This article explores the use of Bourdieusian analysis for examining how policy and practice interact in the teaching of English and therefore in the development of children's language and literacy, in particular how. Bourdieusian analysis uncovers the ways in which teachers' practice has been influenced unconsciously by centralised…

The place of grammar within the teaching of writing has long been contested and successive research studies have indicated no correlation between grammar teaching and writing attainment. However, a recent study has shown a significant positive impact on writing outcomes when the grammar input is intrinsically linked to the demands of the writing…

In recent years, literacy educators have increasingly recognised the importance of addressing a broader range of texts in the classroom. This article raises some critical concerns about a particular approach to this issue that has been widely promoted in recent years-- the concept of "multimodality". Multimodality theory offers a broadly…

Evidence suggests (Ofsted, 2007) that the role of the Subject Leader is crucial in how well poetry is taught in schools. This paper attempts to provide some insights on "what it is like" to coordinate poetry teaching in a primary school. Some of the data confirm elements of the findings from earlier research on the state of poetry in schools,…

This paper documents an evaluation of children's written responses to a story telling package used in an intervention project set up by the National Association for the Teaching of English as part of the larger "Inspire Rotherham" literacy campaign. The brief was to provide a group of primary teachers with innovative and inspirational approaches…

This paper reports the findings of a study of the literacy perceptions and practices of general primary teachers (Key Stage 2) and post-primary science teachers (Key Stage 3) within two clusters of schools. The study also explores the possible impact on pupils of any difference in the language climate which may accompany them on their journey…

This article begins by identifying that children have a spontaneous predilection for playing with language, engaging in poetic discourse even before their first poetry lesson. Although children's language play is relatively unresearched in the classroom, in a case study of two groups of pupils aged between 10 and 11, it was observed that children…

This paper presents a pedagogical intervention project conducted in secondary English classrooms in Singapore, entitled "Building Communities of Readers among Teachers." The project is positioned against the dominant instrumentalism of Singaporean approaches to creativity and promotes a socio-cultural stance to creativity and criticality in…

This paper reports a small-scale study of wider reading at Key Stage 3 in current English classrooms in secondary schools in the south of England. Six English teachers, three of whom were relatively new to teaching, were interviewed on what they thought about wider reading. The findings indicate that because of a lack of time and absence of demand…

One hundred and eighty British secondary school pupils aged 11-12 and their six trainee teachers in five schools participated in an action research project, designed to improve the quality of children's group talk in English lessons, particularly their engagement in higher-order thinking through "exploratory" talk. The programme, supported by the…

This paper explores the relationship between student teachers' behaviour and their underlying thoughts and beliefs as they learn to teach English in the primary school. It draws on data from a study involving student teachers at a range of points in their Initial Teacher Education programmes at a university in England. It uses these data to…