Publications by category
Books
Myhill D (eds)(2020).
Developing Writers Across the Primary and Secondary Years Growing into Writing. London, Routledge.
Abstract:
Developing Writers Across the Primary and Secondary Years Growing into Writing
Abstract.
Banerjee P (eds)(2019).
Transitions from Vocational Qualifications to Higher Education: Examining Inequalities. UK, Emerald Publishing Limited.
Abstract:
Transitions from Vocational Qualifications to Higher Education: Examining Inequalities.
Abstract.
Myhill D, Jones, Watson, Line (2016).
Essential Primary Grammar.Abstract:
Essential Primary Grammar
Abstract.
Cremin T, Myhill D (2013). Writing Voices, Creating Communities of Writers.
Cremin TC, Myhill DA (2011). Writing Voices: Creating Communities of Writers. London, Routledge.
Fisher R, Jones S, Larkin S, Myhill D (2010). Using Talk to Support Writing. London, Sage.
Beard, R. Myhill DA, Riley, J. (2009). Handbook of Writing Development. London, Sage Publications.
Beard R, Myhill DA, Riley J, Nystrand M (2009). The SAGE Handbook of Writing Development. London.
Myhill DA, Jones S, Hopper R (2005). Talking, Listening, Learning. Effective Talk in the Primary Classroom., Open University Press.
Myhill, D.A. (2002). Consultant Editor for. Eames, K, Taylor, K and Trelawney-Ross, D. Writing: Steps to Success Levels 3-4+. London, Hodder and Stoughton.
Myhill, D.A. (2002). Consultant Editor for. Eames, K, Taylor, K and Trelawney-Ross, D. Writing: Steps to Success Levels 4-5+. London, Hodder and Stoughton.
Myhill, D.A. (2002). Consultant Editor for. Eames, K, Taylor, K and Trelawney-Ross, D. Writing: Steps to Success Levels 5-6+. London, Hodder and Stoughton.
Myhill, D.A. (2001). Better Writers. Westley, Courseware Publications.
Journal articles
Myhill D, Ahmed A, Rezk L (2023). Engaging with readers: Students’ metalinguistic understanding of the use of pronouns in building reader-writer relationships.
Linguistics and EducationAbstract:
Engaging with readers: Students’ metalinguistic understanding of the use of pronouns in building reader-writer relationships
Students’ metalinguistic understanding of the written academic argument is important both to increase writer independence and inform writing instruction. This article draws on a study which investigated undergraduate students’ metalinguistic understanding of the metadiscourse features in their own written arguments. The specific focus of the paper is to determine what metalinguistic understanding students express about the use of pronouns in written argument as engagement or stance markers to build a relationship with the reader. The analysis indicates many students believed the use of reader pronouns were inappropriate in written argument, often because this was what they had been taught. Students’ metalinguistic understanding was shaped more by notions of formality and objectivity than by understanding of how pronouns play a role in reader engagement. The article argues that greater emphasis on the function of pronouns rather than the form, drawing on metadiscourse theory, and on generating metalinguistic understanding of the differing ways that pronouns function in written argument might better support writers in agentic linguistic decision-making.
Abstract.
Myhill D, Ahmed A, Abdollazadeh E (2023). Going meta: Bringing together an understanding of metadiscourse with students' metalinguistic understanding. Language Teaching, 56(1), 146-148.
Myhill D (2022). Jimmy Van Rijt: UNDERSTANDING GRAMMAR THE IMPACT OF LINGUISTIC METACONCEPTS ON L1 GRAMMAR EDUCATION. Applied Linguistics, 44(1), 169-171.
van Rijt J, Myhill D, De Maeyer S, Coppen P-A (2022). Linguistic metaconcepts can improve grammatical understanding in L1 education evidence from a Dutch quasi-experimental study.
PLOS ONE,
17(2), e0263123-e0263123.
Abstract:
Linguistic metaconcepts can improve grammatical understanding in L1 education evidence from a Dutch quasi-experimental study
This mixed-method quasi-experimental study examined whether metaconceptual grammar teaching impacts on (a) students’ L1 grammatical understanding, (b) their ‘blind’ use of grammatical concepts and (c) their preference of using explicit grammatical concepts over everyday concepts in explaining grammatical problems. Previous research, involving single group pre-postintervention designs, found positive effects for metaconceptual interventions on secondary school students’ grammatical reasoning ability, although a negative side effect seemed to be that some students started using grammatical concepts ‘blindly’ (i.e. in an inaccurate way). While there are thus important clues that metaconceptual grammar teaching may lead to increased grammatical understanding, there is a great need for more robust empirical research. The current study, involving 196 Dutch 14-year old pre-university students, is a methodological improvement of previous work, adopting a switching replications design. Bayesian multivariate analyses indicate medium to large effects from the metaconceptual intervention on students’ grammatical understanding. The study found a similar effect of the intervention on students’ ability to use explicit grammatical concepts over everyday concepts in tackling grammatical problems. No evidence for increased ‘blind’ concept use as a negative byproduct of the intervention was found. Additional qualitative analyses of in-intervention tasks provided further evidence for the effectiveness of metaconceptual interventions, and seemed to indicate that cases of blind concept use, rather than being a negative side effect, might actually be part of a gradual process of students’ growing understanding of grammatical (meta)concepts. We discuss these findings in relation to previous work and conclude that linguistic metaconcepts can improve L1 grammatical understanding.
Abstract.
Ryan M, Khosronejad M, Barton G, Myhill D, Kervin L (2022). Reflexive writing dialogues: Elementary students’ perceptions and performances as writers during classroom experiences.
Assessing Writing,
51Abstract:
Reflexive writing dialogues: Elementary students’ perceptions and performances as writers during classroom experiences
The ways in which we approach the process of writing can tell us much about our confidence, linguistic and textual knowledge, and our desire to please self or others through language. School writing often focuses on the process and product of writing, rather than the conditions that shape how we make decisions when writing for an authentic purpose and audience. This paper uses reflexivity theory, including an innovative Reflexive Writing Instrument (RWI), along with critical discourse analysis, to interrogate elementary students’ decisions-making modes in writing and how these align with teachers’ views, classroom experiences and writing outcomes. Findings show that students can have different perceptions than their teachers about their approach to writing, but the conditions that teachers enable can influence students’ decision-making modes. We argue that the RWI can be used to prompt reflexive writing dialogues so that formative assessment can be nuanced to support individual students’ reflexive writing modes, ensuring improved results and enjoyment of writing.
Abstract.
Ryan M, Khosronejad M, Barton G, Kervin L, Myhill D (2021). A Reflexive Approach to Teaching Writing: Enablements and Constraints in Primary School Classrooms.
Written Communication,
38(3), 417-446.
Abstract:
A Reflexive Approach to Teaching Writing: Enablements and Constraints in Primary School Classrooms
Writing requires a high level of nuanced decision-making related to language, purpose, audience, and medium. Writing teachers thus need a deep understanding of language, process, and pedagogy, and of the interface between them. This article draws on reflexivity theory to interrogate the pedagogical priorities and perspectives of 19 writing teachers in primary classrooms across Australia. Data are composed of teacher interview transcripts and nuanced time analyses of classroom observation videos. Findings show that teachers experience both enabling and constraining conditions that emerge in different ways in different contexts. Enablements include high motivations to teach writing and a reflective and collaborative approach to practice. However, constraints were evident in areas of time management, dominance of teacher talk, teachers’ scope and confidence in their knowledge and practice, and a perceived lack of professional support for writing pedagogy. The article concludes with recommendations for a reflexive approach to managing these emergences in the teaching of writing.
Abstract.
Khosronejad M, Ryan M, Barton G, Myhill D, Kervin L (2021). Examining how classroom talk shapes students’ identities as reflexive writers in elementary classrooms. Classroom Discourse, 13(1), 64-82.
Myhill D (2021). Fostering critical reasoning: Developing argumentative competence in early and middle primary years. Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, 44, 46-61.
Myhill D (2021). Grammar re-imagined: foregrounding understanding of language choice in writing.
ENGLISH IN EDUCATION,
55(3), 265-278.
Author URL.
Myhill D, Cremin T, Oliver L (2021). Writing as a craft: Re-considering teacher subject content knowledge for teaching writing.
RESEARCH PAPERS IN EDUCATION Author URL.
Calil E, Myhill D (2020). Dialogue, erasure and spontaneous comments during textual composition: What students' metalinguistic talk reveals about newly-literate writers’ understanding of revision.
Linguistics and Education,
60Abstract:
Dialogue, erasure and spontaneous comments during textual composition: What students' metalinguistic talk reveals about newly-literate writers’ understanding of revision
Many young writers find revision a challenging process. The study reported here uses a multimodal system (the Ramos System) for data capture, in contrast to the more typical use of think-aloud or post-hoc recall, and sought to understand what newly-literate writers’ textual modifications (erasures) and oral comments reveal about their metalinguistic understanding of writing. Six classroom sequences of narrative writing composition were recorded, using both video and audio, capturing both the unfolding texts and the dyadic dialogue about these texts in this collaborative writing context. The analysis shows that, although these young writers’ metalinguistic thinking is dominated by graphic-spatial concerns, there is also evidence of emerging broader metalinguistic thinking across a range of categories. Nonetheless, comments related to composition or narrative meaning were rare. The paper argues for more pedagogic interventions which foreground the compositional aspect of writing narratives, alongside transcriptional fluency, and identifies lines for future research.
Abstract.
Myhill D, Newman R, Watson A (2020). GOING META: DIALOGIC TALK IN THE WRITING CLASSROOM.
AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF LANGUAGE AND LITERACY: SPECIAL ISSUE TALK AND INTERACTION,
43(1), 5-16.
Abstract:
GOING META: DIALOGIC TALK IN THE WRITING CLASSROOM
The rich body of research on dialogic, exploratory talk points to its significance in developing and securing student learning (Alexander, 2018; Gillies, 2016; O’Connor & Michaels, 2007; Reznitskaya et al. 2009). More recently, this body of research has begun to consider dialogic talk specifically in the context of literacy education (for example, Boyd & Markarian, 2015; EdwardsGroves & Davidson, 2017; Juzwik et al. 2013; Wilkinson et al. 2015). However, there remains a dearth of research which considers the role of dialogic talk in the teaching and learning of writing, and particularly its role in supporting developing writers’ metalinguistic understanding of how linguistic choices shape meaning in written texts. This article will report on qualitative
data drawn from a national study, involving a randomised controlled trial and an accompanying process evaluation. The study involved an intervention which was informed by a Hallidayan theoretical framing of metalinguistic understanding which sees grammar as a meaning-making resource, and which promoted explicit teaching which made purposeful connections between grammatical choices and their meaning-making effects in writing, and which promoted the role of dialogic talk. Specifically, this article will consider how teachers manage this metalinguistic dialogic talk about language choices in the writing classroom.
Abstract.
Cremin T, Myhill D, Eyres I, Nash T, Wilson A, Oliver L (2020). Teachers as writers: learning together with others.
Literacy,
54(2), 49-59.
Abstract:
Teachers as writers: learning together with others
In the context of renewed interest in teachers' identities as writers and the writers as artist-educators, this paper reports upon the findings of “Teachers as Writers” (2015–2017). A collaborative partnership between two universities and a creative writing foundation, the study sought to determine the impact of writers' engagement with teachers on changing teachers' classroom practices in the teaching of writing and, as a consequence, in improving outcomes for students. The project afforded opportunities for writers and teachers to work together as learners in order to improve student outcomes. The study involved two complementary datasets: a qualitative dataset of observations, interviews, audio-capture (of workshops, tutorials and co-mentoring reflections) and audio-diaries from 16 teachers; and a randomised controlled trial (RCT) involving 32 primary and secondary classes. The findings reveal that the teachers' identities and assurance as writers shifted significantly. The Arvon experience also led to pedagogic shifts which the students reported impacted positively upon their motivation, confidence and sense of ownership and skills as writers. However, these salient dispositional shifts did not impact upon the young people's attainment. The professional writers gained new understandings which substantially altered their conceptions of writers' potential contribution in schools.
Abstract.
Myhill D, Watson A, Newman R (2020). Thinking differently about grammar and metalinguistic understanding in writing.
Bellaterra Journal of Teaching & Learning Language & Literature,
13(2), e870-e870.
