tag:theconversation.com,2011:/uk/topics/teaching-grammar-13229/articlesTeaching grammar – The Conversation2021-08-10T20:12:32Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1653102021-08-10T20:12:32Z2021-08-10T20:12:32Z5 ways to teach the link between grammar and imagination for better creative writing<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414751/original/file-20210805-27-5yx5hx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4892%2C3267&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/kids-writing-notes-classroom-535799062">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Fiction authors are pretty good at writing sentences with striking images, worded just the right way. </p>
<p>We might suppose the images are striking because the author has a striking imagination. But the words seem just right because the author also has a large repertoire of grammar.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/writing-needs-to-be-taught-and-practised-australian-schools-are-dropping-the-focus-too-early-148104">Writing needs to be taught and practised. Australian schools are dropping the focus too early</a>
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<p>As writing teachers, we often neglect one of these skills in favour of the other. If we inspire students to <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/nataliewexler/2021/01/31/the-puzzling-gap-in-research-on-writing-instruction/?sh=3a2777fc6aa5">write creatively at length</a> but don’t teach them how to use the <a href="https://theconversation.com/4-ways-to-teach-youre-sic-kids-about-grammar-so-they-actually-care-144353">necessary grammatical structures</a>, they struggle to phrase their ideas well. If we teach students about grammar in isolation, <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/260021418_A_Meta-Analysis_of_Writing_Instruction_for_Students_in_the_Elementary_Grades">they tend not to apply it to their stories</a>.</p>
<p>But <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02671522.2016.1106694?journalCode=rred20">research shows</a> it’s possible to teach grammar as a way to strengthen students’ writing. </p>
<p>My research with year 5 students examined one method of teaching grammar for writing. We can teach students how to imagine the scene they are creating, and then teach them which grammatical features help <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/lit.12242">turn their imagination into text</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/4-ways-to-teach-youre-sic-kids-about-grammar-so-they-actually-care-144353">4 ways to teach you're (sic) kids about grammar so they actually care</a>
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<p>I found five effective ways to teach the link between imagination and grammar.</p>
<h2>1. Set up the imaginative tripod</h2>
<p>Most of the stories students brought to me lacked a clear sense of perspective. I taught students to imagine their scene like a film director – they had to decide exactly where their camera tripod should be set up to film their scene. Placing it above, close, far away from or beside the character creates different images and effects. </p>
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<img alt="Director and camera crew on film set" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414754/original/file-20210805-15-1y1bl8t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414754/original/file-20210805-15-1y1bl8t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414754/original/file-20210805-15-1y1bl8t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414754/original/file-20210805-15-1y1bl8t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414754/original/file-20210805-15-1y1bl8t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414754/original/file-20210805-15-1y1bl8t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414754/original/file-20210805-15-1y1bl8t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Just like a movie director decides the position of their camera to film a scene, students’ language choices create a perspective to tell their story.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/on-big-film-studio-professional-crew-1793697901">Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>Then I showed them how careful use of adverbs, verbs and prepositions creates this perspective in writing.</p>
<p>This is done in Philip Pullman’s novel, <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=2h9rBgAAQBAJ&pg=PT7&lpg=PT7&dq=%22The+only+light+in+here+came+from+the+fireplace%22+%22Northern+Lights%22&source=bl&ots=NWXUlesP-V&sig=ACfU3U3DbKJMzzFFvpFk-qE898Bfr0_ghA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiTw8fUjZnyAhWg7XMBHd_MB9IQ6AF6BAgLEAM#v=onepage&q=%22The%20only%20light%20in%20here%20came%20from%20the%20fireplace%22%20&f=false">Northern Lights</a>, to place you right beside the character in the room.</p>
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<p>“The only light in <strong>here came from</strong> the fireplace”</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-does-grammar-matter-150920">Why does grammar matter?</a>
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<h2>2. Zoom in on the details</h2>
<p>Young writers often need help adding detail to their stories. A film director might zoom right in on a character’s hand pulling the trigger on a gun to intensify the action of shooting. A writer does the same. I taught students to imagine significant details up close, which helped them select specific nouns to place in the subject position of the sentence.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/Aquila/XqIK53V305wC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22As+his+feet+searched+for+a+foothold%22+%22Aquila%22&pg=PT11&printsec=frontcover">Aquila</a>, by Andrew Norriss, specific nouns of body parts are the actors in the sentence.</p>
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<p>“As his <strong>feet searched</strong> for a foothold, his <strong>fingers gripped</strong> the grass.”</p>
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<h2>3. Track the movement</h2>
<p>It is common for students to write about movement in rather static terms, such as “she ran home”. In a film, a director might choose to follow the movement by panning the camera, using a dolly, or filming multiple shots to allow us to experience the full path of movement.</p>
<p>I taught students to imagine watching the movement in their stories through a series of windows – first, second, third – and choose which parts they wanted to include. This helped them choose which verbs and prepositional phrases to use.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/The_Lord_of_the_Rings/yl4dILkcqm4C?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Bill+the+pony+gave+a+wild+neigh+of+fear&pg=PT289&printsec=frontcover">The Fellowship of the Ring</a>, by J.R.R. Tolkien, we watch Bill the pony galloping off through three windows, each with a prepositional phrase.</p>
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<p>“Bill the pony gave a wild neigh of fear, and turned tail and <strong>dashed away along the lakeside into the darkness</strong>.”</p>
