Research Matters

Discussion and conclusions
This study has looked in close detail at the features of writing of a small sample of UK students
in a high-stakes examination, and compared the results to those seen at various points in the
past.
The study is, in some respects, limited. Purists would undoubtedly argue that the samples of
writing across the years should be garnered from the same stimulus task, and in an ideal world,
this would be so. However, Aspects of Writing is all about taking a corpus of material from a
real-life context.We can be confident that the conditions under which the candidates
produced their work are unchanged; during an invigilated, high-stakes examination, where
students know that the accuracy of the features of writing investigated is important. It is also
the case that the cohort of students changed with each phase of the study.Whilst broadly
similar (UK students, from a representative breakdown of examination centres, of a similar
age) the life experiences and scholastic environments of the cohorts are different.The advent
of electronic media for much everyday writing, with its concomitant reliance on automatic
checking and correction against conventions of writing, make the world of the 16-year old in
2014 very different from their counterparts in 1980. Language, too, has changed, as have
conventions in speaking and writing.To some extent we break one of the fundamental rules of
measuring change, by attempting to investigate something which is inexorably changing with
time in any case.This is why it is better to regard Aspects of Writing as a monitor of the
prevailing behaviours.
The method we have used complements other sources of information about written language
features of school leavers, such as surveys of employers and HE institutions.The Aspects of
Writing studies look at evidence of writing at age 16 atomistically, whereas other
commentators base their judgements on a more holistic perception of writing attainment in
HE or the workplace.
Three of the four coders engaged for the study had coded for us in 2007.Whilst laborious and
time-consuming, the coders reported finding the work very interesting. In general, (with the
notable exception of the subordination codings) the coders were confident in their approach.
Importantly the coders were open with the research team about issues as they arose, enabling
an effective collaborative approach to the data collection.
The 2014 study has highlighted a number of changes over time:
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It is noteworthy that, in the case of the highest attaining students, the proportion of scripts
judged to contain very sophisticated vocabulary in 2014 increased considerably compared
to 2007. However, this proportion did not reach the levels recorded in 2004.
The range of ‘other’ punctuation marks (i.e., not stops, commas or apostrophes) used had
increased amongst higher attaining students and decreased sharply amongst the lowest
attainers.
There is a tentative indication of generally improved usage of commas.There were fewer
comma splices at most levels of attainment compared to 2004 and slightly fewer omitted
commas.The incidence of correct use of commas had increased at the highest levels of
attainment compared to 2004.
46 | RESEARCH MATTERS – SPECIAL ISSUE 4: Aspects of Writing 1980–2014