Abstract:
Thinking differently about grammar and metalinguistic understanding in writing
In the light of ongoing international debate about the purpose of explicit teaching of grammar, this paper considers the relationship between metalinguistic understanding and development as a writer. Drawing on a cumulative series of studies over a period of ten years, adopting a functionally-oriented approach to grammar, the paper argues that purposeful grammar teaching occurs within the teaching of writing, not divorced from it; and that this teaching develops students’ metalinguistic understanding of how written texts are crafted and shaped. In this way, grammar is positioned as a resource for learning about writing and one which can support students in becoming increasingly autonomous and agentic decision-makers in writing. We show through practical examples how the pedagogy works in practice, and through classroom interaction data we highlight how metalinguistic talk (metatalk), which enables and encourages the verbalisation of choice. The data also shows, however, that teachers’ skill in managing metatalk about metalinguistic choices in writing is critical in framing students’ capacity to think metalinguistically about their writing and to be autonomous writerly decision-makers.
Abstract.
Cremin T, Myhill D (2019). Creative Writers as Arts Educators.
Abstract:
Creative Writers as Arts Educators
In the field of writing in education two strong, even common-sense, views exist, drawing largely on everyday logic rather than evidenced justification: first, that to teach writing effectively teachers must be writers themselves and second, that professional writers, those who are writers themselves, have a valuable role to play in supporting young writers. But rarely have these views been brought together to explore what teachers can learn about being a writer from those who are writers. Nor are these perspectives unquestioned. The positioning of teachers as writers within and beyond the classroom has been the subject of intense academic and practitioner debate for decades. For years professional writers have visited schools to talk about their work and have run workshops and led residencies. However relatively few peer-reviewed studies exist into the value of their engagement in education, and those that do, in a manner similar to the studies examining teachers as writers, tend to rely upon self-reports without observational evidence to triangulate the perspectives offered. Furthermore, the evidence base with regard to the impact on student outcomes of teachers’ positioning themselves as writers in the classroom is scant. Nor is there a body of evidence documenting the impact of professional writers on student outcomes.Historically, these two foci - teachers as writers and professional writers in education - have been researched separately; in this article we draw them together.
. Predominantly professional writers in education work directly with students as visiting artists, and have been positioned and positioned themselves as offering enrichment opportunities to students. They have not therefore been able to make a sustained impact on the teaching of writing. Moreover, while writers’ published texts are read, studied, and analyzed in school (as examples for young people to emulate), their compositional processes receive little attention, and the craft knowledge on which writers draw is rarely foregrounded. In addition, writing is often viewed as the most marginalized creative art, in part due to its inclusion within English, which itself has been sidelined in the arts debate.
. Notwithstanding these challenges, research and development studies have begun to create new opportunities for collaboration, with teachers and professional writers sharing their expertise as pedagogues and as writers in order to support students’ development as creative writers. In such work the challenges, constraints, and consequences of students and teachers identifying themselves as writers in school has been evidenced. In addition, research has sought to document the practices of professional writers, analyzing for example their reading histories, composing practices, and craft knowledge in order to feedforward new insights into classroom practice. It is thus gradually becoming recognized that professional writers’ knowledge and understanding of the art and craft of writing deserves increased practitioner attention for their educative possibilities; they have the potential to support teachers’ understanding of being a writer and of how they teach writing. This in turn may impact upon students’ own identities as writers, their understanding of what it means to be a writer, and their attitudes to and outcomes in writing.
Abstract.
Myhill DA (2018). Grammar as a meaning-making resource for improving writing. . L1-Educational Studies in Language and Literature, 18, 1-21.
Myhill D, Jones S, Lines H (2018). Supporting less proficient writers through linguistically aware teaching.
Language and Education,
32(4), 333-349.
Abstract:
Supporting less proficient writers through linguistically aware teaching
Whilst historically there has been a widespread consensus that teaching grammar has no impact on students’ attainment in writing, more recent research suggests that where a functionally oriented approach to grammar is meaningfully embedded within the teaching of writing, significant improvements in writing can be secured. A recent study, using a functionally oriented approach, which found a statistically significant positive effect of such an approach, also found that the approach appeared to benefit higher attaining writers more than lower attaining writers. The study reported here set out to investigate specifically whether functionally oriented approach to teaching grammar in the context of writing might support less proficient writers. A quasi-experimental design was adopted, repeating the principles of the parent study but with the intervention adapted to meet the identified writing needs of less proficient writers. The statistical analysis indicated a positive effect for the intervention group (p < 0.05), and an effect size of 0.33 on students’ Sentence Structure and Punctuation. The study demonstrates that explicit attention to grammar within the teaching of writing can support learners in developing their writing, but taken with the parent study, it also highlights that pedagogical choices need to be well matched to writers’ needs.
Abstract.
Myhill DA, Jones S, Lines H (2018). Texts that teach: Examining the efficacy of using texts as models.
L1-Educational Studies in Language and Literature,
18, 1-24.
Abstract:
Texts that teach: Examining the efficacy of using texts as models
The classical rhetorical tradition advocated imitation as a tool for learning to be an effective orator, and thus foregrounded the pedagogical importance of using texts as models. More recent contemporary research has also flagged the value of using texts as models, enabling explicit attention to how texts work, and scaffolding students’ learning about writing. Despite some empirical evidence which points to the efficacy of this approach there is little detailed evidence of how the use of texts as models plays out in classrooms or what pedagogical practices are most supportive of student learning. Drawing on a funded four-year study, including a qualitative longitudinal project following four cohorts of students over three school years, this paper attempts to redress this gap. Through a detailed analysis of episodes of teachers using texts as models, it argues that it is critical to understand the pedagogical actions of teachers using texts as models to avoid text models being a straitjacket, constraining learning about writing, rather than possibilities for creative emulation. We highlight the fundamental importance of establishing a link between linguistic choice and rhetorical purpose so that young writers are inducted into the craft of writing, and empowered to make their own authorial choices.
Abstract.
Boivin MC, Fontich X, Funke R, García-Folgado MJ, Myhill D (2018). Working on grammar at school in L1 education: Empirical research across linguistic regions. Introduction to the special issue.
L1 Educational Studies in Language and Literature,
18(Specialissue), 1-6.
Abstract:
Working on grammar at school in L1 education: Empirical research across linguistic regions. Introduction to the special issue
Empirical studies pertaining to working on grammar at school and its effects have not been the focus of L1 research in recent years. For instance, none of the current international large-scale studies investigates grammar learning. This might be the result of widespread doubts about the benefits of grammar learning for students, but-however justified one may consider such doubts to be-they should not lead researchers to neglect this topic. To be fair, research in the field has probably been hindered by the fact that there is virtually no exchange about findings across di-verse linguistic regions, so that empirical results which emerged in one country have seldom been recognized in other countries. Variation across linguistic regions can be found not only in research results but also in research questions-a situa-tion which one may consider tolerable in itself but which constitutes a problem when lack of communication between researchers on grammar learning and grammar instruction leaves a real gap, as is true in this case. This special issue aims to offer an international overview of empirical research on grammatical learning at school within the context of L1 education (including learning about L1 grammar outside of L1 lessons, but excluding foreign language learning), and to deepen it by discussing recent approaches. Thus, the special issue is intended to provide a stimulus for further research on the subject and a starting point for the dissemination of international research into local research communiies.
Abstract.
Chen H, Myhill D (2016). Children talking about writing: Investigating metalinguistic understanding.
Linguistics and Education,
35, 100-108.
Abstract:
Children talking about writing: Investigating metalinguistic understanding
Much of the literature on explicit teaching about language has suggested that equipping students with metalinguistic knowledge is as an important means of enhancing students’ participation in learning. Yet in the context of international jurisdictions which are placing a renewed emphasis on knowledge about language, there is a notable lack of research into the nature of learners’ metalinguistic understanding about writing, as evident in their ability to reflect on written language. Using an analytical framework shaped by Vygotsky's and Hallidayan theories of concept formation and language learning, this paper provides insights into the nature of metalinguistic understanding as manifested in ways in which learners engage with grammatical concepts. Drawing on data selected from two parallel studies in Australia and England in which students aged 9–13 were interviewed about their metalinguistic understanding of writing, our analysis has found that learners’ metalinguistic understanding is more strongly oriented to identification – naming and specifying taught grammatical concepts. The findings have important implications for pedagogical strategies that might facilitate higher-level metalinguistic understanding, enabling learners to elaborate, extend and apply their grammatical knowledge.
Abstract.
Jesson R, Fontich X, Myhill D (2016). Creating dialogic spaces: Talk as a mediational tool in becoming a writer. International Journal of Educational Research, 80, 155-163.
Myhill D, Newman R (2016). Metatalk: Enabling metalinguistic discussion about writing.
International Journal of Educational Research,
80, 177-187.
Abstract:
Metatalk: Enabling metalinguistic discussion about writing
Historically, theoretical consideration of metalinguistic understanding has scarcely addressed the issue in the context of writing, other than in relation to early years writing development where there is a substantial body of work. Consequently, there is very limited understanding of how older writers in the upper primary and secondary phase of schooling develop metalinguistic understanding about writing. Arguably, writing is always an act of selecting, shaping, reflecting and revising (Myhill, 2011) and thus draws crucially on metalinguistic activity. Critical to the development of this metalinguistic understanding is how teachers manage ‘metatalk’, talk about language use in writing, during instructional interactions around writing and how teachers enable developing writers to explore their thinking about how language shapes meaning in written text. This paper, drawing on data from a large national study, will explore the nature and efficacy of teachers’ interactions with students and how they enable high-level metatalk to occur, specifically how they create dialogic spaces for investigating meaning-making in written text. The paper will explore the close relationship between high-quality metatalk and open dialogic discourse roles for the teacher, but it will also highlight the complexity of metatalk for writing and how dialogic-monologic discourses are best viewed as a continuum which take account of other influencing factors.
Abstract.
Ahmed A, Myhill D (2016). The impact of the socio-cultural context on L2 English writing of Egyptian university students.
LEARNING CULTURE AND SOCIAL INTERACTION,
11, 117-129.
Author URL.
Myhill DA (2016). Writing Conversations: Metalinguistic Talk about Writing. Bulletin Vals-ASLA,, 103, 153-166.
Myhill DA, Jones SM, Wilson AC (2016). Writing conversations: fostering metalinguistic discussion about writing.
Research Papers in Education,
31(1), 23-44.
Abstract:
Writing conversations: fostering metalinguistic discussion about writing
This article draws on data from a national study, involving an experimental intervention with 54 schools across the country, in which teachers were mentored in a pedagogical approach involving explicit attention to grammatical choices and which advocated high-level metalinguistic discussion about textual choices. The research focused upon primary children aged 10–11, and in addition to statistical analysis of outcome measures, 53 lesson observations were undertaken to investigate the nature of the metalinguistic discussion. The data were analysed inductively, following the constant comparison method, with an initial stage of open coding, followed by axial coding which clustered the data into thematic groups. The analysis demonstrates the potential of metalinguistic talk in supporting young writers’ understanding of how to shape meaning in texts and the decision-making choices available to them. It signals the importance of teachers’ management of metalinguistic conversations, but also the role that teachers’ grammatical subject knowledge plays in enabling or constraining metalinguistic talk. The study highlights the importance of dialogic classroom talk if students are to develop knowledge about language, to become metalinguistically aware, and to take ownership of metalinguistic decision-making when writing.
Abstract.
Myhill DA, Jones SM (2015). Conceptualizing metalinguistic understanding in writing / Conceptualización de la competencia metalingüística en la escritura.
Cultura y Educacion,
27(4), 839-867.
Abstract:
Conceptualizing metalinguistic understanding in writing / Conceptualización de la competencia metalingüística en la escritura
This paper will present a theoretical analysis of research on metalinguistic understanding, illustrating how current research does not yet adequately address metalinguistic development in writing. Existing research on metalinguistic understanding has focused more on language acquisition, oral development, and bilingual learners. Research on metalinguistic understanding in writing has tended to look more closely at young learners developing writing skills in spelling, transcription and orthography. Thus theoretical accounts of metalinguistic understanding are currently insufficient to explain developing metalinguistic mastery of composing text and the relationships between declarative and procedural metalinguistic knowledge in writing. If we are to understand better the nature of metalinguistic understanding in relation to writing in learners in the later phases of compulsory education, it is important to develop theoretical clarity about the key concepts involved in order to frame empirical studies which are both conceptually and methodologically rigorous and educationally relevant.
Abstract.
Janks H, Myhill D, Ryan M (2015). Editorial. English Teaching Practice & Critique, 14(3).
Myhill D, Watson A (2014). The role of grammar in the writing curriculum: a review of the literature.
Child Language Teaching and Therapy,
30(1), 41-62.