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<img alt="Horse running in paddock" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414760/original/file-20210805-19-15gp6ir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414760/original/file-20210805-19-15gp6ir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414760/original/file-20210805-19-15gp6ir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414760/original/file-20210805-19-15gp6ir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414760/original/file-20210805-19-15gp6ir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414760/original/file-20210805-19-15gp6ir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414760/original/file-20210805-19-15gp6ir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Verbs and prepositions convey the movement that brings a sentence to life.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/dark-icelandic-horse-running-on-paddock-1772756837">Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>I also taught students to describe how much space an object takes up using the same movement grammar, such as <em>stretched along</em> and <em>rose from</em>.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://readfreeonlinenovel.com/book/The-Graveyard-Book/i-o">The Graveyard Book</a>, by Neil Gaiman, we pan across the perimeter of the cemetery.</p>
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<p>“Spike-topped iron railings <strong>ran around</strong> part of the cemetery, a high brick wall <strong>around</strong> the rest of it.”</p>
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<h2>4. Focus the attention</h2>
<p>When we read a novel, there is always something standing out in our attention: a thing, a description, a feeling, an action. I taught students to think about which part of their scene stands out in their mind, and then use “attention-seeking” grammar to focus on it. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/to-succeed-in-an-ai-world-students-must-learn-the-human-traits-of-writing-152321">To succeed in an AI world, students must learn the human traits of writing</a>
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<p>One way to make things stand out is to use grammar that deviates from conventional use, like placing adjectives after nouns. Another way is to use repeated grammatical structures.</p>
<p>In Tolkien’s <a href="http://thefreebooksonline.net/classics/u5689_59.html">The Return of the King</a> we get both of these at the same time to contrast the physical states of the orc and Sam.</p>
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<p>“But the orc was in its own haunts, <strong>nimble and well-fed</strong>. Sam was a stranger, <strong>hungry and weary</strong>.”</p>
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<h2>5. Convey the energy of action</h2>
<p>Many of the students wanted to create action scenes in their stories, which they did using the previous strategies. However, they lacked the energy felt in an action-packed novel. I showed them a sentence like this one from <a href="https://booksvooks.com/fullbook/the-blackthorn-key-pdf-kevin-sands.html?page=46">The Blackthorn Key</a> by Kevin Sands.</p>
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<p>“A musket ball <strong>tore at my hair</strong> as <strong>it punched into the window frame</strong> behind me, <strong>sending out a shower of splinters</strong>.”</p>
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<p>The students could see how energy transfers across the clauses, like dominoes, from noun to noun. In this case, the energy starts with the <em>musket ball</em>, and transfers to <em>hair</em>, <em>window frame</em> and finally <em>the shower of splinters</em>, carried by the action verbs.</p>
<p>I asked the students to imagine how a chain of action might appear in their stories and select the appropriate nouns and verbs to do the job.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/165310/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brett Healey does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It isn’t a matter of choosing between teaching grammar or teaching students to use their imagination in their writing. In fact, it makes sense to show them how grammar can enhance their creativity.Brett Healey, PhD Student, School of Education, Curtin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1256032019-10-22T12:36:52Z2019-10-22T12:36:52ZMichael Gove’s grammar: former education minister is gonna rue the day he used Nonstandard English<p>Tensions are running high. The battle for Brexit is reaching its climax. The need for government ministers to sound decisive and determined is tantamount. So why does government minister Michael Gove suddenly sound like he’s <a href="https://twitter.com/BBCPolitics/status/1184796948617781248">speaking in someone else’s voice</a>?</p>
<p>In a recent interview with BBC Politics Live, the host Andrew Neil asked Michael Gove what the government would do if Labour succeeded in getting a referendum amendment attached to the deal. Gove’s answer was short and blunt: “That ain’t gonna happen … There ain’t gonna be no second referendum.” </p>
<p>Gove’s answer used two grammatical constructions of <a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-nonstandard-english-1691438">Nonstandard English</a> (any structured variety of English which differs from <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/003368828101200201">Standard English</a>): “ain’t” (instead of Standard English “isn’t”) and a construction referred to as a double negative (or as an instance of multiple negation, or <a href="https://www.jbe-platform.com/content/journals/10.1075/eww.38.2.02pal">negative concord</a>). Double negatives use two negative elements in a sentence instead of one (compare: “There ain’t gonna be no second referendum” with “There isn’t going to be a second referendum”). </p>
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<p>These constructions are regularly and systematically used in <a href="https://www.lexico.com/en/explore/standard-and-non-standard-dialects">Nonstandard dialects</a> (that is to say, <a href="https://www.tes.com/news/talkin-proper-standard-english-snobbery-schools">there are grammatical rules</a> about when and where they can be used in the varieties that use them – they aren’t just “mistakes”). But they never appear in Standard English – the variety of English that most closely describes how Gove would normally speak.</p>
<h2>Going a bit ‘street’</h2>
<p>So why does Gove use them? Nonstandard negative constructions are most often found in the speech of people with working-class backgrounds, so their <a href="http://all-about-linguistics.group.shef.ac.uk/branches-of-linguistics/sociolinguistics/research-in-sociolinguistics/jenny-cheshire/">use is often linked</a> to the social characteristics associated with working-class people. Depending on who you are (and what you think about working-class people), rightly or wrongly, this can include characteristics such as “straight-talking” and “resilient”. </p>
<p>We also know that repetition in English can be associated with emphasis. So the use of two negative elements, instead of one, might also help to intensify the strength of what is being communicated. </p>
<p>In this way, Gove’s use of nonstandard negative constructions might communicate his attempt to portray himself as “straight-talking” and “resilient”. It also aims to stress his commitment to what he is saying – to emphasise his belief that there will be no second referendum. Of course, whether or not we read that in his message depends upon what we believe about Gove and precisely what we, as individuals, infer when we hear instances of nonstandard negation.</p>
