Creating a learning culture: Making it work in the classroom - NALDIC

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Writingsection 2Research carried out by Lynne Cameron and published by the DfES in 2004, together with earlierOfsted research carried out by the same author, provides insights into those aspects of writingwhere additional focused teaching may be needed for children learning EAL.Scripts from the 2003 National Curriculum end-of-Key Stage 2 tests for writing (a narrative anda radio advertisement) were analysed using an integrated framework for writing that examinedboth the text as a whole, in terms of overall control and use of the genre, and language use at thelevels of sentence, clause, phrase and word.In many ways the writing of children learning EAL at Key Stage 2 was more fluent and accuratethan the writing seen at Key Stage 4 in the earlier research. These differences were attributed tothe positive effects of the National Literacy Strategy.The best EAL writers employed grammar, vocabulary, direct speech, rhetorical features andpunctuation with flexibility and adaptability to create strong writing (QCA assessment focus:composition and effect). Narrative writing employed figurative language though this was usuallyanimal metaphors and similes.EAL learners handled adaptation to a variety of genres less confidently than their peers whospoke English as a first language (QCA assessment focus: text structure and organisation). Certaingrammatical features were also handled less confidently, e.g. subject–verb agreement, verb tenses,modal verbs and adverbials. The EAL writing contained more errors in the use of determiners,prepositions, phrasal verbs and idiomatic phrases (QCA assessment focus: sentence structure andpunctuation).Early writingLike all children, bilingual children will have learned a great deal aboutprint and about purposes for writing in their communities. Emergentwriters use their prior knowledge to construct initial hypotheses aboutwriting during the emergent stage. Early attempts to produce letterforms by children with experience of alphabetic systems other thanEnglish may produce shapes which reflect these systems. Bilingualchildren may have experience of a different directional flow ororientation on the page. They may come from communities where theseparate skill of handwriting or calligraphy is valued over the process ofcommunicative writing. It is important that practice during theFoundation Stage respects and builds upon this existing knowledge.48Excellence and Enjoyment: learning and teaching for bilingual children in the primary yearsUnit 2: Creating the learning culture: making it work in the classroomPrimary National Strategy | 2133-2006DCL-EN | © Crown copyright 2006
Graphic areas should include examples of writing in different scripts,different conventions and for purposes which reflect the cultures of thechildren in the settings. Bilingual children benefit from the opportunityto notice, compare and discuss differences as well as similarities.At a later stage young bilingual learners should be encouraged toproduce phonemic approximations of words from their first languageincluding of course their own name and the names of other membersof their family.Young children who are learning English as an additional languageneed plenty of opportunities to listen to and orally rehearse thepatterns of written English. They need real purposes for writing whichreflect their ethnic, social, cultural and religious background.section 2Writing at text levelAt the level of the whole text, the concept of genre provides a usefultool to help us recognise and describe how language is used to achieveparticular purposes in a range of situations. Each genre has an overallpattern or shape which is related to its purpose. Children need to gaincontrol over those genres which are required for writing across thecurriculum and for active participation in the world beyond school.To support them to do this, teachers need to make explicit the waysin which language is shaped and framed to achieve different purposes.Cohesion in textsAlthough different text types or genres are organised in differentways according to their purpose they share certain common features.The writing is divided into paragraphs which deal with separate topics.Usually each paragraph contains a sentence which can be identifiedas the main sentence or topic sentence. It often summarises whatfollows in the rest of the paragraph. The theme determines the waythe information in each paragraph unfolds.These are some of the features writers use to make their texts coherentand cohesive:• maintain tense consistency;• consistent use of person – first, second or third person,or impersonal;• use of appropriate connectives;• ‘referring back’:Primary National Strategy | 2133-2006DCL-EN | © Crown copyright 2006Excellence and Enjoyment: learning and teaching for bilingual children in the primary yearsUnit 2: Creating the learning culture: making it work in the classroom 49
Page 1 and 2: GuidanceCurriculum andStandardsExce
Page 3: Excellence and Enjoyment:learning a
Page 6 and 7: General introductionThis is Unit 2
Page 8 and 9: Making contexts supportive for chil
Page 10 and 11: Section 1section 1Making contextssu
Page 12 and 13: Activating prior knowledgesection 1
Page 14 and 15: section 1Bilingual strategies build
Page 16 and 17: Bilingual strategiesBilingual strat
Page 18 and 19: section 1after lessonsDiscussion in
Page 20 and 21: Scaffolding languageand learningsec
Page 22 and 23: section 1The magnet onthe bottom is
Page 24 and 25: • generate talk and powerfully su
Page 26 and 27: section 1• Specific teaching of t
Page 28 and 29: section 1The print environmentThe e
Page 30 and 31: Introductionsection 2Reading and wr
Page 32 and 33: section 2Nevertheless, words must b
Page 34 and 35: section 2This framework is represen
Page 36 and 37: section 2As a result of direct inst
Page 38 and 39: What is reading comprehension?Compr
Page 40 and 41: • Texts which reflect children’
Page 42 and 43: TheteachingsequenceWithin the liter
Page 44 and 45: section 2• access to explicit mod
Page 46 and 47: section 2ICT for EALIt is the respo
Page 48 and 49: Constructing images as a strategy t

Creating a learning culture: Making it work in the classroom - NALDIC

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