Tuesday 21 May 2013

Mild Diatribe Number Two

This actually links to MD Number One, which didn't exactly generate a large amount of page views - not that I was surprised [!] - but for those who are interested you might like to check out this short video of Professor Debra Myhill from Exeter University talking about her work into providing materials which teach grammar within writing contexts, the point I was making in my post.

I would be intrigued to explore the work done with Poetry. I baulked initially at this idea, but the reality is that grammatical features matter considerably in Poetry as with any other kind of writing. For me, however, I would want students/young writers to be fully engaged creatively and at ease with writing before they were moved on to specific aspects of grammar.

As I write, there is one comment on the YouTube page where this video is linked, and it does raise an interesting caveat relating to consequences when grammatical accuracy is being tested, presumably discretely in envisaged national testing regimes. I don't believe that Debra Myhill's research is being undertaken to fuel preparations for any testing, and the very fact its premise is that grammar teaching has to take place within a writing context precludes any discrete meddling of any kind.

No comments:

Post a Comment