<p>The fact that Gove doesn’t normally speak like this contributes to how we interpret what he’s saying. So, we might understand that he’s trying to sound “tough” but we might read this as disingenuous or fake, because he doesn’t sound like himself.</p>
<h2>Keeping up standards</h2>
<p>What has all of this got to do with the National Curriculum? Well, in 2014, a new National Curriculum in English in England was introduced. It was designed and launched by Gove as education minister. The new National Curriculum for English placed increased emphasis on the importance of children using Standard English – not just in writing, but also “in a range of formal and informal contexts of speech”. </p>
<p>While everyone expects Standard English to be the norm in writing, it is not the norm in speech for the majority of English children (or, indeed, adults). Many of us use the nonstandard features of our local dialect all of the time when we are speaking, but we often interchange them with features of Standard English.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298106/original/file-20191022-28088-1lzvpv9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298106/original/file-20191022-28088-1lzvpv9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298106/original/file-20191022-28088-1lzvpv9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298106/original/file-20191022-28088-1lzvpv9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298106/original/file-20191022-28088-1lzvpv9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298106/original/file-20191022-28088-1lzvpv9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298106/original/file-20191022-28088-1lzvpv9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The National Curriculum discourages all use of Nonstandard English.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Undrey via Shutterstock</span></span>
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<p>In many cases, this is not because we don’t know how to speak in Standard English, but because using our local variety signals the many positive associations we have to our local area. It can also help us to communicate more nuanced messages about the content of what we say – that we are being “emphatic”, “determined” or “tough” when we use an instance of nonstandard negation. </p>
<p>In this way, nonstandard grammatical items can be very useful because they allow us to communicate our feelings or stances concisely. Saying: “I ain’t done nothing” is a quick way to say: “I haven’t done anything, I’m strongly telling you this, and I don’t agree with what you have said.” How people use Nonstandard English in this way shows us how useful it can be. </p>
<p>Gove’s <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curriculum-in-england-english-programmes-of-study">National Curriculum</a> policy suggests that Nonstandard English is never useful because Standard English “<a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/244216/English_Glossary.pdf">covers most registers</a>”. This has led to criticisms that schools are teaching grammar as <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02671522.2011.637640">inflexible and fixed</a>: there are right and wrong ways to use language – and Standard English is always the right way. But as Gove himself has shown, sometimes Nonstandard English can be <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/saying-no-to-gizit-is-plain-prejudice-8488358.html">the right way to speak</a> – it communicates a message quickly, efficiently and directly, and it does so better than a Standard English “equivalent” might.</p>
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<p>This doesn’t mean that Nonstandard English is appropriate in formal writing (or that we shouldn’t be teaching children to write in Standard English) but it does suggest that attempts to remove Nonstandard English from speech will not necessarily result in more efficient, interesting and effective communication. </p>
<p>In this way, Gove’s use of nonstandard negative constructions in speech not only exposes the flexibility of grammatical variation and its rich social meaning potentials, it also exposes the flaws in his National Curriculum policy. In two small statements about Brexit, Gove has been hoisted by his own petard.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/125603/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emma Moore receives funding from the British Academy. She is a British Academy Mid-Career Fellow. </span></em></p>The former journalist raised eyebrows recently when he lapsed into Nonstandard English which is frowned upon in his National Curriculum.Emma Moore, Professor of Sociolinguistics, University of SheffieldLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/702082016-12-12T19:01:25Z2016-12-12T19:01:25ZNAPLAN results reveal little change in literacy and numeracy performance – here are some key takeaway findings<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149613/original/image-20161212-31405-9nr607.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">On average year 3 girls perform higher than boys in reading, writing, grammar and punctuation, and spelling. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="http://www.nap.edu.au/results-and-reports/national-reports">national report</a> on National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) outcomes has been released today, showing the test results of Australian students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9. </p>
<p>The report outlines student achievement in reading, numeracy, spelling, and grammar and punctuation, and shows performance has stagnated.</p>
<p>Around 95% percent of students are included in NAPLAN results, meaning they provide a reasonable guide to how well Australian students are learning core skills.</p>
<p>Other than Year 9 writing, over the last few years, overall Australian achievement has flatlined – it hasn’t gone backwards but nor has it improved. </p>
<p>Here is a breakdown of the findings for each year group that’s assessed:</p>
<h2>Year 3</h2>
<p>Student performance in Year 3 reading and spelling, grammar and punctuation has improved since 2008. </p>
<p>Boys are on average doing better than girls in numeracy, but girls on average do better in reading, writing, grammar and punctuation, and spelling. </p>
<p>Since 2008, reading scores in Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Victoria, Queensland, and West Australia have improved. </p>
<h2>Year 5</h2>
<p>Student performance in reading and numeracy is significantly better in 2016 than it was in 2008. Average reading scores rose from 484.4 in 2008 to 501.5 in 2016. Numeracy scores rose from 475.9 in 2008 to 493.1 in 2016.</p>
<p>Reading scores in Tasmania, Victoria, West Australia and Queensland improved between 2008 and 2016. Girls on average scored higher than boys in writing, spelling, and grammar and punctuation, but not in reading.</p>
<h2>Year 7</h2>
<p>Overall, there has been little change in any area for Year 7 students since 2008. Girls on average scored higher than boys in some of the literacy domains.</p>
<h2>Year 9</h2>
<p>Numeracy and reading achievement has remained the same for Year 9 students since 2008. </p>
<p>Writing achievement has decreased since 2011, however, there have been changes in the genre examined over this time – from narrative writing to persuasive writing – so this may be influencing the results. From 2016 the genre returned to narrative writing. </p>
