Session Information
31 SES 11 A, Instructing Grammar
Paper Session
Contribution
Our presentation will present findings from a nationwide study on grammar instruction in lower secondary education in Denmark. The study investigates grammar instruction in seven schools across Denmark in three subjects where language is a core element of the subject knowledge. The study aims at understanding how grammar instruction is practiced and how teachers and students perceive the role of grammar in three central language subjects (hence the project’s name Gramma3): Danish as L1 and English and German as foreign languages. Even if it is a national project in Denmark, the project is relevant in a European perspective since foreign language teaching in Denmark is based on The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (Council of Europe 2001).
Grammar instruction has generally been characterized as ineffective (Graham & Perin; Graham & Herbert) for raising literacy competencies in L1, and studies also show weak outcomes, when students’ knowledge about language is measured (Funke 2018). However, more functional approaches are more successful for improving students’ L1 writing (Myhill et al. 2012). From foreign language teaching we know that a balance between form and content is needed. This is known as a “focus on form” (Long in Doughty & Williams 1998) rather than “focus on forms” (traditional grammar teaching) or ”focus on meaning” (no attention to form).
The project finds its point of departure in a rather broad conceptualization of the notion “grammar instruction”. We wish to investigate grammar instruction both when it takes the shape of decontextualized, explicit grammar instruction when focusing on language as a set of rules and norms, but also when grammar instruction finds more functional or meaning-oriented forms. The traditional form of grammar instruction is often linked to the study of spelling, morphology and syntax. A meaning-oriented form of grammar instruction can include the study of grammar as a resource for communication and hence it also focuses on contextual factors involved in e.g. writing (Myhill et al. 2012; Myhill 2018). In this study we are interested in understanding the different levels and aspects of language made subject to teaching, hence, we find inspiration in the notion of multilevel-grammatics from Macken-Horarik et al. (2015).
The research questions:
Grammar instruction in school is considered a key tool in developing students’ literacy and communicative competencies, but we have only little research knowledge about how grammar instruction is practiced in the subjects where language is a core element of the subject knowledge, hence our research questions:
How is grammar instruction practiced in the three main language subjects (Danish as L1 and English and German as foreign languages) in lower secondary education in Denmark?
Two central sub-questions are:
How is grammar instruction perceived by teachers and students?
Why is the grammar instruction practiced the way it is?
Method
The study was designed by using the methodological framework from focused ethnography (Knoblauch 2005), as we are interested in capturing and describing what grammar instruction looks like and how students and teachers perceive it. Our main data source is field observations collected through an on-purpose developed observation guide, but also students’ texts, learning materials and other relevant artefacts from classrooms were collected. Data consists of coded observations from a total of approx. 260 lessons, from seven different Danish schools. Teachers involved and student focus groups (two from each of the seven participating schools) were interviewed retrospectively and interviews were transcribed and coded. Observations were coded, applying an on-purpose developed coding manual, which had undergone extensive validation prior to coding and analysis.
Expected Outcomes
This study aims at providing new knowledge about how teaching is practiced, perceived and can be developed on both subject-specific pedagogical levels and in terms of the theoretical linguistic foundations underpinning the instructional practice. Because the study is designed as a cross-subject study, it also provides new knowledge about cooperating learning communities, and it allows us to investigate, what grammar instruction looks like when compared across school subjects. Since foreign language teaching in Denmark is based on the CEFR levels, the results are also relevant at a European level. Our presentation will include overall characteristics of grammar instruction in the studied schools and classrooms, and we will include close descriptions of selected, typical activities. These will stem from different subjects and show what grammar instruction looks like, both when grammar is taught through decontextualized and explicit activities and when in included in other activities, where grammar is not in the foreground.
References
Council of Europe (2001) The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: https://www.coe.int/en/web/common-european-framework-reference-languages/level-descriptions Doughty, Catherine & Jessica Williams (eds) (1998), Focus on Form in Classroom Second Language Acquisition, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press Funke, R. (2018) Working on grammar at school: Empirical research from German-speaking regions. L1 Educational Studies in Language and Literature, pp- 1-39. Graham, S., & Hebert, M. (2010). Writing to read: Evidence for how writing can improve reading. A carnegie corporation time to act report. Washington, DC: Alliance for Excellent Education. Graham, S., & Perin, D. (2007). Writing next: Effective strategies to improve writing of adolescents in middle and high schools – A report to Carnegie Corporation of New York. Washington, DC: Alliance for Excellent Education. Knoblauch, H. (2005). Focused ethnography. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung, 6(3). https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107415324.004 Macken-Horarik, M., Sandiford, C., Love, K., & Unsworth, L. (2015). New ways of working 'with grammar in mind' in school english: Insights from systemic functional grammatics. Linguistics and Education, 31, 145-158. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.2016/j.linged.2015.07.004 Myhill, D., Jones, S., Lines, H., & Watson, A. (2012). Re-thinking grammar: The impact of embedded grammar teaching on students writing and students' metalinguistic understanding. Research Papers in Education, 27, 139-166. doi:10.1080/02671522.2011.637640 Myhill, D. (2018). Grammar as a meaning-making resource for improving writing. Contribution to a special issue Working on Grammar at School in L1-Education: Empirical Research across Linguistic Regions. L1-Educational Studies in Language and Literature, 18, pp. 1-21. https://doi.org/10.17239/L1ESLL-2018.18.04.04
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