ENLISHGeoff Barton

Friday, April 21, 2023

www.geoffbarton.co.ukwww.geoffbarton.co.uk

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• Where have we come from?

• Where are we now?

• Where are we going?

Barton: ENLISH

Barton: ENLISH

“The past is another country:they do things differently there”

LP Hartley

“Never such innocence again”

Philip Larkin

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Barton: ENLISH

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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

Barton: ENLISH

Barton: ENLISH

For each of the following write a sentence containing the word or clause indicated:

a) That used as a subordinating conjunctionb) That used as a relative pronounc) An adjective used in the comparative degreed) A pronoun used as a direct objecte) An adverbial clause of concessionf) A noun clause in appositiong) A collective noun

JMB O-level English Language, 1967

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Barton: ENLISH

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Autonomy

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Disempowerment

16+16+

NCNC

CourseworkCoursework

GCSEGCSE

FrameworkFramework

Performance tablesPerformance tables

• 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.

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 teaching…partly 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.

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.

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.

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.

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 children’s 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

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.

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.

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.

• 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.

• S&L has a big role in writing - it allows students to rehearse ideas and structures and builds confidence.

• But S&L 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.

What we know about Writing …

With thanks to Professor Richard Andrews, University of York

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• 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

What we know about vocabulary …

With thanks to DES Research Unit

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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. Don’t get much chance for oral rehearsal, guided writing, precise feedback

S&L: don’t see it as a key tool in thinking and writing

Targets: set low-level targets; overstate functional skills; infrequently review progress

What we know about students who make slow progress …

With thanks to DfES

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Background: concerns from employers about GCSE. Key skills effective but not mainstream.

Intention: students won’t be able to get A*-C without mastering level 2 functional elements. Could be standalone qualification. Won’t be solely multi-choice.

Currently: being trialled. Watch this space.

What we know about functional skills …

With thanks to DfES

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• 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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PLUS …

Where are we going?

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Barton: ENLISH

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1. Reclaim S&L as integral to good learning

2. Rethink assessment around A4L principles

3. Recognise centrality of joined-up cross-curricular thinking

4. “It’s the teachers, stupid”

5. Be more intolerant of mediocrity

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OPPORTUNITIES FOR ENGLISH…

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English Teacher

Petite, white-haired Miss CartwrightKnew Shakespeare off by heart,Or so we pupils thought.Once in the stalls at the Old VicShe 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 said:‘How good to spend a night with Shelley.’

In long war years she fed us plays,Sophocles to Shaw’s St Joan.Her reading nights we named our Courting Club,Yet always through the blacked-out streetsOne 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 marriedWas killed at Passchendaele.

Brian CoxFrom Collected Poems, Carcanet Press 1993.

English Teacher

Petite, white-haired Miss CartwrightKnew Shakespeare off by heart,Or so we pupils thought.Once in the stalls at the Old VicShe 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 said:‘How good to spend a night with Shelley.’

In long war years she fed us plays,Sophocles to Shaw’s St Joan.Her reading nights we named our Courting Club,Yet always through the blacked-out streetsOne 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 marriedWas killed at Passchendaele.

Brian CoxFrom Collected Poems, Carcanet Press 1993.

And finally …

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The new multi-media course by Geoff Barton

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