糖心视频

(糖心视频Org.com) -- In what is believed to be the first major study to demonstrate that the teaching of grammar can improve children鈥檚 overall writing capabilities, researchers found a quantifiable benefit from a focus not just on getting pupils to know grammatical terms, but on encouraging them  to experiment with how they use grammar in written composition.

Pupils taught in this way were found to improve their writing marks over a year almost twice as much as those who were not.

Professor Debra Myhill of the University of Exeter鈥檚 Graduate School of Education, who led the research, said: 鈥�Grammar can be taught in ways which go beyond simply knowing terms and categories, towards encouraging pupils to love playing with grammar and language. If teachers take this approach, the evidence suggests pupils鈥� writing will improve.鈥�

The findings have now been presented at the British Educational Research Association鈥檚 annual conference in London.

Researchers at the University of Exeter selected at random 31 comprehensives in the West Midlands and South West of England. The academics鈥� experiment, which lasted a year, involved a class of 12- to 13-year-olds in each school.

Half of the schools had a class where teachers followed teaching methods drawn up by the researchers 鈥� the 鈥榠ntervention group鈥� - and for the other half 鈥� the 鈥榗omparison group鈥� - the teacher was allowed to devise his or her own teaching plan.

Pupils following both types of approach took a specially-designed writing test at the start of the experiment. This assessed the quality of children鈥檚 sentence structure and punctuation; text organisation; and overall imaginative effect. Each child then took a similar test at the end of the year.

The teaching approach for the 鈥榠ntervention group鈥� eschewed either simply asking pupils to identify and learn grammatical terms, or getting them to follow simple instructions such as 鈥渢ry to use complex sentences in your writing鈥�, which the academics say has been a common approach within English teaching following the introduction of Labour鈥檚 national teaching strategies within the last 15 years and which featured in the 鈥榗omparison group鈥�.

Instead, youngsters were set tasks including looking at how writers can use nouns and verbs -  rather than adjectives and adverbs -  to add character and setting to their compositions; to re-write a letter in which changes in punctuation dramatically change its meaning; and to experiment with poetry by using, for example, verbless or one-word sentences. Other exercises even saw them analysing the grammar of jokes and even discussing 鈥渢he humour of ambiguous punctuation鈥�.
 
In the comparison group, pupils tended to follow the standard approach to the teaching of the subject, in which grammatical terms are covered, but pupils do not interact with them in the same way.

By the end of the year, the 鈥榠ntervention group鈥� had improved their marks by 20 per cent, while the 鈥榗omparison group鈥� also improved, but only by 11 per cent.
Professor Myhill said that, despite decades of investigation, no previous study had shown that pupils being taught grammar explicitly 鈥� so that they were simply able to identify nouns or subject clauses, for example - actually improved the quality of their writing.

However, the study demonstrated that getting children to engage more actively with the use of grammar to make their language more powerful was effective.

Professor Myhill added: 鈥淚t鈥檚 not just about teaching pupils to use grammar accurately. Accuracy is really important, but it鈥檚 not sufficient. You can have a really accurate, but dull, piece of writing. This is about using the language creatively: being able to manipulate grammar for effect, and giving children power over the use of language.鈥�

Some of the humorous examples of punctuation used illustrate the playfulness of the approach. Exercises included how changing the punctuation of 鈥淎 woman, without her man, is nothing.鈥� to 鈥淎 woman. Without her, man is nothing.鈥� changes the meaning; how the wartime headline 鈥淎llies Push Bottles Up Germans鈥� can be read differently depending on which words are nouns and which is a verb; and how punctuation would remove the ambiguity around cricket commentator Brian Johnston鈥檚 legendary radio declaration that 鈥淭he bowler鈥檚 Holding; the batsman鈥檚 Willey鈥�.

The study鈥檚 findings were not completely definitive for all pupils. Higher-achieving pupils benefited from the teaching more than the less able, suggesting it may have been pitched at the needs of better writers. And lesson observations completed as part of the study found examples of teachers struggling to explain grammatical concepts, including sometimes giving incorrect grammatical explanations. Teachers鈥� own understanding had an effect on the scheme鈥檚 overall effectiveness, with staff who were less competent with language getting worse results than more grammatically-secure colleagues within the 鈥渋ntervention鈥� group.

Teaching materials used in the study are now to be offered free to teachers through the National Association for the Teaching of English.

鈥淩econceptualising grammar: an intervention study鈥� was presented by Professor Debra Myhill at BERA on Wednesday 7 September.