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<h2>Students from non-English speaking backgrounds:</h2>
<p>In a number of cases the achievement of students from non-English speaking backgrounds tends to have a bigger spread than that of students whose parents’ first language is English. Our strongest students from non-English speaking backgrounds are doing very well, but there is a long achievement tail. </p>
<h2>Indigenous students</h2>
<p>Indigenous students are still achieving well below non-Indigenous students. </p>
<p>Over the past 9 years, there has been some improvement for Indigenous students in Years 3 and 5 in reading, and in Year 5 numeracy. But as with the national data, the improvements appeared in the first few years of NAPLAN and there has not been much progress recently. </p>
<h2>Impact of parents’ education</h2>
<p>Student achievement analysed by their parents’ education and employment makes familiar reading. </p>
<p>The report shows that the higher the parents’ levels of qualifications, and the higher their level of employment, the better their children do in school. </p>
<p>In most cases, the biggest gap is between the achievement of students whose parents completed Year 12, and those whose parents finished school in Year 11. </p>
<h2>Does location make a difference?</h2>
<p>On average, students based at schools in major cities perform the best. This is followed by those in inner regional locations, then outer regional locations. In remote and very remote areas, average achievement is lowest. </p>
<p>These results tell us that as a country we are not doing particularly well at neutralising the effects of disadvantage, whether this is through location or as reflected in levels of parental education and occupation. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/pisa-results-dont-look-good-but-before-we-panic-lets-look-at-what-we-can-learn-from-the-latest-test-69470">recent PISA</a> results already showed us that Australian education does not do well on equity compared to similar countries like Canada. </p>
<p>Our school systems are not good at reducing the influence of students’ home backgrounds on their achievement. We need to try harder here. </p>
<p>This is likely to require a range of government actions that include a more equitable school funding regime, quality targeted teacher professional learning, and actions to <a href="http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/education/low-performing-students/a-policy-framework-for-tackling-low-student-performance_9789264250246-9-en">reduce the class divisions</a> that riddle our education systems. </p>
<h2>What doesn’t it tell us?</h2>
<p>While the report tells us a lot about the impact of broad factors such as student background, it can’t provide information on what is happening at a school level, or the reasons behind the general lack of improvement over the last few years.</p>
<p>Establishing why student achievement has flatlined is a complex business and is not covered by the data collected or the analyses.</p>
<h2>Where to?</h2>
<p>There are two important responses to the report that governments can take. </p>
<p>First, we could apply what we know is likely to improve student achievement across the board: supporting quality teacher professional learning based on our knowledge about improving student learning from the work of people like <a href="http://visible-learning.org/hattie-ranking-influences-effect-sizes-learning-achievement/">education expert John Hattie</a>.</p>
<p>Second, we can and must do more to reduce the impact students’ home backgrounds has on their achievement. </p>
<p>A funding system that <a href="https://theconversation.com/does-more-money-for-schools-improve-educational-outcomes-57656">targets funding much more strongly</a> to high-needs students and schools is important.</p>
<p><a href="http://intranet.niacc.edu/pres_copy%281%29/ILC/Does%20Segregation%20Still%20Matter%20-The%20Impact%20of%20Student%20Composition%20on%20Academic%20Achievement%20in%20High%20School.pdf">Research shows</a> that individual student background has an impact on achievement, but so does the mix of students in a school. Australia’s education system has become <a href="http://research.acer.edu.au/aje/vol54/iss1/6/">increasingly stratified</a>.</p>
<p>So policies promoting a mix of student backgrounds in our schools, for example, by requiring that all schools enrol a percentage of students from more disadvantaged backgrounds to receive funding, would be another place to start.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/70208/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Suzanne Rice receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p>The latest round of NAPLAN results show Australia’s school systems are not good at reducing the influence of a student’s background on their academic achievement.Suzanne Rice, Senior Lecturer, Education Policy and Leadership, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/576062016-05-06T10:02:19Z2016-05-06T10:02:19ZThe grammar police belong in the 18th century – let’s not inflict their rules on today’s children<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/121040/original/image-20160503-19847-d9uba2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Hard for primary school children – what about you?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">TungCheung/www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Parents and teachers in England are angry about a <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/2016-key-stage-2-english-grammar-punctuation-and-spelling-sample-test-materials-mark-scheme-and-test-administration-instructions">spelling, punctuation and grammar test</a> that school children must sit at the end of primary school. First introduced in 2013, all 11-year-olds at local-authority-maintained schools will take the test on May 10. This year the difficulty level has increased significantly, in line with the new national curriculum, leading to <a href="https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/122038">calls for all key stage tests to be cancelled</a>. </p>
<p>In an interview on <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b078y2fy#play">BBC Radio 4’s The World At One on May 3</a>, schools minister Nick Gibb answered a typical question from the test incorrectly. He was presented with the sentence: “I went to the cinema after I’d eaten my dinner.” Asked whether the word “after” in the sentence was a subordinating conjunction or a preposition, Gibb said preposition. According to the terminology used in the tests this is the wrong answer, although the British-American linguist Geoff Pullum has argued that this terminology is based on an “<a href="http://chronicle.com/blogs/linguafranca/2015/11/08/prepositions-as-conjunctions-whales-as-fish/">ancient but incorrect analysis</a>”. </p>
<p>There are many aspects of the debate around these tests, and the wider culture of testing they are a part of, but a significant issue remains the purpose of learning grammar. </p>
<p>Grammar as a subject is distinct from the spelling and punctuation that it sits alongside in the test. Spelling and punctuation are artificial functions of the written language and can only be acquired explicitly. Grammar, by contrast, is an innate part of natural language which children acquire from birth – although the Standard English required for formal writing may differ in key aspects from their naturally acquired English.</p>