Abstract:
The role of grammar in the writing curriculum: a review of the literature
For most Anglophone countries, the history of grammar teaching over the past 50 years is one of contestation, debate and dissent: and 50 years on we are no closer to reaching a consensus about the role of grammar in the English/Language Arts curriculum. The debate has been described through the metaphor of battle and grammar wars (Kamler, 1995; Locke, 2005), frequently pitting educational professionals against politicians, but also pitting one professional against another. At the heart of the debate are differing perspectives on the value of grammar for the language learner and opposing views of what educational benefits learning grammar may or may not accrue. At the present time, several jurisdictions, including England and Australia, are creating new mandates for grammar in the curriculum. This article reviews the literature on the teaching of grammar and its role in the curriculum and indicates an emerging consensus on a fully-theorized conceptualization of grammar in the curriculum. © the Author(s) 2013.
Abstract.
Honan E, Myhill D (2013). Editorial: 2103 non-themed issue. English Teaching, 12(3), 1-4.
Jones SM, Myhill DA, Bailey T (2013). Grammar for Writing? an investigation into the effect of Contextualised Grammar Teaching on Student Writing.
Reading and Writing,
26(8), 1241-1263.
Abstract:
Grammar for Writing? an investigation into the effect of Contextualised Grammar Teaching on Student Writing
The role of grammar instruction in the teaching of writing is contested in most Anglophone countries, with several robust meta-analyses finding no evidence of any beneficial effect. However, existing research is limited in that it only considers isolated grammar instruction and offers no theorisation of an instructional relationship between grammar and writing. This study, drawing on a theorised understanding of grammar as a meaning-making resource for writing development, set out to investigate the impact of contextualised grammar instruction on students’ writing performance. The study adopted a mixed-methods approach, with a randomised controlled trial and a complementary qualitative study. The statistical analyses indicate a positive effect on writing performance for the intervention group (e. =. 0.21; p
Abstract.
Myhill D, Jones S, Watson A (2013). Grammar matters: How teachers' grammatical knowledge impacts on the teaching of writing.
Teaching and Teacher Education,
36, 77-91.
Abstract:
Grammar matters: How teachers' grammatical knowledge impacts on the teaching of writing
Teaching grammar has been mandated in statutory curriculum documents in England since 1988. Yet despite this, research evidence continues to suggest that metalinguistic knowledge is an area of challenge for many teachers. Drawing on data from a larger study, this paper considers the role of teachers' grammatical knowledge, both content and pedagogical content knowledge, in mediating learning about writing in the classroom. It also illustrates how students' learning about writing is influenced by teachers' metalinguistic knowledge. The study highlights that grammatical pedagogical content knowledge is more significant than grammatical content knowledge in supporting meaningful teaching and learning about writing. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.
Abstract.
Myhill D, Jones S, Watson A, Lines H (2013). Playful explicitness with grammar: a pedagogy for writing.
Literacy,
47(2), 103-111.
Abstract:
Playful explicitness with grammar: a pedagogy for writing
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 being taught. The study adopted a mixed methods design with a large-scale randomised controlled trial accompanied by a qualitative dataset, which provided contextual information about how the intervention was implemented. In this paper, we will outline the pedagogical principles that underpinned the intervention, and illustrate both the theoretical grounding and practical classroom examples that exemplify the approach. We will argue that any future policy or professional development that draws on this research must take account of these pedagogical principles, rather than focusing too superficially on either the grammar or the teaching materials which exemplify them. © 2012 UKLA.
Abstract.
Myhill DA, Wilson AC (2013). Playing it Safe: teachers’ views of creativity in poetry writing. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 10, 101-111.
Lines HE, Myhill DA (2012). Any English Questions?. Classroom, 16, 54-56.
Myhill D (2012). Developing Writers: Teaching and Learning in the Digital Age.
ENGLISH IN EDUCATION,
46(1), 106-108.
Author URL.
Myhill D (2012). Editorial. English in Education, 46(1), 1-5.
Lines HE, Myhill DA (2012). Grammar for Writing:. Sentences under the Spotlight. Classroom, 16, 4-7.
Myhill DA, Lines HE (2012). Grammar for writing: Using knowledge for grammar to improve writing. Classroom, 18, 45-48.
Lines HE, Myhill DA (2012). Grammar for writing: discovering what Year 8 students know about language. Classroom, 17, 35-38.
Myhill DA, Jones SM, Lines HE, Watson A (2012). Knowledge about Language Revisited: the Impact of Teachers’ Linguistic Subject Knowledge on the Teaching of Writing. English Drama Media, 23, 43-48.
Myhill D, Lines H, Watson A (2012). Making meaning with grammar: a repertoire of possibilities. English in Australia, 47(3), 29-38.
Myhill DA, Jones SM, 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.
Abstract:
Re-thinking grammar: the impact of embedded grammar teaching on students' writing and students' metalinguistic understanding
This paper reports on a national study, involving a mixed-method research design comprising a randomised controlled trial (RCT), text analysis, student and teacher interviews and lesson observations. It set out to investigate whether contextualised teaching of grammar, linked to the teaching of writing, would improve student outcomes in writing and in metalinguistic understanding. The RCT involved 744 students in 31 schools in the south-west and the Midlands of England, and was a blind randomisation study. Classes were randomly allocated to either a comparison or intervention group, after the sample had been matched for teacher linguistic subject knowledge (LSK). The statistical data were complemented by three interviews per teacher and three interviews with a focus student in each class, plus three lesson observations in each class, giving a data-set of 93 teacher interviews, 93 student interviews and 93 lesson observations. In addition, the final pieces of writing produced for each scheme of work were collected. The statistical results indicate a significant positive effect for the intervention, but they also indicate that this benefit was experienced more strongly by the more able writers in the sample. The regression modelling also indicates that teacher LSK was a significant mediating factor in the success of the intervention. The qualitative data provide further evidence of the impact of teacher knowledge on how the intervention was implemented and on students' metalinguistic learning. It also reveals that teachers found the explicitness, the use of discussion and the emphasis on playful experimentation to be the most salient features of the intervention. The study is significant in providing robust evidence for the first time of a positive benefit derived from the teaching of grammar, and signals the potential of a pedagogy for a writing which includes a theorised role for grammar. © 2012 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.
Abstract.
Myhill DA (2012). Rethinking Grammar as a Resource for Writing. English Drama Media, 22, 47-52.
Wilson AC, Myhill D (2012). Ways with Words:. Teachers’ Personal Epistemologies of the Role of Metalanguage in the Teaching of Poetry Writing.
Language and Education,
26(6), 553-568.
Abstract:
Ways with Words:. Teachers’ Personal Epistemologies of the Role of Metalanguage in the Teaching of Poetry Writing
The role of linguistic and literary metalanguage in the teaching of writing is contested, although there is some evidence that metalinguistic understanding supports writing development. This paper investigates the personal epistemologies of teachers in relation to the place of linguistic and literary metalanguage in the teaching of poetry writing. The data draws on 93 interviews with 31 secondary English teachers in the UK, following lesson observations, and the data is a subset of a larger study investigating the impact of contextualised grammar teaching on writing attainment. The interviews probed teachers’ pedagogical decision-making in three writing lessons and elicited their beliefs about the value of metalanguage. The analysis indicates that teachers’ personal epistemologies relating to metalanguage are ambivalent and, at times, contradictory. Teachers tend to view literary metalanguage as linked to the creative freedom of writing poetry, whereas linguistic metalanguage is constructed as associated with rules and restrictions. At the same time, teachers reveal a lack of confidence with subject knowledge in both literary and linguistic metalanguage which may be shaping their epistemological beliefs. Teachers’ comments on the place of literary and linguistic metalanguage in poetry writing are paradoxical, but do appear to be strongly connected to their. personal epistemologies. They subscribe to a literate epistemology which values literary metalanguage as part of the knowledge base of a creative, expressive subject, but linguistic metalanguage is not included within this literate epistemology. Policy initiatives to re-assert the role of grammar and linguistic metalaguage within the curriculum need to take account of these literate epistemologies.
Abstract.
Myhill DA, Jones SM, Lines HE, Watson A (2011). Explaining how Language Works: is there a place for terminology?. Literacy Today, 67, 25-27.
Lines HE, Myhill DA (2011). Focusing Fiction. Classroom, 15, 23-25.
Myhill DA (2011). Language as Putty: Thinking Creatively about Grammar. English in Aotearoa, 74, 13-20.
Myhill DA, Lines HE, Watson A (2011). Making Meaning with Grammar: a Repertoire of Possibilities. mETAphor, 2, 1-10.
Preece P, Myhill D (2011). TLRP's ten principles. Research Papers in Education, 26(3).
Locke T, Myhill D, Fecho B (2010). Editorial: Non-themed issue: 2010. English Teaching, 9(3), 1-7.
Myhill D, Fisher R (2010). Editorial: Writing development: cognitive, sociocultural, linguistic perspectives.
JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN READING,
33(1), 1-3.
Author URL.
Myhill DA (2010). Harnessing Grammar: Weaving Words and Shaping Texts. Better: Evidence-Based Education, 2010(Winter), 12-13.
Myhill DA (2010). The best words in the best order’: grammar as a creative tool for literacy. English Teaching Online, 1(Autumn).
Myhill, D.A. (2009). Children’s Patterns of Composition and their Reflections on their Composing Processes. British Educational Research Journal, 1(35), 47-64.
Myhill DA (2009). Developmental Trajectories in Mastery of Paragraphing: Towards a Model of Development.
Written Language and Literacy,
12(1), 26-51.
Abstract:
Developmental Trajectories in Mastery of Paragraphing: Towards a Model of Development.
Learning to write paragraphs and thus learning how to sub-divide a text for topical and organisational coherence is an accepted part of acquiring writing maturity, and most teachers of writing will include explicit teaching of paragraphing techniques within their writing instruction classes. However, there is relatively little pedagogical or empirical attention devoted to understanding the nature of development in paragraphing – how writers increase in sophistication in managing paragraphs, and the pathways of development from not using paragraphs to secure mastery. The study reported here, therefore, set out to answer the research question – what developmental trajectories are evident in mastering paragraphing in secondary-aged writers?. The article draws on a detailed linguistic analysis of a corpus of writing samples from 359 students stratified by age (13 or 15) and gender and posits a model of development in which the trajectory is from graphical organisation, through to topical organisation and finally to textual organisation. However, the trajectory is not simply linear as the demands of longer, more complex texts creates new challenges in paragraph organisation for able writers.
Abstract.
Myhill DA (2009). From Talking to Writing:. Linguistic Development in Writing.
British Journal of Educational Psychology Monograph Series 11,
6, 27-44.
Abstract:
From Talking to Writing:. Linguistic Development in Writing
Background
Previous research in linguistic development in writing has primarily addressed the acquisition of writing, early linguistic development of writing, and spoken-written interactions in the primary phase. This study explored linguistic development in older writers in the secondary phase.
.
Aims
The aims of this two year study were to investigate both the linguistic constructions in secondary-aged students’ writing, and to explore their understanding of their own writing processes.
Sample
The data reported here draws on the first year data collection: a sample comprising two pieces of writing, narrative and argument, drawn from pupils in year 8 (aged 12-13) and year 10 (aged 14-15). The writing sample was stratified by age, gender and writing quality.
Methods
The writing was subject to linguistic analysis at both sentence and text level, using purpose-built coding frames and a qualitative analysis sheet.
Results.
The linguistic analysis indicates that the patterns of linguistic development show that the influences of oral speech characteristics are strongest in weaker writing than good writing.
Conclusions
Cognitive research into the translation from thought to text needs to address more explicitly the fact that good writing requires not only production of text, but also shaping of text. Although it is well-understood that learning to be a writer draws on ‘talk knowledge’, this study makes it clear that one key element in learning to write with accomplishment is, in part at least, learning how not to write the way you talk, or rather acquiring adeptness in transforming oral structures into written structures.
Abstract.
Myhill DA (2009). From Talking to Writing:. Linguistic Development in Writing.
British Journal of Educational Psychology Monograph Series 11,
6, 27-44.
Abstract:
From Talking to Writing:. Linguistic Development in Writing
Background
Previous research in linguistic development in writing has primarily addressed the acquisition of writing, early linguistic development of writing, and spoken-written interactions in the primary phase. This study explored linguistic development in older writers in the secondary phase.
.
Aims
The aims of this two year study were to investigate both the linguistic constructions in secondary-aged students’ writing, and to explore their understanding of their own writing processes.
Sample
The data reported here draws on the first year data collection: a sample comprising two pieces of writing, narrative and argument, drawn from pupils in year 8 (aged 12-13) and year 10 (aged 14-15). The writing sample was stratified by age, gender and writing quality.
