School of Education

About me:

My interests are in the teaching and research of language and literacy. I am the former Director of the Centre for Research in Writing and my commitment is to the bringing together of teaching, teacher education and research so that children and young people's experience of learning to be literate enables them to be confident, articulate citizens of the future, able to use language and literature for personal fulfilment and economic well-being.


Interests:

My research interests are principally in the field of language and literacy, with a particular focus upon the teaching of writing; gender and literacy; and talk. My research is conducted collaboratively with colleagues and we have been interested in exploring all aspects of writing and becoming a writer, including:

  • the role of grammar in the teaching and learning of writing, with a focus on functionally-oriented grammar making links between language and meaning;
  • children's metalinguistic understanding of writing and making language choices;
  • the role of talk in supporting metalinguistic understanding about writing;
  • composing processes in writing - children, young people and adults' understanding and management of the writing process;
  • teachers and children as writers.

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