<p>At its best, learning about grammar is the process of enabling children to understand the structures of English. This <a href="https://ore.exeter.ac.uk/repository/handle/10871/16506">can help them to improve their own writing</a> in a range of styles, and provides a foundation from which they can understand how the grammars of other languages differ from their own. At its worst, learning about grammar is about acquiring abstract terminology and <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-grammar-pedants-and-fashion-victims-have-in-common-55248">a set of nit-picking</a> (and occasionally outdated or simply invented) rules about “correct” grammar. This can result in children losing all interest in their own language, as well as any faith in their own ability to write well. </p>
<p>These two poles of grammar teaching – the “descriptive” (learning to describe structure) and the “prescriptive” (learning a set of prescriptions about language) – have been evident in the teaching of grammar from the outset.</p>
<p>The government’s own aims are sometimes nakedly prescriptive. The fact that “children will be expected to understand how to use the subjunctive” was trumpeted as a key feature of the higher standards in English introduced when the revised <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-primary-curriculum-to-bring-higher-standards-in-english-maths-and-science">National Curriculum</a> was announced in 2012. This decision makes little sense given that the use of the subjunctive is <a href="https://grammarianism.wordpress.com/2015/05/21/does-english-have-a-subjunctive/">rapidly dropping out of even the most formal English</a>. </p>
<h2>Grammar obsessions</h2>
<p>Before the 18th century, English grammar was rarely taught explicitly. If you learned grammar, you learned it via grammars of other languages, most notably Latin. The original purpose of grammar schools, first set up during the medieval period, was to teach Latin.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/121037/original/image-20160503-19828-12yivg5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/121037/original/image-20160503-19828-12yivg5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=579&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/121037/original/image-20160503-19828-12yivg5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=579&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/121037/original/image-20160503-19828-12yivg5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=579&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/121037/original/image-20160503-19828-12yivg5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=728&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/121037/original/image-20160503-19828-12yivg5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=728&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/121037/original/image-20160503-19828-12yivg5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=728&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Grammar obsessive: Robert Lowth.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ARobertLowthBishop.jpg">Engraving by LE Pine</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The 18th century saw an explosion in the publication of books about English grammar. The most influential grammarian of his day was Robert Lowth, whose 1762 <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=tqgifS7RsAkC&redir_esc=y">Short Introduction to English Grammar</a> went through over 40 editions before 1800. Lowth has often been held responsible for all later prescriptive rules, including the split infinitive. As <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/The_Bishop_s_Grammar.html?id=n5_fQaPvXGYC&redir_esc=y">Ingrid Tieken Boon van Ostade</a> has shown, however, Lowth’s prescriptivism is less evident than has generally been assumed. He certainly had nothing to say about the split infinitive.</p>
<p>Still, the success of Lowth’s Grammar prompted others to emulate him and brought about a surge of linguistic consciousness quite unlike anything before. Grammar books became one of the publishing phenomena of the day. The result was a circular process. </p>
<p>The idea that incorrect grammar was a terrible social stigma meant that there was a lucrative market for self-improving grammar books. <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=sPXpnvI44gwC&dq=ian+michael+teaching+of+english&source=gbs_navlinks_s">Many authors</a> hastened to supply this market by writing grammar books, which reinforced the idea that bad grammar was a terrible social stigma. Along the way, many new “rules” were formulated by grammarians keen to fill their pages, and there was a proliferation of exercises in bad grammar designed to test students’ mastery of these rules.</p>
<h2>What the Romans didn’t</h2>
<p>In his preface, Lowth writes that: “The principal design of a grammar of any language is to teach us to express ourselves with propriety in that language.” This line of reasoning led one of his imitators, <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=tfVeAAAAcAAJ&dq=william+milns+the+well+bred+scholar&source=gbs_navlinks_s">William Milns</a>, to make claims such as: “<em>Latiné loqui</em>, the speaking of correct Latin was an accomplishment which even the natives of ancient Rome could not attain but by long and assiduous study.” </p>
<p>No linguist today believes that Roman school children had to be drilled in <em>amo, amas, amat</em> in order to speak their native language fluently. Yet, pressures towards a prescriptive teaching of grammar remain, particularly in the context of the new nationally administered test. </p>
<p>The need to reduce grammar to something that can easily be tested through multiple choice questions gives the impression that grammar is a subject for which there are always simple right and wrong answers. It also confuses the ability to understand language structure with the ability to obey arbitrary, prescriptive rules.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/57606/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jane Hodson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>New, harder tests for primary school children have raised questions about the purpose of learning grammar.Jane Hodson, Senior Lecturer in English Language and Literature, University of SheffieldLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/358602015-01-08T14:48:15Z2015-01-08T14:48:15ZMe, myself or I? Why it’s hard to use pronouns in the right way<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/68412/original/image-20150107-2005-1bd388r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Who? Me?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-220223047/stock-photo-closeup-portrait-surprised-child-boy-getting-unexpected-attention-from-people-asking-you-talking-to.html?src=ekwCF5DI1KguL4cb9qUcLA-1-32">Confused child via PathDoc/shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Everyone knows that in the sentence “Jane is washing her”, the pronoun
“her” cannot refer back to Jane. Over the last four decades, researchers have established that adults reject the interpretation of Jane and her being the same person. But until they are about six-years-old, English-speaking children sometimes accept that interpretation. They accept that “Jane is washing her” can mean the same as “Jane is washing herself.” </p>
<p>In other words, English children are often not accurate with the interpretation of pronouns, even though they actively use them. You can pay attention to the children around you to see whether you can detect this error.</p>
