Teachers' Perspectives on Teaching and Learning Grammar Suzannah Ferguson Broke Hall Community Primary School, Ipswich suzannah@linguist.org.uk CLiE, Institute of Education 19 May 2017

Y3 class teacher, in my first year of teaching. Degree from UCL in Linguistics, 2001. MSc from City, University of London in Advanced Practice in Health and Social Care (Speech, Language and Communication), 2015. PGCE from University of Suffolk, 2016. School-based teacher training route. Prior to teaching, 12 years freelance editorial/proofreading, and 4 years working with children with learning disabilities. Much of my own grammar learning (prior to degree) in Latin and MFL rather than in English at school.

My school A three-form entry local authority (ie not academy) state funded primary school in Ipswich. Approximately 670 children, Reception to Year 6. A low percentage of EAL children (57 in September 2016, < 10%). SATs at end of Years 2 and 6, inclusive of SPaG, in line with UK national curriculum and assessment expectations. Internal assessments for all other year groups, inclusive of SPaG, termly or half-termly.

My ITT route – grammar training School-based route with one ‘college’ day per week during the academic year 2015–16. One of these college days included grammar (SPaG) training. Introduced rather negatively – ‘We have to include this as it’s on the curriculum and you’ll teach it – just bear with us!’ Taught well – thorough coverage of national curriculum and good practical examples of how to apply within the classroom.

1. What are the challenges you and your teams face in teaching grammar in general (and to EAL students in particular)? Because we are three-form entry, planning at our school is shared. We set for English and I teach a parallel (lower) group – some of the children in my group have difficulty with concept of ‘sentence’... Grammar tends to be taught as an ‘add-on’ to English lessons, sometimes during lesson starters, although we have had a SPaG focus in Year 3 this week. Introduce – demonstrate – identify – apply (in a fun way!). Greater (different) focus in Years 2 and 6. Some children attend boosters for various aspects of their learning, including SPaG. LSAs deliver these boosters, which tend to be more heavily spelling-based.

Teaching

Assessment

EAL I have three EAL children in my class group and four in my English set. Most of the EAL children I teach have very good spoken English. They all tend to have trouble spotting and applying tense accurately, however, and two of them don’t seem to be able to ‘see’ plurals. One came to the school in September with very little English. Her grasp of French grammar was sound and she is making great progress in English now. My approach to teaching her has been to let her absorb as much as possible. In the beginning I encouraged her to write in French to allow her to get ideas down and to assess her ability. This was helpful – she now writes in English. I do not teach MFL so am unable to make direct links between English grammar and MFL for students during lesson time.

2. Is there an issue in parents’ attitude towards and lack of understanding of grammar? Parents (and many teachers) are not confident with technical vocabulary as it was not a part of their education in many cases. They are often unsure of how to help their children. Many don’t see the relevance to everyday learning. Consolidation of concepts often not carried through in homework. Comments such as ‘I was never any good at that’ (also very popular attitude towards maths) not helpful for children. Many parents would like to be able to help children, however – generally a supportive network at our school.

3. How could universities support you and your teams in dealing with the challenges you face in all these areas? Teachers I spoke to unsure of how to answer this question! Many teachers no longer have any links with universities. ITT providers not all university based. ITT providers – universities and otherwise – have a responsibility to deliver good subject knowledge (or enable trainees to access this) as part of teacher training. This includes positive attitude towards the subject. Primary teachers especially need to pick up a lot of subject knowledge as we go along – SPaG seen as difficult because of the volume of technical terminology so this does need to be a strong ITT focus. Perhaps offer CPD/workshops (to subject leads) to develop confidence in subject knowledge – subject leads then impart to colleagues.