The relationship between knowledge about language and writing skills in secondary education: A cross-sectional perspective
Submitted by:
Jenni Marjokorpi
Abstract:
Previous studies (e.g. Myhill, Jones, Lines & Watson 2012, Collins & Norris 2017) have indicated that students’ writing skills benefit from contextualized grammar teaching, in which language structures are observed and analyzed in authentic texts and as embedded into teaching of reading and writing. This kind of approach is also promoted by the current Finnish National Core Curriculum for Basic Education (NCC 2016). However, in the classroom level in different countries, many teachers still seem to be doubtful and unconfident about teaching grammar for writing (e.g. Myhill 2018, Rättyä 2017). Therefore, further research evidence about this connection is needed.
This study sets out to investigate the statistical relationship between grammatical understanding and writing skills, as well as to describe the possible benefits of grammar for writing through a qualitative analysis of student texts. The data are derived from a large cross-sectional assessment of L1 learning achievement in Finnish year 9 students (N = 6,044), originally collected by the Finnish Education Evaluation Centre. The assessment evaluates the students’ reading and writing skills and knowledge about language at the end of basic education. In this study, the data are analyzed from the viewpoint of grammatical or metalinguistic understanding and its relationship with writing argumentative and reflective texts.
Linear regression analyses indicate that grammatical understanding is a significant predictor of writing skills even when other important factors are controlled. The students who know more about language tend to write longer words, which suggests that they have a more developed vocabulary and a higher ability to use inflected and derived words as well as suffixes. On the other hand, they tend to produce shorter sentences. The qualitative analysis of student texts suggests that weaker writers sometimes “lose control” (Myhill 2008) of syntactic structures, which stretches the sentences. Grammatical understanding, in contrast, is related to a better ability to frame sentences and to create textual rhythm.
The study concludes that learning grammar seems to develop the students’ metalinguistic understanding which, in turn, helps them to analyze and control their language use, and thus produce better texts.
Keywords: grammar, writing, metalinguistic understanding, first language, secondary education
Collins, G., & Norris, J. (2017). Written language performance following embedded grammar instruction. Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts 56:3, 16–30.
Myhill, D. (2008). Towards a Linguistic Model of Sentence Development in Writing. Language and education 22:5, 271–288.
Myhill, D., Jones, S., Lines, H., & Watson, A. (2012). Re-thinking grammar: The impact of embedded grammar teaching on students’ writing and students’ metalinguistic understanding. Research Papers in Education 27:2, 139–166.
NCC (2016) = Finnish National Board of Education. National Core Curriculum for Basic Education 2014. Publications 2016(5). Helsinki: FNBE.
Rättyä, K. (2017). Kielitiedon didaktiikkaa. Kielentäminen ja visualisointi sanaluokkien ja lauseenjäsenten opetusmenetelmänä. University of Helsinki.