<p>These kinds of mistakes are also made by adults learning English and new research we’re currently working on explains how this happens and how it could be used to help language teachers stamp these errors out.</p>
<h2>Kids get it wrong</h2>
<p>An example from a <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1207/s15327817la0103_2#.VKz30XveIZ8">famous 1990 study</a> shows how children get the distinction wrong. In the picture below, we see Mama bear touching her own shoulder. The experimenter says: “This is Mama Bear. This is Goldilocks. Is Mama Bear touching her?” The reasoning is that, if the children have the same grammatical knowledge as adults, they should know that “her” must refer to Goldilocks, so they should answer “no”. If they answer “yes,” it means they allow “her” to refer to Mama Bear. </p>
<p>The researchers, Yu-Chin Chien and Kenneth Wexler, found that five to six-year-old children get it wrong about half (51%) of the time. It’s as good as chance, or as another researcher, the late language expert <a href="http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/interface-strategies">Tanya Reinhart surmised</a>: they are guessing. </p>
<p>Even more counter-intuitively, children are actually better at understanding questions such as “is every bear touching her”, where there is more than one bear – as in the picture below. When presented with this picture, children got it wrong only 16% of the time.</p>
<h2>Too much going on at once</h2>
<p>It’s truly puzzling why children are better at understanding more complex sentences than simpler ones. The answer lies in linguistic theory. <a href="http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/interface-strategies">Reinhart</a> proposed that children have as good a chance of getting it right than wrong, just because it is a very complex task.</p>
<p>In evaluating the meaning of pronouns, children make use of something called “accidental co-reference”, typically used by adults too. To understand this, imagine the following scene from the film <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2053463/">Side Effects</a>. When explaining an accident suffered by one of her patients a psychiatrist, played by Catherine Zeta-Jones, says: “The patient blamed me. The patient’s husband blamed me. Even I blamed me.” </p>
<p>Adults understand that, under these very special conditions, “me” can refer back to the subject of the sentence: “I”. But children consider this very limited interpretation as a regular one, and juggle it together with the usual way of interpreting pronouns, to see which one fits the situation. </p>
<p>Evaluating two linguistic derivations at the same time is very taxing for children: it exhausts their limited processing resources. So they metaphorically throw up their hands in the air and resort to guessing. </p>
<h2>Are reduced pronouns easier?</h2>
<p>A <a href="http://www.bu.edu/bucld/files/2013/07/2012-handbook-web-version.pdf">2012 study</a> by researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Jeremy Hartman, Yasutada Sudo, and Ken Wexler, went further and evaluated children’s understanding of full pronouns (“Cow labeled him”) versus reduced English pronouns (as in “Cow labeled ’m”). Their prediction was that children would be much more accurate with the reduced pronouns than the full ones because reduced pronouns do not allow the accidental coreference interpretation. </p>
<p>They found that the children they surveyed, who had an average age of five, produced 52% adult-like responses when presented with the full pronouns, but 80% adult-like responses with the reduced pronouns. In other words, the reduced pronouns were easier to understand.</p>
<h2>Extending this to language learners</h2>
<p>In <a href="http://www.bu.edu/bucld/conference-info/schedule/">our own forthcoming research</a>, my colleague Lydia White and I have extended this to second language learners – French and Spanish speakers who are learning English. Our study involved two identical experiments, in which a story was presented to the participants on a computer screen in written and aural form. They heard a test sentence such as “Harry sprayed’m” in experiment one and “Harry sprayed him” in experiment two. </p>
<p>Participants had to judge whether a test sentence – such as Harry sprayed’m – was true or false with respect to the context. We also tested whether the number of people referenced in the sentence made a difference: they were asked if every boy sprayed him, or just one person (Harry) did, as in Chien and Wexler’s experiment above. We predicted that the complex referent (every boy) would actually turn out to be easier, because it doesn’t allow them to make accidental co-reference.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/68343/original/image-20150107-1974-n7ujxr.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/68343/original/image-20150107-1974-n7ujxr.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/68343/original/image-20150107-1974-n7ujxr.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68343/original/image-20150107-1974-n7ujxr.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68343/original/image-20150107-1974-n7ujxr.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68343/original/image-20150107-1974-n7ujxr.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=607&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68343/original/image-20150107-1974-n7ujxr.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=607&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68343/original/image-20150107-1974-n7ujxr.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=607&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Accuracy on full pronouns for people with different levels of English.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As the graph above illustrates, those learners with an intermediate level of English were more accurate when it came to the more complex test sentences referring to more than one person (the green line), compared to simpler ones with just one (the purple line). Our language learners were also more accurate with reduced pronouns versus full pronouns. </p>
<h2>It gets easier</h2>
<p>This means that non-advanced learners of English may have trouble interpreting English pronouns, even though they have similar pronouns in their native language. This is because processing difficulties, similar to those experienced by English children, are implicated in their interpretation of pronouns. But the good news is that they can be overcome with increased language proficiency, as the advanced learners’ behaviour indicates – the right hand points on the graph. </p>