Methods
The writing was subject to linguistic analysis at both sentence and text level, using purpose-built coding frames and a qualitative analysis sheet.
Results.
The linguistic analysis indicates that the patterns of linguistic development show that the influences of oral speech characteristics are strongest in weaker writing than good writing.
Conclusions
Cognitive research into the translation from thought to text needs to address more explicitly the fact that good writing requires not only production of text, but also shaping of text. Although it is well-understood that learning to be a writer draws on ‘talk knowledge’, this study makes it clear that one key element in learning to write with accomplishment is, in part at least, learning how not to write the way you talk, or rather acquiring adeptness in transforming oral structures into written structures.
Abstract.
Myhill DA, Jones SM (2009). How Talk Becomes Text: investigating the concept of oral rehearsal in early years’ classrooms.
British Journal of Educational Studies,
57(3), 265-284.
Abstract:
How Talk Becomes Text: investigating the concept of oral rehearsal in early years’ classrooms.
The principle that emergent writing is supported by talk, and that an appropriate pedagogy for writing should include planned opportunities for talk is well-researched and well-understood. However, the process by which talk becomes text is less clear. The term ‘oral rehearsal’ is now commonplace in English classrooms and curriculum policy documents, yet as a concept it is not well-theorised. Indeed, there is relatively little reference to the concept of oral rehearsal in the international literature, and what references do exist propose differing interpretations of the concept. At its most liberal, the term is used loosely as a synonym for talk; more precise definitions frame oral rehearsal, for example, as a strategy for reducing cognitive load during writing; for post-hoc reviewing of text; for helping writers to ‘hear’ their own writing; or for practising sentences aloud as a preliminary to writing them down. Drawing on a systematic review of the literature and video data from an empirical study, the paper will offer a theoretical conceptualisation of oral rehearsal, drawing on existing understanding of writing processes and will illustrate the ways in which young writers use oral rehearsal before and during writing.
Abstract.
Myhill DA (2009). Shaping Futures: Literacy Policy in the Twenty-First Century. Research Papers in Education, 24(2), 129-133.
Myhill DA (2009). Shaping Futures: Literacy Policy in the Twenty-First Century. Research Papers in Education, 24(2).
Myhill DA (2008). Towards a Linguistic Model of Sentence Development in Writing. Language and Education, 22(5), 271-288.
Myhill DA, Locke T (2007). Composition in the English/Literacy Classroom. English Teaching: Practice and Critique, 6(1), 1-10.
Myhill, D.A. (2007). Designs on writing (3). Secondary English Magazine, 11(1), 25-28.
SJones, Myhill DA (2007). Discourses of Difference? Questioning Gender Difference in Linguistic Characteristics of Writing. Canadian Journal of Education, 30(2), 456-482.
Southgate CCB (2007). Editorial. Reviews in Science and Religion, 50
Myhill DA, Jones SM (2007). More than just Error Correction: Children’s Reflections on their Revision Processes. Written Communication, 24(4), 323-343.
Myhill DA, Jones, S. (2007). More than just error correction. Students' perspectives on their revision processes during writing. Written Communication, 24(4), 323-343.
Myhill D, Jones S (2007). What Works? Engaging in research to shape policy: the case of grammar.
ENGLISH TEACHING-PRACTICE AND CRITIQUE,
6(3), 61-75.
Author URL.
Myhill DA, Jones SM (2007). What Works? Engaging in research to shape policy: the case of grammar. English Teaching: Practice and Critique, 6(7), 61-75.
Myhill, D.A. Jones SM (2006). 'She doesn't shout at no girls'. Cambridge Journal of Education, 36(1), 63-77.
Myhill D, Jones S (2006). 'She doesn't shout at no girls': Pupils' perceptions of gender equity in the classroom.
Cambridge Journal of Education,
36(1), 99-113.
Abstract:
'She doesn't shout at no girls': Pupils' perceptions of gender equity in the classroom
Based on a larger, cross phase study investigating underachieving boys, this article explores pupil's responses to a single interview question inviting pupils to articulate their perceptions of whether teachers treat boys and girls the same. The article records that the predominant perception is that teachers treat boys more negatively than girls, and that this perception increases with age. Pupils speak of teachers' expectations of boys and girls as being different, more being expected of girls both in terms of achievement and behaviour. Unsolicited, the pupils make reference to the gender of the teacher as pertinent, female teachers being perceived as less influenced by gender expectations. The article raises concerns as to the role of education in amplifying society's stereotypes rather than challenging them and aiming for a climate of gender equity in the classroom.
Abstract.
Myhill, D.A. (2006). Designs on Writing (1). Secondary English Magazine, 10(2), 23-28.
Myhill DA (2006). Talk, Talk, Talk: Teaching and Learning in Whole Class Discourse. Research Papers in Education, 21(1), 19-41.
Myhill DA, Dunkin, F. (2005). Questioning Learning?. Language in Education, 19(5), 415-427.
Myhill DA, Warren, P. (2005). Scaffolds or Straitjackets?. Critical Moments in Classroom Discourse. Educational Review, 57(1), 55-69.
Myhill, D.A. (2005). Tense Times. Secondary English Magazine, 9(1), 27-30.
Myhill, D.A. (2005). Testing Times: the impact of prior knowledge on written genres produced in examination settings. Assessment in Education, 12(3), 289-300.
Myhill, D. (2005). Texts as Design, writers as designers. English in Education, 39(2), 5-21.
Myhill, D.A. (2005). Ways of Knowing:. Writing with Grammar in Mind. English Teaching: Practice and Critique, 4(3), 77-96.
SJones, Myhill DA (2004). 'Troublesome Boys' and 'Compliant Girls': Gender identity and perceptions of achievement and underachievement . British Journal of Sociology of Education, 25(5), 557-571.
Myhill, D.A. (2004). All about the Passive. Primary English Magazine, 9(5), 29-32.
Myhill, D.A. (2004). Inactive or Interactive?. A consideration of the nature of interaction in whole class teaching. Cambridge Journal of Education, 34(1), 35-49.
Burns C, Myhill D (2004). Interactive or inactive? a consideration of the nature of interaction in whole class teaching.
Cambridge Journal of Education,
34(1), 35-49.
Abstract:
Interactive or inactive? a consideration of the nature of interaction in whole class teaching
Recent learning theories and the suggested importance of ‘interactive’ approaches in national initiatives, (NLS, NNS) led to an ESRC-funded action research project involving the University of Exeter and teachers in three schools—‘Using Talk to Activate Learners’ Knowledge' (TALK). This investigated how ‘interactive’ whole class teaching was and whether teacher-pupil interactions permitted recoding of information and understanding. The findings corroborate those from Galton (1999a, 1999b), Mroz (2000) and English (2002): that teacher-led questioning and explanation still dominate, as do teachers' objectives. Interaction as participation was differentially experienced by higher and lower abilities, boys and girls, with few opportunities for pupil initiation or extended response. The study, however, provides a model for more fully analysing the varying forms and functions of teachers' questions and statements which may lead to a greater clarity in recognising ways to provide more effective discourse for learning. © 2004, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
Abstract.
Myhill, D.A. (2004). Making Connections: Grammar and Meaning. Secondary English Magazine, 8(1), 23-26.
Myhill DA, Brackley M (2004). Making Connections:Teachers' Use of Children's Prior Knowledge in Whole Class Discourse. British Journal of Educational Studies, 52(3), 263-275.
Myhill DA, Jones, S. (2004). Noisy boys and Compliant Girls?. Literacy Today, 41, 20-21.
Jones SM, Myhill, D.A. (2004). Seeing Things differently: Boys as Underachievers. Gender and Education, 16(4), 531-546.
SJones, Myhill DA (2004). Seeing things differently: teachers' constructions of underachievement . Gender and Education, 16(4), 531-546.
Amer, E. (2004). The Impact of Invention Techniques upon Students Compositional Writing in EFL. The English Teacher: an International Journal, 7(1), 1-8.
Jones SM, Myhill, D.A. (2004). Troublesome Boys and Compliant Girls. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 25(5), 557-571.
Myhill, D.A. (2003). Principled Understanding? Teaching the Active and Passive Voice. Language and Education, 15(5), 355-370.
Myhill D (2003). Principled understanding? Teaching the active and passive voice.
Language and Education,
17(5), 355-370.
Abstract:
Principled understanding? Teaching the active and passive voice
This paper describes some of the misconceptions and confusions in metalinguistic understanding which are established by the teacher during whole-class teaching of the active and passive voice. It draws on findings from a larger study investigating how teachers use talk in whole-class settings to scaffold children’s learning. Through a detailed analysis of the teacher’s interactions with her class, the paper illuminates the significance of clarity in explanations and choice of examples and the importance of secure subject knowledge. It demonstrates how the teaching of metalinguistic knowledge requires more than an ability to identify and define terminology, and how an overemphasis upon content can lead to a failure to acknowledge the cognitive and conceptual implications of pedagogical decisions. © 2003 D. Myhill.
Abstract.
Myhill, D.A. (2002). Bad Boys and Good Girls?. Patterns of Interaction and Response in Whole Class Teaching. British Educational Research Journal, 28(3), 339-352.
Dunkin, F. (2002). Thats a Good Question. Literacy Today, 33, 8-9.
Myhill D (2001). Professional experience and the investigative imagination - the ART of reflective writing.
BRITISH JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY,
71, 179-180.
Author URL.
Myhill, D.A. (2001). Why shaping and crafting matter. Secondary English Magazine, 5(1), 15-19.
Myhill, D.A. (2001). Writing: Creating and Crafting. English in Education, 35(3), 13-20.
Myhill D (2000). Misconceptions and difficulties in the acquisition of metalinguistic knowledge.
Language and Education,
14(3), 151-163.
Abstract:
Misconceptions and difficulties in the acquisition of metalinguistic knowledge
This paper describes the outcomes of an investigation into the misconceptions and difficulties encountered when learning grammar. The study is based on evidence collected from a class of twelve-year-olds who were engaged upon a work scheme focusing on grammar, and two cohorts of PGCE English students under taking an intensive grammar course. The analysis suggests that learning metalinguistic knowledge can be made problematic for several reasons. Firstly, learning is confounded by the acquired misconceptions which learners bring with them, often misconceptions created by teachers and textbooks. Secondly, there are specific characteristics of English grammar which cause confusion, particularly the mobility of word class. Finally, the process of acquiring metalinguistic knowledge can be hampered by cognitive difficulties related to the conceptual demands of grammar, the transfer of learning from passive to active understanding, and the patterns of inter-connected learning in grammar. The paper suggests that too much professional energy has been attributed to the debate about whether grammar should be taught or not, whilst insufficient research resource has been allocate to investigating how pupils learn. The findings point to a need for development of metalinguistic subject knowledge in teachers and for further research on pupil acquisition of metalinguistic knowledge. © 2000 D. Myhill.
Abstract.
Myhill D, Pearson J (1999). Book Reviews. Teacher Development, 3(2), 301-308.
Myhill D (1999). Writing matters: Linguistic characteristics of writing in GCSE english examinations.
English in Education,
33(3), 70-81.
Abstract:
Writing matters: Linguistic characteristics of writing in GCSE english examinations
The article describes the outcomes of a national investigation in the UK into the linguistic characteristics of writing in GCSE English examinations. The study analysed samples of writing in terms of their correctness, effectiveness and patterns of linguistic features used. This article exemplifies how the procedure used can provide valuable information about what writers can and can’t do and argues that greater precision in describing writing will promote better teaching and learning. © 1999 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Abstract.
Harland F, Myhill D (1997). The use of reflective journals in initial teacher training.
English in Education,
31(1), 4-11.
Abstract:
The use of reflective journals in initial teacher training
The intention of this article is to examine the role of reflective journals in Initial Teacher Training courses, and, in particular, how they can enable students to develop critical independence for professional self-appraisal. It explores the value of journal writing in the process of learning about teaching by reproducing an edited extract of one PGCE (Post-Graduate Certificate in Education) student’s course journal, and by offering both a student’s and a tutor’s perspective of the significance of the journal. © 1997 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Abstract.
Myhill D (1993). Choice and Diversity: the Politics of Culture. English in Education, 27(3), 17-23.
Chapters
Myhill D, Clarkson R (2021). School writing in England. In (Ed) International Perspectives on Writing Curricula and Development: a Cross-Case Comparison, 147-168.
Myhill D (2020). Living language, live debates: Grammar and standard english. In (Ed) Debates in English Teaching, 118-130.
Myhill D (2019). Rethinking Grammar as a tool for learning. In Alden Och K, Bigestans A (Eds.) Literraciter och flerspråkighet, Stockholm: Nationellt Centrum för svenska som andraspråk vid Instituionen för språkdidaktik. 69-79.
