At its heart, our project
takes its cue from the increasing emphasis on “grammar” within Western
education systems; specifically, the requirement that grammatical development
be a substantive part of the English curriculum. Thus, for example, the current National Curriculum, which features a statutory grammar appendix,
requires that students should ‘acquire…an understanding of grammar’, and
states that development in writing requires ‘an increasingly wide
knowledge of vocabulary and grammar’.
Suppose we take the validity of all this for granted. The problem remains that there simply isn’t all that much evidence available to support an accurate picture of grammatical development in writing; let alone an educationally productive one. This isn’t, of course, to claim that there is no such evidence, with contemporary research yielding substantive insights into the grammatical underpinnings of student writing (e.g. Berman & Verhoeven 2002; Christie & Derewianka, 2008). Indeed, our prior ESRC-funded study of student writing has already provided a better understanding of these underpinnings (Myhill 2008; 2009). In other words, there is little doubt that writing development has a grammatical basis; we just need a much more comprehensive understanding of exactly what this basis entails. To what extent, for example, do the grammatical features used differ according to the age of the student or the quality of writing? Moreover, to what exent do these features differ according to the specific kinds of writing expected of students?
This is where our project comes in. Specifically, we’re putting together a large collection of student writing, drawn from schools across England and designed to encompass the range of writing produced by students aged 5-16. As such, our collection will not only comprise texts produced in English classes, it will also include writing drawn from both the Science and the Humanities classroom. Once complete, we’ll undertake a comprehensive grammatical analysis of this writing, aiming to provide a clearer picture of what grammatical development in writing looks like. Moreover, once we’re done with this analysis, we’ll also make the collection itself available; not just to other researchers, but for direct use in the classroom. In other words, teachers across the country will have access to a substantial collection of authentic student writing, one that they can use to guide the grammatical development of their own students, and so help them be the best writers that they can be.
Of course, there’s still a lot to unpack in what we’ve just said, and future posts will focus on doing just that; but for the moment, we’ll leave it here. More soon(ish).
Suppose we take the validity of all this for granted. The problem remains that there simply isn’t all that much evidence available to support an accurate picture of grammatical development in writing; let alone an educationally productive one. This isn’t, of course, to claim that there is no such evidence, with contemporary research yielding substantive insights into the grammatical underpinnings of student writing (e.g. Berman & Verhoeven 2002; Christie & Derewianka, 2008). Indeed, our prior ESRC-funded study of student writing has already provided a better understanding of these underpinnings (Myhill 2008; 2009). In other words, there is little doubt that writing development has a grammatical basis; we just need a much more comprehensive understanding of exactly what this basis entails. To what extent, for example, do the grammatical features used differ according to the age of the student or the quality of writing? Moreover, to what exent do these features differ according to the specific kinds of writing expected of students?
This is where our project comes in. Specifically, we’re putting together a large collection of student writing, drawn from schools across England and designed to encompass the range of writing produced by students aged 5-16. As such, our collection will not only comprise texts produced in English classes, it will also include writing drawn from both the Science and the Humanities classroom. Once complete, we’ll undertake a comprehensive grammatical analysis of this writing, aiming to provide a clearer picture of what grammatical development in writing looks like. Moreover, once we’re done with this analysis, we’ll also make the collection itself available; not just to other researchers, but for direct use in the classroom. In other words, teachers across the country will have access to a substantial collection of authentic student writing, one that they can use to guide the grammatical development of their own students, and so help them be the best writers that they can be.
Of course, there’s still a lot to unpack in what we’ve just said, and future posts will focus on doing just that; but for the moment, we’ll leave it here. More soon(ish).
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