<p>There is an important implication for language teaching here: teachers should be aware that pronouns are difficult words to interpret, and should give their students ample time and practice with them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/35860/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Roumyana Slabakova receives funding from AHRC.</span></em></p>Everyone knows that in the sentence “Jane is washing her”, the pronoun “her” cannot refer back to Jane. Over the last four decades, researchers have established that adults reject the interpretation of…Roumyana Slabakova, Chair of Applied Linguistics, University of SouthamptonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/343252014-12-03T06:13:28Z2014-12-03T06:13:28ZExplainer: how are learning languages and music linked?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/66058/original/image-20141202-20560-8kohma.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Will learning sax make you better at French?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/bestrated1/356212189/in/photolist-xtFtt-37EXJa-2a7RpE-omE89P-dJJveq-u1PhD-83MEgV-aNgPqz-cTUUUQ-KuaYM-8vuJut-HeC7X-7Zg3Ki-aECtAL-agehhR-8MbpVX-aokDRn-cCcHWf-caFqV1-9CR1u-6q5nex-9hFkiB-cox4sG-adE4EQ-rWTLa-7Zg3gx-f4vscn-9hFn3R-oKTPTS-oexA9p-5wmBuM-b7EQ1a-sMv4i-6q9vmf-7wUP3-7w2TnU-A8rTn-asyc4d-eSMSmD-oC2M1g-ckzCG9-gb5L3e-fAusH-agyN3p-phPje4-6iC4B8-7Zjemo-4yakPs-3bKrn6-i8eHQA">Creativity+ Timothy K Hamilton</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Music is what penetrates most deeply into the recesses of the soul, according to Plato. Language has been held by thinkers from Locke to Leibniz and Mill to Chomsky as a mirror or a window to the mind. As American psychologist <a href="http://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Music_Language_and_the_Brain.html?id=EkItxyZqNecC">Aniruddh Pattel </a> writes:
“Language and music define us as humans”.</p>
<p>The two are facets of a single cognitive system. Under the brain’s hood there is a simple computational operation, taking basic elements like words or simple sounds, combining them in a step-by-step manner and producing a larger structured object such as a flowing sentence or a melodious musical phrase.</p>
<p>This is all just in the mind, but needs to happen before language is “externalised” as speech or writing and music is expressed through performance or by the simple act of tapping your foot to a rhythm. </p>
<p>But there are further questions to ask about the relationship between music and language, such as whether musical education and expertise influence our way with language or if it makes us better learners of a second or third language. On the other side, it would be great to know if fluency in more than one language makes it easier for us to learn an instrument. And if people who are bilingual, trilingual or quadrilingual listen to music in a different way. </p>
<h2>Benefits of bilingualism</h2>
<p>Several studies have shown that both bilingualism and musical training and practice appear to protect people against the onset of dementia and other cognitive decline in later life. As Canadian psychologists <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0012735">Ellen Bialystok and Anne-Marie DePape pointed out</a> in a 2009 article, the mechanisms responsible for these effects are rather poorly understood, more so in music than in language. But they do point at some interesting possibilities. </p>
<p>Several of the studies reviewed in a <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3221315/">2011 paper</a> by Finnish music and education researcher Riia Milovanov and her colleagues, showed that mastery of more than one language as well as mastery of music involves higher levels of executive control. These are the mechanisms responsible for overall management of cognitive resources and processes – including attention shifts, working memory, reasoning, and switching between tasks. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/66061/original/image-20141202-20598-yre9yp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/66061/original/image-20141202-20598-yre9yp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=705&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66061/original/image-20141202-20598-yre9yp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=705&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66061/original/image-20141202-20598-yre9yp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=705&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66061/original/image-20141202-20598-yre9yp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=886&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66061/original/image-20141202-20598-yre9yp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=886&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66061/original/image-20141202-20598-yre9yp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=886&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Less daunting if you play piano?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&language=en&ref_site=photo&search_source=search_form&version=llv1&anyorall=all&safesearch=1&use_local_boost=1&search_tracking_id=6qAoNR2MEeRrbN2_waK2NQ&searchterm=learn%20mandarin&show_color_wheel=1&orient=&commercial_ok=&media_type=images&search_cat=&searchtermx=&photographer_name=&people_gender=&people_age=&people_ethnicity=&people_number=&color=&page=1&inline=222109120">Foreign languages via f9photos/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>Other studies reviewed in the same article showed that musical training correlates with better language-learning skills. Learners with a musical background were found to be better at pronouncing the sounds of a second language and at perceiving the relevant contrasts between sounds in that new language. </p>
<h2>Close connections</h2>
<p>Research has mostly concentrated on the benefits of musical knowledge for pronunciation and the perception of linguistic sounds. In a series of studies, Milovanov and her colleagues found that in Finnish-speaking children and adults, <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18182165">musical aptitude correlates significantly</a> with better pronunciation skills in English. This may be because neural resources and pathways are partly shared between language and music and that people with higher musical ability and training use the right hemisphere of their brain (traditionally music’s domain) more for processing of linguistic sounds. </p>
<p>There is <a href="http://psych.colorado.edu/%7Ekimlab/zatorre.etal.tics2002.pdf">some evidence</a> showing lateralisation of speech and music – meaning that music and language are processed in different brain hemispheres, with the left one for language and the right one for music. But conversely, American psychologist Diana Deutsch has shown there is <a href="http://dianadeutsch.ucsd.edu/pdf/JASA-2006_119_719-722.pdf">a significant connection</a> between speaking Mandarin, Vietnamese or any other tone language and possessing perfect or absolute pitch. This points again to a close connection between music and speech. </p>
<h2>Rhythm and the brain</h2>
<p>But speech is only one way that language is expressed. In a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lO692qHDNg&feature=youtu.be">more recent study, American researcher Reyna Gordon and her collaborators</a> found that children’s perception of rhythm also has a significant influence on their use of different morphological and syntactic features, such as the use of verbs in the past tense.</p>
<p>Earlier studies <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17720685">have compared brain responses to sentences</a> ending with “incongruous” words, such as a singular noun where a plural one would have been expected: “John played with all three child”, and musical sequences with incongruous chords. Researchers found that the brain responses showed significant interactions, strongly suggesting that linguistic and musical syntax overlap in the brain.</p>