Lines H, Myhill D, Jones S (2019). The Relationship between Metalinguistic Understanding, Student Writing and Teaching. In Bazerman C, Pinzon BYG, Russell E, Rogers P, Pena LB, Narvaez E, Carlino P, Tapia-Ladino MCM (Eds.) Knowing Writing: Research across Borders, Bogota: Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, 115-134.
Lines H, Myhill D, Jones S (2019). The Relationship between Metalinguistic Understanding, Student Writing and Teaching. In (Ed) Conocer la Escritura: Investigaci�n M�s All� de las Frontera | Knowing Writing: Writing Research Across Borders, 113-131.
Myhill DA, Newman R (2019). Writing talk: Developing metalinguistic understanding through dialogic teaching. In Mercer N, Wegerif R, Mercer L (Eds.)
Routledge International Handbook of Research on Dialogic Education, London: Routledge, 360-372.
Abstract:
Writing talk: Developing metalinguistic understanding through dialogic teaching
Abstract.
Myhill DA, Jones SM, Lines HE (2018). Writing like a reader: developing metalinguistic understanding to support reading-writing connections. In Alves R (Ed)
Reading Writing Connections.
Abstract:
Writing like a reader: developing metalinguistic understanding to support reading-writing connections
Abstract.
Cremin T, Lillis T, Myhill DA, Eyres I (2017). Professional Writers’ identities: the perceived influence of formal education and early reading. In Cremin T, Locke T (Eds.) Writer Identity and the Teaching and Learning of Writing, London: Routledge, 19-36.
Myhill D, Watson A, Newman R (2017). Re-thinking grammar in the curriculum. In Egeland B, Olin-Scheller C, Tanner M, Tengberg M (Eds.) Tolfte nationella konferensen I svenska med didaktisk inriktning Textkulturer, 25-44-25-44.
Myhill DA (2017). ‘The Dress of Thought’:. Analysing Literature through a Linguistic Lens. In Goodwyn AC, Reid L, Scherff L (Eds.)
International Perspectives on the Teaching of Literature in Schools Global Principles and Practices, Routledge, 18-28.
Abstract:
‘The Dress of Thought’:. Analysing Literature through a Linguistic Lens
Abstract.
Myhill DA (2016). The effectiveness of explicit language teaching: Evidence from the research. In Giovanelli M, Clayton D (Eds.) Linguistics and the Secondary English Classroom, London: Routledge, 36-49.
Myhill DA (2015). Playing with language: grammar as a resource for writers. In Nestlog EB (Ed) Svenska ett Inkluderande Amne, Malmo: Svensklararforeningen, 135-155.
Myhill DA, Watson AM (2013). Creating a Language-Rich Classroom. In Capel S, Leask M, Turner T (Eds.) Learning to Teach in the Secondary School: a Companion to School Experience, London: Routledge, 403-413.
Myhill D, Jones S (2013). Language as putty: Framing a relationship between grammar and writing. In (Ed) International Perspectives on Teaching English in a Globalised World, 144-155.
Myhill DA (2013). Weaving Words: Students' Metalinguistic Understanding of Poetry Writing. In Dymoke S, Lambirth A, Wilson AC (Eds.) Making Poetry Matter: international research on poetry pedagogy, London: Bloomsbury Academic.
Myhill DA (2012). Children’s Patterns of Composition and their Reflections on their Composing Processes. In (Ed) Literacy Teaching and Education, London: Sage.
Myhill DA (2011). Grammar for Designers: How Grammar Supports the Development of Writing. In Ellis S, McCartney E, Bourne J (Eds.) Insight and Impact:. Applied Linguistics and the Primary School, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 81-92.
Myhill DA (2011). Living Language, Live Debates: Grammar and Standard English. In Davison J, Daly C, Moss J (Eds.) Debates in English Teaching, London: Routledge, 63-77.
Jones SM, Myhill DA (2011). Policing Grammar: the Place of Grammar in Literacy Policy. In Goodwyn A, Fuller C (Eds.) The Literacy Game, London: Routledge, 45-62.
Myhill DA (2011). ‘The Ordeal of Deliberate Choice’: Metalinguistic Development in Secondary Writers. In Berninger V (Ed) Past, present, and future contributions of cognitive writing research to cognitive psychology, Psychology Press/Taylor Francis Group, 247-274.
Jones S, Myhill D (2010). 'Troublesome boys' and 'compliant girls': gender identity and perceptions of achievement and underachievement. In Capel S, Leask M, Turner T (Eds.) Readings for Learning to Teach in the Secondary School, London: Routledge, 289-301.
Myhill DA (2010). Changing Classroom Pedagogies. In (Ed) Linguistics at School: Language Awareness in Primary and Secondary Education, Cambridge University Press, 92-106.
Myhill D (2010). Learning to write. In (Ed) Using Talk to Support Writing, 1-19.
Myhill D (2010). Linguistic development in children’s writing: Changing classroom pedagogies. In (Ed)
Linguistics at School: Language Awareness in Primary and Secondary Education, 106-122.
Abstract:
Linguistic development in children’s writing: Changing classroom pedagogies
Abstract.
Myhill DA, Myhill DA (2010). Rhythm and Blues: Making Textual Music with Grammar and Punctuation. In Wyse D, Andrews R, Hoffman J (Eds.) The International Handbook of English, Language and Literacy Teaching, London: Routledge, 170-181.
Myhill DA, Myhill DA (2010). Understanding Language Development. In Wyse D, Andrews R, Hoffman J (Eds.) The International Handbook of English, Language and Literacy Teaching, London: Routledge, 216-227.
Myhill DA (2010). Ways of Knowing: Grammar as a Tool for Developing Writing. In Locke T (Ed) Beyond the grammar wars: a resource for teachers and students on developing language knowledge in the English/literacy classroom, London: Routledge, 129-148.
Myhill D, Milsom R (2010). Writing aloud – the role of oral rehearsal. In (Ed) Using Talk to Support Writing, 64-81.
Myhill DA (2009). Becoming a Designer: Trajectories of Linguistic Development. In Beard R, Myhill DA, Riley J, Nystrand M (Eds.) The SAGE Handbook of Writing Development, London: SAGE, 402-414.
Myhill, D.A. (2009). Becoming a Designer: Trajectories of Linguistic Development. In Beard R, Myhill D (Eds.) Handbook of Writing Development, London: Sage Publications.
Myhill DA (2009). Talk about it!. Participatory Talk for Learning Classrooms. In Boorer D, Quintus Perera JSH, Wood K, Piew LS, Sithamparam S (Eds.) Evolving Pedagogies, Brunei: University of Brunei.
Myhill, D.A. (2007). Reading the World:. Using Children’s Literature to teach Controversial Issues. In Claire H, Holden C (Eds.) Teaching Controversial Issues in Democratic Societies.
Myhill DA (2005). Prior knowledge and the (re)production of school written genres. In Kostouli T (Ed) Writing in context: Textual Practices and Learning Processes in Sociocultural Settings, Springer, 117-136.
Myhill, D.A. (2005). Writing Creatively. In Wilson AC (Ed) Creativity in Primary Education, Exeter: Learning Matters Ltd, 58-69.
Myhill, D.A. (2004). Classroom Observation Schedule. In Lankshear C, Knobel M (Eds.) Handbook of Teacher Research, Open University Press.
Myhill, D.A. (2003). Postgraduate Student Difficulties in Learning Grammar. In Neather EJ (Ed) Getting to Grips with Grammar, London: CILT, 79-82.
Myhill, D.A. (2003). The Communicative Approach in Egypt: digging into the Pyramids. In Gollin J, Ferguson G, Trappes-Lomax H (Eds.) Symposium for Language Teacher Educators, Edinburgh: IALS, University of Edinburgh.
Reports
Fisher R, Myhill DA, Twist L (2011). Evaluation of Every child a Writer report 2: teaching and writing in ECAW classes. Department for Education, London.
Myhill DA, Fisher R, Jones S, Lines H (2008).
Effective Ways of Teaching Complex Expression in Writing. A Literature Review of Evidence from the Secondary School Phase. The Department for Children, Schools and Families. the Department for Children, Schools and Families.
Author URL.
Publications by year
2023
Myhill D, Ahmed A, Rezk L (2023). Engaging with readers: Students’ metalinguistic understanding of the use of pronouns in building reader-writer relationships.
Linguistics and EducationAbstract:
Engaging with readers: Students’ metalinguistic understanding of the use of pronouns in building reader-writer relationships
Students’ metalinguistic understanding of the written academic argument is important both to increase writer independence and inform writing instruction. This article draws on a study which investigated undergraduate students’ metalinguistic understanding of the metadiscourse features in their own written arguments. The specific focus of the paper is to determine what metalinguistic understanding students express about the use of pronouns in written argument as engagement or stance markers to build a relationship with the reader. The analysis indicates many students believed the use of reader pronouns were inappropriate in written argument, often because this was what they had been taught. Students’ metalinguistic understanding was shaped more by notions of formality and objectivity than by understanding of how pronouns play a role in reader engagement. The article argues that greater emphasis on the function of pronouns rather than the form, drawing on metadiscourse theory, and on generating metalinguistic understanding of the differing ways that pronouns function in written argument might better support writers in agentic linguistic decision-making.
Abstract.
Myhill D, Ahmed A, Abdollazadeh E (2023). Going meta: Bringing together an understanding of metadiscourse with students' metalinguistic understanding. Language Teaching, 56(1), 146-148.
2022
Myhill D (2022). Jimmy Van Rijt: UNDERSTANDING GRAMMAR THE IMPACT OF LINGUISTIC METACONCEPTS ON L1 GRAMMAR EDUCATION. Applied Linguistics, 44(1), 169-171.
van Rijt J, Myhill D, De Maeyer S, Coppen P-A (2022). Linguistic metaconcepts can improve grammatical understanding in L1 education evidence from a Dutch quasi-experimental study.
PLOS ONE,
17(2), e0263123-e0263123.
Abstract:
Linguistic metaconcepts can improve grammatical understanding in L1 education evidence from a Dutch quasi-experimental study
This mixed-method quasi-experimental study examined whether metaconceptual grammar teaching impacts on (a) students’ L1 grammatical understanding, (b) their ‘blind’ use of grammatical concepts and (c) their preference of using explicit grammatical concepts over everyday concepts in explaining grammatical problems. Previous research, involving single group pre-postintervention designs, found positive effects for metaconceptual interventions on secondary school students’ grammatical reasoning ability, although a negative side effect seemed to be that some students started using grammatical concepts ‘blindly’ (i.e. in an inaccurate way). While there are thus important clues that metaconceptual grammar teaching may lead to increased grammatical understanding, there is a great need for more robust empirical research. The current study, involving 196 Dutch 14-year old pre-university students, is a methodological improvement of previous work, adopting a switching replications design. Bayesian multivariate analyses indicate medium to large effects from the metaconceptual intervention on students’ grammatical understanding. The study found a similar effect of the intervention on students’ ability to use explicit grammatical concepts over everyday concepts in tackling grammatical problems. No evidence for increased ‘blind’ concept use as a negative byproduct of the intervention was found. Additional qualitative analyses of in-intervention tasks provided further evidence for the effectiveness of metaconceptual interventions, and seemed to indicate that cases of blind concept use, rather than being a negative side effect, might actually be part of a gradual process of students’ growing understanding of grammatical (meta)concepts. We discuss these findings in relation to previous work and conclude that linguistic metaconcepts can improve L1 grammatical understanding.
Abstract.
Ryan M, Khosronejad M, Barton G, Myhill D, Kervin L (2022). Reflexive writing dialogues: Elementary students’ perceptions and performances as writers during classroom experiences.
Assessing Writing,
51Abstract:
Reflexive writing dialogues: Elementary students’ perceptions and performances as writers during classroom experiences
The ways in which we approach the process of writing can tell us much about our confidence, linguistic and textual knowledge, and our desire to please self or others through language. School writing often focuses on the process and product of writing, rather than the conditions that shape how we make decisions when writing for an authentic purpose and audience. This paper uses reflexivity theory, including an innovative Reflexive Writing Instrument (RWI), along with critical discourse analysis, to interrogate elementary students’ decisions-making modes in writing and how these align with teachers’ views, classroom experiences and writing outcomes. Findings show that students can have different perceptions than their teachers about their approach to writing, but the conditions that teachers enable can influence students’ decision-making modes. We argue that the RWI can be used to prompt reflexive writing dialogues so that formative assessment can be nuanced to support individual students’ reflexive writing modes, ensuring improved results and enjoyment of writing.
