content and pedagogy closely match their needs. This chapter describes some of the paradigms and problems associated with the use of evidence in language and literacy education with examples from specific interventions and programmes. It raises issues about how literacy teachers are professionalized to attend to evidence, both the evidence in front of them and the research evidence 'out there'. It argues that to support teachers in using evidence effectively, we need to frame the research evidence about effective content, pedagogy and learning in ways that recognize the power and limitations of different evidence paradigms. To ensure that all children make fast progress, we need to appreciate how teachers develop broad and diagnostic understandings of literacy and literacy learning and of how policy and curriculum frameworks impact on the classroom decisions they make

Early reading instruction : what science really tells us about how to teach reading

Early reading instruction: what science really tells us about how to teach reading took me back to the 1980s and the 'reading wars' in England. McGuinness polarizes the phonics debate and argues that reading should be taught using a phonics 'first, fast and only' approach. With chapter headings such as 'Why English speaking children can't read' and appendices headed 'How nations cheat on international literacy studies', McGuinness dispenses with the measured and nuanced language of academic, professional or scientific writing, slipping easily and frequently into the style of a headline writer for the popular press

Policy and research : lessons from the Clackmannanshire synthetic phonics initiative

This article explores why policy makers in England and Scotland responded so differently to the Clackmannanshire study on synthetic phonics. It suggests that a deeper understanding of the national and local policy contexts can explain Scotland's response. Analysis of the wider context of the Clackmannanshire initiative supports Moss and Huxford's (2007) argument that literacy problems cannot be couched within a single paradigm's field of reference, and that policy makers need to consider evidence from different paradigms if they are to make robust decisions

Supporting students who struggle with language

This chapter considers children who have speech, language and communication difficulties. These can arise from insufficient quality or quantity of language experience, or they may arise developmentally, despite appropriate language input from families and carers. They may or may not be associated with impairments such as hearing loss, learning disabilities, cerebral palsy or autistic spectrum disorders. Whether children's difficulties are specific to language-learning or more general, it is important that they become motivated, engaged learners. Motivation is central, but not in itself enough to guarantee high engagement. Engaged readers are intrinsically (rather than extrinsically) motivated to read, and have the required resources and strategies to do so. Meta-analyses show that strategy teaching, curricular coherence, choice, social collaboration and purpose all impact upon reading engagement (Guthrie and Wigfield 2000). Motivation and engagement impact upon attainment through mechanisms such as practice effects and perseverance. Continued engagement is therefore particularly important for children with speech, language and communication difficulties. Where language is part of the problem, children are at significant risk of literacy difficulties persisting into adult life (Law et al. 2009)

Open dialogue peer review: a response to Tymms, Merrell & Coe

We welcome Peter Tymms, Christine Merrell and Robert Coe's paper as a timely contribution to an important issue. For precisely the reasons that they state, this is an area of current concern. We are writing to suggest that for complex interventions involving educational programmes an even more complicated sequence of investigations could be useful, taking as the model the medical approach as detailed in MRC (2000). We agree that the RCT is an essential tool to investigate the efficacy of programmes. There is no other way to know if, on the whole, a programme works across a variety of contexts and if some programmes should 'work' better than others. Pragmatic randomisation as described in the Fife study outlined by Tymms et al. should be appropriate although it is a pity that it appears no children are continuing with their current exposure to peer learning, which would allow for the possibility that this is just as good as the new interventions. Blind assessment of outcomes is of course essential

Growing up in rural Malawi: dilemmas of childhood

Rural Malawi is a place where families are generally poor socio-economically. In this chapter we discuss childhood development in a typical Malawian rural setting by focusing on the overall challenges facing families with young children, and we consider how families are coping. Such challenges involve social structures, community involvement, preparation for schooling, and home versus school literacy and numeracy development for children. We argue that unless these key issues are addressed, rural children will continue to face dilemmas in their development and in the long run, this will limit their future opportunities for personal development and participation in the social and economic development of Malawi

Real readers, real writers and a home-grown experience

As with many good innovations, it began with a real and pressing problem. We wanted the students at St Ninians Primary, a large city school for children aged 5-12 years, to develop a sense of audience for their writing. In Scotland, story writing is commonly taught using story frames and planning sheets that ask students to identify the characters, the setting, the initiating problem/event and the resolution. Despite this support, students often omit important details and find it hard to 'decentre' and consider their writing from the reader's perspective. This is a vital part of becoming an author: "A sense of authorship comes from the struggle to put something big and vital into print, and from seeing one's own printed words reach the heats and minds of readers." (Calkins, 1986

Comprehension and the silent reader

Dr Elspeth Jajdelska's work on the rise of silent reading in the 18th century has shown that writers who assume a silent reader, as almost all writers do in the present day, construct their texts differently from those who write for readers to speak the text aloud to themselves or an audience, as almost all writers did before the 18th century.Elspeth Jajdelska's work explains in detail exactly which kinds of textual features are likely to be difficult for people (both now and in the past) who have learned the mechanics of reading but find it hard to follow texts written for silent readers. These findings arose in an academic field unconnected to educational studies and this knowledge exchange project was established to explore how the research can be made useful to teachers. The project was funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council