<p>There is <a href="http://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Music_Language_and_the_Brain.html?id=EkItxyZqNecC">mounting evidence </a>that linguistic and musical processing engages similar cognitive resources. Coupled with the formal similarities, there seems to be strong evidence that a significant part of what is called Universal Grammar (the initial state of the innate language faculty), also underlies the music faculty. The strongest and boldest hypothesis is that, apart from their basic building blocks, language and music are in fact identical.</p>
<p>Given what is known about brain plasticity and changes in synaptic and neural pathways as a response to practising something <a href="http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnins.2013.00279/abstract">throughout a person’s lifetime</a>, it’s not surprising that the greater use of language will show up in musical ability and vice versa.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/34325/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>George Tsoulas does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Music is what penetrates most deeply into the recesses of the soul, according to Plato. Language has been held by thinkers from Locke to Leibniz and Mill to Chomsky as a mirror or a window to the mind…George Tsoulas, Senior Lecturer, Department of Language and Linguistic Science, University of YorkLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/328572014-10-29T23:36:45Z2014-10-29T23:36:45ZCould you make your story more…interesting? Six ways to improve children’s writing<figure class="align-center zoomable">
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<p>We know a good piece of writing when we read it. But what makes the writing “good” and how can we teach <em>all</em> our kids the skills that seem to come naturally to a few. </p>
<p>Here are six principles teachers and parents can follow to improve their children’s writing.</p>
<h2>1. Good writing takes time</h2>
<p>Of all the many criticisms of national standardised testing regimes, the least discussed, and least educationally defensible, is the time limit we place on writing tasks. Unless you are a journalist, why would writing a story in under an hour be a criterion for successful writing? </p>
<p>Writing takes time. You need to think a lot. Who is in your story, what will happen and why? Where will it begin and how will it end?</p>
<p>Give students time. Don’t tap on the desk asking “Is that all you have written? Look at Emma - she has written two pages”. This simply tells kids that writing is about filling a quota - not carefully and artfully communicating ideas and knowledge.</p>
<p>If your kids haven’t written much, they are either thinking, or you have set them a task with no purpose or plan, or they have literacy struggles which won’t be solved by being told to get on with it.</p>
<h2>2. Learn to love grammar</h2>
<p>Grammar isn’t the thing you <em>correct</em> at the end of the writing process. Grammar is what you <em>teach</em> during the writing process. Our kids need teachers not copy editors.</p>
<p>Here are three levels of grammatical understanding that can help frame the way you think about grammar and its use in writing. </p>
<p><strong>Naming</strong></p>
<p>You can name parts of speech. But, in and of itself, this is “so what” knowledge. So what if your child can circle the adjective or underline the noun in the sentence. How will that make them a better writer?</p>
<p><strong>Function</strong></p>
<p>You can describe the grammatical function of parts of speech e.g. “Adjectives describe”. This is more useful knowledge because at least you know why you might want to use them in your writing. </p>
<p>However, just using lots of “describing words” doesn’t make good writing. If in doubt, read the story of any amazing, awesome, wicked, super clever, deadly laser beam shooting 10 year old. </p>
<p>It is not the size of your adjectives that counts - it’s what you do with them.</p>
<p><strong>Intention</strong></p>
<p>The third level of grammatical knowledge is the most useful - intention. This means choosing your words and organising your sentences with your story’s purpose and audience in mind. </p>
<p>Which is the right word to help tell your story, describe your character or evoke your setting? It might be “gargantuan,” but it could be “big”. It could be “verdant,” but it might be “green”. The right word isn’t always long, exotic or only found by searching a thesaurus - the right word is the one your story needs.</p>
<p>My observation of grammar teaching in schools - when it happens - is that it sits resolutely at the “so what” level of <strong>naming</strong>, occasionally reaches the “meh” level of <strong>function</strong> and very rarely hits the “wow, that makes a difference” level of <strong>intention</strong>.</p>
<h2>3. Teach language in context</h2>
<p>Take down your wall charts of interesting adjectives, unusual nouns and exciting verbs. These lists are misleading and pointless. </p>
<p>Words on a list are just words. The labels “adjective”, “verb”, “noun” describe the function of a word when it is in a sentence. For example, “deep” can be an adverb, adjective or noun depending upon its function in a sentence - deep in the bush, a deep dark well, or down in the deep. </p>
<p>Great authors choose their words with intention - and not because their editor wants them to use “interesting adjectives”.</p>
<h2>4. Write for a reason and make research a part of writing</h2>
<p>It’s hard to choose your words with intention when your writing has no purpose. Don’t tell kids to “write a story”. Have a reason for writing, and an audience who will read it.</p>
<p>It’s also hard to write about things you don’t know anything about. </p>
<p>Last year, my son did the national standardised NAPLAN test. The writing task was to write about a hero, and he wrote about me. I was flattered until he explained I wasn’t his first choice - he didn’t have enough information about other potential heroes stored inside his head to write a convincing persuasive piece. I was just someone he had quite a deal of biographical information about, so he wrote about me. </p>
<p>I was a little deflated but I saw his point.</p>
<h2>5. Ditch the drafts</h2>
<p>To write with purpose and intention you need a plan. </p>
<p>But kids won’t write drafts - as much as you you might like them to. Authors write drafts - because they are professionals with ambition and time on their hands. </p>
<p>Let kids plan in other ways - act out their story, draw their story, and tell their story to other people. Each time they “tell” their story in these ways they will refine it. When the listener is confused about where the dragon suddenly appeared from, they will think through the explanation. When they act out the plot, they will be inspired to refine it. When they draw their story they will be prompted to add more relevant detail.</p>
<h2>6. Read great books</h2>
<p>The very best way to write well is to look at good models of writing. Teach kids how language works by looking at it doing its work in its natural habitat - exemplary writing. </p>
<p>If you want your children to write well - read great books to them, and give them great books to read.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/32857/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
We know a good piece of writing when we read it. But what makes the writing “good” and how can we teach all our kids the skills that seem to come naturally to a few. Here are six principles teachers and…Misty Adoniou, Senior Lecturer in Language, Literacy and TESL, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.