Abstract.
2021
Ryan M, Khosronejad M, Barton G, Kervin L, Myhill D (2021). A Reflexive Approach to Teaching Writing: Enablements and Constraints in Primary School Classrooms.
Written Communication,
38(3), 417-446.
Abstract:
A Reflexive Approach to Teaching Writing: Enablements and Constraints in Primary School Classrooms
Writing requires a high level of nuanced decision-making related to language, purpose, audience, and medium. Writing teachers thus need a deep understanding of language, process, and pedagogy, and of the interface between them. This article draws on reflexivity theory to interrogate the pedagogical priorities and perspectives of 19 writing teachers in primary classrooms across Australia. Data are composed of teacher interview transcripts and nuanced time analyses of classroom observation videos. Findings show that teachers experience both enabling and constraining conditions that emerge in different ways in different contexts. Enablements include high motivations to teach writing and a reflective and collaborative approach to practice. However, constraints were evident in areas of time management, dominance of teacher talk, teachers’ scope and confidence in their knowledge and practice, and a perceived lack of professional support for writing pedagogy. The article concludes with recommendations for a reflexive approach to managing these emergences in the teaching of writing.
Abstract.
Khosronejad M, Ryan M, Barton G, Myhill D, Kervin L (2021). Examining how classroom talk shapes students’ identities as reflexive writers in elementary classrooms. Classroom Discourse, 13(1), 64-82.
Myhill D (2021). Fostering critical reasoning: Developing argumentative competence in early and middle primary years. Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, 44, 46-61.
Myhill D (2021). Grammar re-imagined: foregrounding understanding of language choice in writing.
ENGLISH IN EDUCATION,
55(3), 265-278.
Author URL.
Myhill D, Clarkson R (2021). School writing in England. In (Ed) International Perspectives on Writing Curricula and Development: a Cross-Case Comparison, 147-168.
Myhill D, Cremin T, Oliver L (2021). Writing as a craft: Re-considering teacher subject content knowledge for teaching writing.
RESEARCH PAPERS IN EDUCATION Author URL.
2020
Myhill D (eds)(2020).
Developing Writers Across the Primary and Secondary Years Growing into Writing. London, Routledge.
Abstract:
Developing Writers Across the Primary and Secondary Years Growing into Writing
Abstract.
Calil E, Myhill D (2020). Dialogue, erasure and spontaneous comments during textual composition: What students' metalinguistic talk reveals about newly-literate writers’ understanding of revision.
Linguistics and Education,
60Abstract:
Dialogue, erasure and spontaneous comments during textual composition: What students' metalinguistic talk reveals about newly-literate writers’ understanding of revision
Many young writers find revision a challenging process. The study reported here uses a multimodal system (the Ramos System) for data capture, in contrast to the more typical use of think-aloud or post-hoc recall, and sought to understand what newly-literate writers’ textual modifications (erasures) and oral comments reveal about their metalinguistic understanding of writing. Six classroom sequences of narrative writing composition were recorded, using both video and audio, capturing both the unfolding texts and the dyadic dialogue about these texts in this collaborative writing context. The analysis shows that, although these young writers’ metalinguistic thinking is dominated by graphic-spatial concerns, there is also evidence of emerging broader metalinguistic thinking across a range of categories. Nonetheless, comments related to composition or narrative meaning were rare. The paper argues for more pedagogic interventions which foreground the compositional aspect of writing narratives, alongside transcriptional fluency, and identifies lines for future research.
Abstract.
Myhill D, Newman R, Watson A (2020). GOING META: DIALOGIC TALK IN THE WRITING CLASSROOM.
AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF LANGUAGE AND LITERACY: SPECIAL ISSUE TALK AND INTERACTION,
43(1), 5-16.
Abstract:
GOING META: DIALOGIC TALK IN THE WRITING CLASSROOM
The rich body of research on dialogic, exploratory talk points to its significance in developing and securing student learning (Alexander, 2018; Gillies, 2016; O’Connor & Michaels, 2007; Reznitskaya et al. 2009). More recently, this body of research has begun to consider dialogic talk specifically in the context of literacy education (for example, Boyd & Markarian, 2015; EdwardsGroves & Davidson, 2017; Juzwik et al. 2013; Wilkinson et al. 2015). However, there remains a dearth of research which considers the role of dialogic talk in the teaching and learning of writing, and particularly its role in supporting developing writers’ metalinguistic understanding of how linguistic choices shape meaning in written texts. This article will report on qualitative
data drawn from a national study, involving a randomised controlled trial and an accompanying process evaluation. The study involved an intervention which was informed by a Hallidayan theoretical framing of metalinguistic understanding which sees grammar as a meaning-making resource, and which promoted explicit teaching which made purposeful connections between grammatical choices and their meaning-making effects in writing, and which promoted the role of dialogic talk. Specifically, this article will consider how teachers manage this metalinguistic dialogic talk about language choices in the writing classroom.
Abstract.
Myhill D (2020). Living language, live debates: Grammar and standard english. In (Ed) Debates in English Teaching, 118-130.
Cremin T, Myhill D, Eyres I, Nash T, Wilson A, Oliver L (2020). Teachers as writers: learning together with others.
Literacy,
54(2), 49-59.
Abstract:
Teachers as writers: learning together with others
In the context of renewed interest in teachers' identities as writers and the writers as artist-educators, this paper reports upon the findings of “Teachers as Writers” (2015–2017). A collaborative partnership between two universities and a creative writing foundation, the study sought to determine the impact of writers' engagement with teachers on changing teachers' classroom practices in the teaching of writing and, as a consequence, in improving outcomes for students. The project afforded opportunities for writers and teachers to work together as learners in order to improve student outcomes. The study involved two complementary datasets: a qualitative dataset of observations, interviews, audio-capture (of workshops, tutorials and co-mentoring reflections) and audio-diaries from 16 teachers; and a randomised controlled trial (RCT) involving 32 primary and secondary classes. The findings reveal that the teachers' identities and assurance as writers shifted significantly. The Arvon experience also led to pedagogic shifts which the students reported impacted positively upon their motivation, confidence and sense of ownership and skills as writers. However, these salient dispositional shifts did not impact upon the young people's attainment. The professional writers gained new understandings which substantially altered their conceptions of writers' potential contribution in schools.
Abstract.
Myhill D, Watson A, Newman R (2020). Thinking differently about grammar and metalinguistic understanding in writing.
Bellaterra Journal of Teaching & Learning Language & Literature,
13(2), e870-e870.
Abstract:
Thinking differently about grammar and metalinguistic understanding in writing
In the light of ongoing international debate about the purpose of explicit teaching of grammar, this paper considers the relationship between metalinguistic understanding and development as a writer. Drawing on a cumulative series of studies over a period of ten years, adopting a functionally-oriented approach to grammar, the paper argues that purposeful grammar teaching occurs within the teaching of writing, not divorced from it; and that this teaching develops students’ metalinguistic understanding of how written texts are crafted and shaped. In this way, grammar is positioned as a resource for learning about writing and one which can support students in becoming increasingly autonomous and agentic decision-makers in writing. We show through practical examples how the pedagogy works in practice, and through classroom interaction data we highlight how metalinguistic talk (metatalk), which enables and encourages the verbalisation of choice. The data also shows, however, that teachers’ skill in managing metatalk about metalinguistic choices in writing is critical in framing students’ capacity to think metalinguistically about their writing and to be autonomous writerly decision-makers.
Abstract.
2019
Cremin T, Myhill D (2019). Creative Writers as Arts Educators.
Abstract:
Creative Writers as Arts Educators
In the field of writing in education two strong, even common-sense, views exist, drawing largely on everyday logic rather than evidenced justification: first, that to teach writing effectively teachers must be writers themselves and second, that professional writers, those who are writers themselves, have a valuable role to play in supporting young writers. But rarely have these views been brought together to explore what teachers can learn about being a writer from those who are writers. Nor are these perspectives unquestioned. The positioning of teachers as writers within and beyond the classroom has been the subject of intense academic and practitioner debate for decades. For years professional writers have visited schools to talk about their work and have run workshops and led residencies. However relatively few peer-reviewed studies exist into the value of their engagement in education, and those that do, in a manner similar to the studies examining teachers as writers, tend to rely upon self-reports without observational evidence to triangulate the perspectives offered. Furthermore, the evidence base with regard to the impact on student outcomes of teachers’ positioning themselves as writers in the classroom is scant. Nor is there a body of evidence documenting the impact of professional writers on student outcomes.Historically, these two foci - teachers as writers and professional writers in education - have been researched separately; in this article we draw them together.
. Predominantly professional writers in education work directly with students as visiting artists, and have been positioned and positioned themselves as offering enrichment opportunities to students. They have not therefore been able to make a sustained impact on the teaching of writing. Moreover, while writers’ published texts are read, studied, and analyzed in school (as examples for young people to emulate), their compositional processes receive little attention, and the craft knowledge on which writers draw is rarely foregrounded. In addition, writing is often viewed as the most marginalized creative art, in part due to its inclusion within English, which itself has been sidelined in the arts debate.
. Notwithstanding these challenges, research and development studies have begun to create new opportunities for collaboration, with teachers and professional writers sharing their expertise as pedagogues and as writers in order to support students’ development as creative writers. In such work the challenges, constraints, and consequences of students and teachers identifying themselves as writers in school has been evidenced. In addition, research has sought to document the practices of professional writers, analyzing for example their reading histories, composing practices, and craft knowledge in order to feedforward new insights into classroom practice. It is thus gradually becoming recognized that professional writers’ knowledge and understanding of the art and craft of writing deserves increased practitioner attention for their educative possibilities; they have the potential to support teachers’ understanding of being a writer and of how they teach writing. This in turn may impact upon students’ own identities as writers, their understanding of what it means to be a writer, and their attitudes to and outcomes in writing.
Abstract.
Myhill D (2019). Rethinking Grammar as a tool for learning. In Alden Och K, Bigestans A (Eds.) Literraciter och flerspråkighet, Stockholm: Nationellt Centrum för svenska som andraspråk vid Instituionen för språkdidaktik. 69-79.
Lines H, Myhill D, Jones S (2019). The Relationship between Metalinguistic Understanding, Student Writing and Teaching. In Bazerman C, Pinzon BYG, Russell E, Rogers P, Pena LB, Narvaez E, Carlino P, Tapia-Ladino MCM (Eds.) Knowing Writing: Research across Borders, Bogota: Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, 115-134.
Lines H, Myhill D, Jones S (2019). The Relationship between Metalinguistic Understanding, Student Writing and Teaching. In (Ed) Conocer la Escritura: Investigaci�n M�s All� de las Frontera | Knowing Writing: Writing Research Across Borders, 113-131.
Banerjee P (eds)(2019).
Transitions from Vocational Qualifications to Higher Education: Examining Inequalities. UK, Emerald Publishing Limited.
Abstract:
Transitions from Vocational Qualifications to Higher Education: Examining Inequalities.
Abstract.
Myhill DA, Newman R (2019). Writing talk: Developing metalinguistic understanding through dialogic teaching. In Mercer N, Wegerif R, Mercer L (Eds.)
Routledge International Handbook of Research on Dialogic Education, London: Routledge, 360-372.
Abstract:
Writing talk: Developing metalinguistic understanding through dialogic teaching
Abstract.
2018
Myhill DA (2018). Grammar as a meaning-making resource for improving writing. . L1-Educational Studies in Language and Literature, 18, 1-21.
Myhill D, Jones S, Lines H (2018). Supporting less proficient writers through linguistically aware teaching.
Language and Education,
32(4), 333-349.
Abstract:
Supporting less proficient writers through linguistically aware teaching
Whilst historically there has been a widespread consensus that teaching grammar has no impact on students’ attainment in writing, more recent research suggests that where a functionally oriented approach to grammar is meaningfully embedded within the teaching of writing, significant improvements in writing can be secured. A recent study, using a functionally oriented approach, which found a statistically significant positive effect of such an approach, also found that the approach appeared to benefit higher attaining writers more than lower attaining writers. The study reported here set out to investigate specifically whether functionally oriented approach to teaching grammar in the context of writing might support less proficient writers. A quasi-experimental design was adopted, repeating the principles of the parent study but with the intervention adapted to meet the identified writing needs of less proficient writers. The statistical analysis indicated a positive effect for the intervention group (p < 0.05), and an effect size of 0.33 on students’ Sentence Structure and Punctuation. The study demonstrates that explicit attention to grammar within the teaching of writing can support learners in developing their writing, but taken with the parent study, it also highlights that pedagogical choices need to be well matched to writers’ needs.
Abstract.
Myhill DA, Jones S, Lines H (2018). Texts that teach: Examining the efficacy of using texts as models.
L1-Educational Studies in Language and Literature,
18, 1-24.
Abstract:
Texts that teach: Examining the efficacy of using texts as models
The classical rhetorical tradition advocated imitation as a tool for learning to be an effective orator, and thus foregrounded the pedagogical importance of using texts as models. More recent contemporary research has also flagged the value of using texts as models, enabling explicit attention to how texts work, and scaffolding students’ learning about writing. Despite some empirical evidence which points to the efficacy of this approach there is little detailed evidence of how the use of texts as models plays out in classrooms or what pedagogical practices are most supportive of student learning. Drawing on a funded four-year study, including a qualitative longitudinal project following four cohorts of students over three school years, this paper attempts to redress this gap. Through a detailed analysis of episodes of teachers using texts as models, it argues that it is critical to understand the pedagogical actions of teachers using texts as models to avoid text models being a straitjacket, constraining learning about writing, rather than possibilities for creative emulation. We highlight the fundamental importance of establishing a link between linguistic choice and rhetorical purpose so that young writers are inducted into the craft of writing, and empowered to make their own authorial choices.
Abstract.
Boivin MC, Fontich X, Funke R, García-Folgado MJ, Myhill D (2018). Working on grammar at school in L1 education: Empirical research across linguistic regions. Introduction to the special issue.
L1 Educational Studies in Language and Literature,
18(Specialissue), 1-6.
Abstract:
Working on grammar at school in L1 education: Empirical research across linguistic regions. Introduction to the special issue
Empirical studies pertaining to working on grammar at school and its effects have not been the focus of L1 research in recent years. For instance, none of the current international large-scale studies investigates grammar learning. This might be the result of widespread doubts about the benefits of grammar learning for students, but-however justified one may consider such doubts to be-they should not lead researchers to neglect this topic. To be fair, research in the field has probably been hindered by the fact that there is virtually no exchange about findings across di-verse linguistic regions, so that empirical results which emerged in one country have seldom been recognized in other countries. Variation across linguistic regions can be found not only in research results but also in research questions-a situa-tion which one may consider tolerable in itself but which constitutes a problem when lack of communication between researchers on grammar learning and grammar instruction leaves a real gap, as is true in this case. This special issue aims to offer an international overview of empirical research on grammatical learning at school within the context of L1 education (including learning about L1 grammar outside of L1 lessons, but excluding foreign language learning), and to deepen it by discussing recent approaches. Thus, the special issue is intended to provide a stimulus for further research on the subject and a starting point for the dissemination of international research into local research communiies.
Abstract.
Myhill DA, Jones SM, Lines HE (2018). Writing like a reader: developing metalinguistic understanding to support reading-writing connections. In Alves R (Ed)
Reading Writing Connections.
Abstract:
Writing like a reader: developing metalinguistic understanding to support reading-writing connections
Abstract.
2017
Cremin T, Lillis T, Myhill DA, Eyres I (2017). Professional Writers’ identities: the perceived influence of formal education and early reading. In Cremin T, Locke T (Eds.) Writer Identity and the Teaching and Learning of Writing, London: Routledge, 19-36.
Myhill D, Watson A, Newman R (2017). Re-thinking grammar in the curriculum. In Egeland B, Olin-Scheller C, Tanner M, Tengberg M (Eds.) Tolfte nationella konferensen I svenska med didaktisk inriktning Textkulturer, 25-44-25-44.
Myhill DA (2017). ‘The Dress of Thought’:. Analysing Literature through a Linguistic Lens. In Goodwyn AC, Reid L, Scherff L (Eds.)
International Perspectives on the Teaching of Literature in Schools Global Principles and Practices, Routledge, 18-28.
Abstract:
‘The Dress of Thought’:. Analysing Literature through a Linguistic Lens
Abstract.
2016
Chen H, Myhill D (2016). Children talking about writing: Investigating metalinguistic understanding.
Linguistics and Education,
35, 100-108.
Abstract:
Children talking about writing: Investigating metalinguistic understanding
Much of the literature on explicit teaching about language has suggested that equipping students with metalinguistic knowledge is as an important means of enhancing students’ participation in learning. Yet in the context of international jurisdictions which are placing a renewed emphasis on knowledge about language, there is a notable lack of research into the nature of learners’ metalinguistic understanding about writing, as evident in their ability to reflect on written language. Using an analytical framework shaped by Vygotsky's and Hallidayan theories of concept formation and language learning, this paper provides insights into the nature of metalinguistic understanding as manifested in ways in which learners engage with grammatical concepts. Drawing on data selected from two parallel studies in Australia and England in which students aged 9–13 were interviewed about their metalinguistic understanding of writing, our analysis has found that learners’ metalinguistic understanding is more strongly oriented to identification – naming and specifying taught grammatical concepts. The findings have important implications for pedagogical strategies that might facilitate higher-level metalinguistic understanding, enabling learners to elaborate, extend and apply their grammatical knowledge.
Abstract.
Jesson R, Fontich X, Myhill D (2016). Creating dialogic spaces: Talk as a mediational tool in becoming a writer. International Journal of Educational Research, 80, 155-163.
Myhill D, Jones, Watson, Line (2016).
Essential Primary Grammar.Abstract:
Essential Primary Grammar
Abstract.
Myhill D, Newman R (2016). Metatalk: Enabling metalinguistic discussion about writing.
International Journal of Educational Research,
80, 177-187.
Abstract:
Metatalk: Enabling metalinguistic discussion about writing
Historically, theoretical consideration of metalinguistic understanding has scarcely addressed the issue in the context of writing, other than in relation to early years writing development where there is a substantial body of work. Consequently, there is very limited understanding of how older writers in the upper primary and secondary phase of schooling develop metalinguistic understanding about writing. Arguably, writing is always an act of selecting, shaping, reflecting and revising (Myhill, 2011) and thus draws crucially on metalinguistic activity. Critical to the development of this metalinguistic understanding is how teachers manage ‘metatalk’, talk about language use in writing, during instructional interactions around writing and how teachers enable developing writers to explore their thinking about how language shapes meaning in written text. This paper, drawing on data from a large national study, will explore the nature and efficacy of teachers’ interactions with students and how they enable high-level metatalk to occur, specifically how they create dialogic spaces for investigating meaning-making in written text. The paper will explore the close relationship between high-quality metatalk and open dialogic discourse roles for the teacher, but it will also highlight the complexity of metatalk for writing and how dialogic-monologic discourses are best viewed as a continuum which take account of other influencing factors.
Abstract.
Myhill DA (2016). The effectiveness of explicit language teaching: Evidence from the research. In Giovanelli M, Clayton D (Eds.) Linguistics and the Secondary English Classroom, London: Routledge, 36-49.
Ahmed A, Myhill D (2016). The impact of the socio-cultural context on L2 English writing of Egyptian university students.
LEARNING CULTURE AND SOCIAL INTERACTION,
11, 117-129.
Author URL.
Myhill DA (2016). Writing Conversations: Metalinguistic Talk about Writing. Bulletin Vals-ASLA,, 103, 153-166.
Myhill DA, Jones SM, Wilson AC (2016). Writing conversations: fostering metalinguistic discussion about writing.
Research Papers in Education,
31(1), 23-44.
Abstract:
Writing conversations: fostering metalinguistic discussion about writing
This article draws on data from a national study, involving an experimental intervention with 54 schools across the country, in which teachers were mentored in a pedagogical approach involving explicit attention to grammatical choices and which advocated high-level metalinguistic discussion about textual choices. The research focused upon primary children aged 10–11, and in addition to statistical analysis of outcome measures, 53 lesson observations were undertaken to investigate the nature of the metalinguistic discussion. The data were analysed inductively, following the constant comparison method, with an initial stage of open coding, followed by axial coding which clustered the data into thematic groups. The analysis demonstrates the potential of metalinguistic talk in supporting young writers’ understanding of how to shape meaning in texts and the decision-making choices available to them. It signals the importance of teachers’ management of metalinguistic conversations, but also the role that teachers’ grammatical subject knowledge plays in enabling or constraining metalinguistic talk. The study highlights the importance of dialogic classroom talk if students are to develop knowledge about language, to become metalinguistically aware, and to take ownership of metalinguistic decision-making when writing.
Abstract.
2015
Myhill DA, Jones SM (2015). Conceptualizing metalinguistic understanding in writing / Conceptualización de la competencia metalingüística en la escritura.
Cultura y Educacion,
27(4), 839-867.
Abstract:
Conceptualizing metalinguistic understanding in writing / Conceptualización de la competencia metalingüística en la escritura
This paper will present a theoretical analysis of research on metalinguistic understanding, illustrating how current research does not yet adequately address metalinguistic development in writing. Existing research on metalinguistic understanding has focused more on language acquisition, oral development, and bilingual learners. Research on metalinguistic understanding in writing has tended to look more closely at young learners developing writing skills in spelling, transcription and orthography. Thus theoretical accounts of metalinguistic understanding are currently insufficient to explain developing metalinguistic mastery of composing text and the relationships between declarative and procedural metalinguistic knowledge in writing. If we are to understand better the nature of metalinguistic understanding in relation to writing in learners in the later phases of compulsory education, it is important to develop theoretical clarity about the key concepts involved in order to frame empirical studies which are both conceptually and methodologically rigorous and educationally relevant.
Abstract.
Janks H, Myhill D, Ryan M (2015). Editorial. English Teaching Practice & Critique, 14(3).
Myhill DA (2015). Playing with language: grammar as a resource for writers. In Nestlog EB (Ed) Svenska ett Inkluderande Amne, Malmo: Svensklararforeningen, 135-155.
2014
Myhill D, Watson A (2014). The role of grammar in the writing curriculum: a review of the literature.
Child Language Teaching and Therapy,
30(1), 41-62.
Abstract:
The role of grammar in the writing curriculum: a review of the literature
For most Anglophone countries, the history of grammar teaching over the past 50 years is one of contestation, debate and dissent: and 50 years on we are no closer to reaching a consensus about the role of grammar in the English/Language Arts curriculum. The debate has been described through the metaphor of battle and grammar wars (Kamler, 1995; Locke, 2005), frequently pitting educational professionals against politicians, but also pitting one professional against another. At the heart of the debate are differing perspectives on the value of grammar for the language learner and opposing views of what educational benefits learning grammar may or may not accrue. At the present time, several jurisdictions, including England and Australia, are creating new mandates for grammar in the curriculum. This article reviews the literature on the teaching of grammar and its role in the curriculum and indicates an emerging consensus on a fully-theorized conceptualization of grammar in the curriculum. © the Author(s) 2013.
Abstract.
2013
Myhill DA, Watson AM (2013). Creating a Language-Rich Classroom. In Capel S, Leask M, Turner T (Eds.) Learning to Teach in the Secondary School: a Companion to School Experience, London: Routledge, 403-413.
Honan E, Myhill D (2013). Editorial: 2103 non-themed issue. English Teaching, 12(3), 1-4.
Jones SM, Myhill DA, Bailey T (2013). Grammar for Writing? an investigation into the effect of Contextualised Grammar Teaching on Student Writing.
Reading and Writing,
26(8), 1241-1263.
Abstract:
Grammar for Writing? an investigation into the effect of Contextualised Grammar Teaching on Student Writing
The role of grammar instruction in the teaching of writing is contested in most Anglophone countries, with several robust meta-analyses finding no evidence of any beneficial effect. However, existing research is limited in that it only considers isolated grammar instruction and offers no theorisation of an instructional relationship between grammar and writing. This study, drawing on a theorised understanding of grammar as a meaning-making resource for writing development, set out to investigate the impact of contextualised grammar instruction on students’ writing performance. The study adopted a mixed-methods approach, with a randomised controlled trial and a complementary qualitative study. The statistical analyses indicate a positive effect on writing performance for the intervention group (e. =. 0.21; p
Abstract.
Myhill D, Jones S, Watson A (2013). Grammar matters: How teachers' grammatical knowledge impacts on the teaching of writing.
Teaching and Teacher Education,
36, 77-91.
Abstract:
Grammar matters: How teachers' grammatical knowledge impacts on the teaching of writing
Teaching grammar has been mandated in statutory curriculum documents in England since 1988. Yet despite this, research evidence continues to suggest that metalinguistic knowledge is an area of challenge for many teachers. Drawing on data from a larger study, this paper considers the role of teachers' grammatical knowledge, both content and pedagogical content knowledge, in mediating learning about writing in the classroom. It also illustrates how students' learning about writing is influenced by teachers' metalinguistic knowledge. The study highlights that grammatical pedagogical content knowledge is more significant than grammatical content knowledge in supporting meaningful teaching and learning about writing. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.
Abstract.
Myhill D, Jones S (2013). Language as putty: Framing a relationship between grammar and writing. In (Ed) International Perspectives on Teaching English in a Globalised World, 144-155.
Myhill D, Jones S, Watson A, Lines H (2013). Playful explicitness with grammar: a pedagogy for writing.
Literacy,
47(2), 103-111.
Abstract:
Playful explicitness with grammar: a pedagogy for writing
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 being taught. The study adopted a mixed methods design with a large-scale randomised controlled trial accompanied by a qualitative dataset, which provided contextual information about how the intervention was implemented. In this paper, we will outline the pedagogical principles that underpinned the intervention, and illustrate both the theoretical grounding and practical classroom examples that exemplify the approach. We will argue that any future policy or professional development that draws on this research must take account of these pedagogical principles, rather than focusing too superficially on either the grammar or the teaching materials which exemplify them. © 2012 UKLA.
Abstract.
Myhill DA, Wilson AC (2013). Playing it Safe: teachers’ views of creativity in poetry writing. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 10, 101-111.
Myhill DA (2013). Weaving Words: Students' Metalinguistic Understanding of Poetry Writing. In Dymoke S, Lambirth A, Wilson AC (Eds.) Making Poetry Matter: international research on poetry pedagogy, London: Bloomsbury Academic.
Cremin T, Myhill D (2013). Writing Voices, Creating Communities of Writers.
2012
Lines HE, Myhill DA (2012). Any English Questions?. Classroom, 16, 54-56.
Myhill DA (2012). Children’s Patterns of Composition and their Reflections on their Composing Processes. In (Ed) Literacy Teaching and Education, London: Sage.
Myhill D (2012). Developing Writers: Teaching and Learning in the Digital Age.
ENGLISH IN EDUCATION,
46(1), 106-108.
Author URL.
Myhill D (2012). Editorial. English in Education, 46(1), 1-5.
Lines HE, Myhill DA (2012). Grammar for Writing:. Sentences under the Spotlight. Classroom, 16, 4-7.
Myhill DA, Lines HE (2012). Grammar for writing: Using knowledge for grammar to improve writing. Classroom, 18, 45-48.
Lines HE, Myhill DA (2012). Grammar for writing: discovering what Year 8 students know about language. Classroom, 17, 35-38.
Myhill DA, Jones SM, Lines HE, Watson A (2012). Knowledge about Language Revisited: the Impact of Teachers’ Linguistic Subject Knowledge on the Teaching of Writing. English Drama Media, 23, 43-48.
Myhill D, Lines H, Watson A (2012). Making meaning with grammar: a repertoire of possibilities. English in Australia, 47(3), 29-38.
Myhill DA, Jones SM, 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.
Abstract:
Re-thinking grammar: the impact of embedded grammar teaching on students' writing and students' metalinguistic understanding
This paper reports on a national study, involving a mixed-method research design comprising a randomised controlled trial (RCT), text analysis, student and teacher interviews and lesson observations. It set out to investigate whether contextualised teaching of grammar, linked to the teaching of writing, would improve student outcomes in writing and in metalinguistic understanding. The RCT involved 744 students in 31 schools in the south-west and the Midlands of England, and was a blind randomisation study. Classes were randomly allocated to either a comparison or intervention group, after the sample had been matched for teacher linguistic subject knowledge (LSK). The statistical data were complemented by three interviews per teacher and three interviews with a focus student in each class, plus three lesson observations in each class, giving a data-set of 93 teacher interviews, 93 student interviews and 93 lesson observations. In addition, the final pieces of writing produced for each scheme of work were collected. The statistical results indicate a significant positive effect for the intervention, but they also indicate that this benefit was experienced more strongly by the more able writers in the sample. The regression modelling also indicates that teacher LSK was a significant mediating factor in the success of the intervention. The qualitative data provide further evidence of the impact of teacher knowledge on how the intervention was implemented and on students' metalinguistic learning. It also reveals that teachers found the explicitness, the use of discussion and the emphasis on playful experimentation to be the most salient features of the intervention. The study is significant in providing robust evidence for the first time of a positive benefit derived from the teaching of grammar, and signals the potential of a pedagogy for a writing which includes a theorised role for grammar. © 2012 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.
Abstract.
Myhill DA (2012). Rethinking Grammar as a Resource for Writing. English Drama Media, 22, 47-52.
Wilson AC, Myhill D (2012). Ways with Words:. Teachers’ Personal Epistemologies of the Role of Metalanguage in the Teaching of Poetry Writing.
Language and Education,
26(6), 553-568.
Abstract:
Ways with Words:. Teachers’ Personal Epistemologies of the Role of Metalanguage in the Teaching of Poetry Writing
The role of linguistic and literary metalanguage in the teaching of writing is contested, although there is some evidence that metalinguistic understanding supports writing development. This paper investigates the personal epistemologies of teachers in relation to the place of linguistic and literary metalanguage in the teaching of poetry writing. The data draws on 93 interviews with 31 secondary English teachers in the UK, following lesson observations, and the data is a subset of a larger study investigating the impact of contextualised grammar teaching on writing attainment. The interviews probed teachers’ pedagogical decision-making in three writing lessons and elicited their beliefs about the value of metalanguage. The analysis indicates that teachers’ personal epistemologies relating to metalanguage are ambivalent and, at times, contradictory. Teachers tend to view literary metalanguage as linked to the creative freedom of writing poetry, whereas linguistic metalanguage is constructed as associated with rules and restrictions. At the same time, teachers reveal a lack of confidence with subject knowledge in both literary and linguistic metalanguage which may be shaping their epistemological beliefs. Teachers’ comments on the place of literary and linguistic metalanguage in poetry writing are paradoxical, but do appear to be strongly connected to their. personal epistemologies. They subscribe to a literate epistemology which values literary metalanguage as part of the knowledge base of a creative, expressive subject, but linguistic metalanguage is not included within this literate epistemology. Policy initiatives to re-assert the role of grammar and linguistic metalaguage within the curriculum need to take account of these literate epistemologies.
Abstract.
2011
Fisher R, Myhill DA, Twist L (2011). Evaluation of Every child a Writer report 2: teaching and writing in ECAW classes. Department for Education, London.
Myhill DA, Jones SM, Lines HE, Watson A (2011). Explaining how Language Works: is there a place for terminology?. Literacy Today, 67, 25-27.
Lines HE, Myhill DA (2011). Focusing Fiction. Classroom, 15, 23-25.
Myhill DA (2011). Grammar for Designers: How Grammar Supports the Development of Writing. In Ellis S, McCartney E, Bourne J (Eds.) Insight and Impact:. Applied Linguistics and the Primary School, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 81-92.
Myhill DA (2011). Language as Putty: Thinking Creatively about Grammar. English in Aotearoa, 74, 13-20.
Myhill DA (2011). Living Language, Live Debates: Grammar and Standard English. In Davison J, Daly C, Moss J (Eds.) Debates in English Teaching, London: Routledge, 63-77.
Myhill DA, Lines HE, Watson A (2011). Making Meaning with Grammar: a Repertoire of Possibilities. mETAphor, 2, 1-10.
Jones SM, Myhill DA (2011). Policing Grammar: the Place of Grammar in Literacy Policy. In Goodwyn A, Fuller C (Eds.) The Literacy Game, London: Routledge, 45-62.
Preece P, Myhill D (2011). TLRP's ten principles. Research Papers in Education, 26(3).
Cremin TC, Myhill DA (2011). Writing Voices: Creating Communities of Writers. London, Routledge.
Myhill DA (2011). ‘The Ordeal of Deliberate Choice’: Metalinguistic Development in Secondary Writers. In Berninger V (Ed) Past, present, and future contributions of cognitive writing research to cognitive psychology, Psychology Press/Taylor Francis Group, 247-274.
2010
Jones S, Myhill D (2010). 'Troublesome boys' and 'compliant girls': gender identity and perceptions of achievement and underachievement. In Capel S, Leask M, Turner T (Eds.) Readings for Learning to Teach in the Secondary School, London: Routledge, 289-301.
Myhill DA (2010). Changing Classroom Pedagogies. In (Ed) Linguistics at School: Language Awareness in Primary and Secondary Education, Cambridge University Press, 92-106.
Locke T, Myhill D, Fecho B (2010). Editorial: Non-themed issue: 2010. English Teaching, 9(3), 1-7.
Myhill D, Fisher R (2010). Editorial: Writing development: cognitive, sociocultural, linguistic perspectives.
JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN READING,
33(1), 1-3.
Author URL.
Myhill DA (2010). Harnessing Grammar: Weaving Words and Shaping Texts. Better: Evidence-Based Education, 2010(Winter), 12-13.
Myhill D (2010). Learning to write. In (Ed) Using Talk to Support Writing, 1-19.
Myhill D (2010). Linguistic development in children’s writing: Changing classroom pedagogies. In (Ed)
Linguistics at School: Language Awareness in Primary and Secondary Education, 106-122.
Abstract:
Linguistic development in children’s writing: Changing classroom pedagogies
Abstract.
Myhill DA, Myhill DA (2010). Rhythm and Blues: Making Textual Music with Grammar and Punctuation. In Wyse D, Andrews R, Hoffman J (Eds.) The International Handbook of English, Language and Literacy Teaching, London: Routledge, 170-181.
Myhill DA (2010). The best words in the best order’: grammar as a creative tool for literacy. English Teaching Online, 1(Autumn).
Myhill DA, Myhill DA (2010). Understanding Language Development. In Wyse D, Andrews R, Hoffman J (Eds.) The International Handbook of English, Language and Literacy Teaching, London: Routledge, 216-227.
Fisher R, Jones S, Larkin S, Myhill D (2010). Using Talk to Support Writing. London, Sage.
Myhill DA (2010). Ways of Knowing: Grammar as a Tool for Developing Writing. In Locke T (Ed) Beyond the grammar wars: a resource for teachers and students on developing language knowledge in the English/literacy classroom, London: Routledge, 129-148.
Myhill D, Milsom R (2010). Writing aloud – the role of oral rehearsal. In (Ed) Using Talk to Support Writing, 64-81.
2009
Myhill DA (2009). Becoming a Designer: Trajectories of Linguistic Development. In Beard R, Myhill DA, Riley J, Nystrand M (Eds.) The SAGE Handbook of Writing Development, London: SAGE, 402-414.
Myhill, D.A. (2009). Becoming a Designer: Trajectories of Linguistic Development. In Beard R, Myhill D (Eds.) Handbook of Writing Development, London: Sage Publications.
Myhill, D.A. (2009). Children’s Patterns of Composition and their Reflections on their Composing Processes. British Educational Research Journal, 1(35), 47-64.
Myhill DA (2009). Developmental Trajectories in Mastery of Paragraphing: Towards a Model of Development.
Written Language and Literacy,
12(1), 26-51.
Abstract:
Developmental Trajectories in Mastery of Paragraphing: Towards a Model of Development.
Learning to write paragraphs and thus learning how to sub-divide a text for topical and organisational coherence is an accepted part of acquiring writing maturity, and most teachers of writing will include explicit teaching of paragraphing techniques within their writing instruction classes. However, there is relatively little pedagogical or empirical attention devoted to understanding the nature of development in paragraphing – how writers increase in sophistication in managing paragraphs, and the pathways of development from not using paragraphs to secure mastery. The study reported here, therefore, set out to answer the research question – what developmental trajectories are evident in mastering paragraphing in secondary-aged writers?. The article draws on a detailed linguistic analysis of a corpus of writing samples from 359 students stratified by age (13 or 15) and gender and posits a model of development in which the trajectory is from graphical organisation, through to topical organisation and finally to textual organisation. However, the trajectory is not simply linear as the demands of longer, more complex texts creates new challenges in paragraph organisation for able writers.
Abstract.
Myhill DA (2009). From Talking to Writing:. Linguistic Development in Writing.
British Journal of Educational Psychology Monograph Series 11,
6, 27-44.
Abstract:
From Talking to Writing:. Linguistic Development in Writing
Background
Previous research in linguistic development in writing has primarily addressed the acquisition of writing, early linguistic development of writing, and spoken-written interactions in the primary phase. This study explored linguistic development in older writers in the secondary phase.
.
Aims
The aims of this two year study were to investigate both the linguistic constructions in secondary-aged students’ writing, and to explore their understanding of their own writing processes.
Sample
The data reported here draws on the first year data collection: a sample comprising two pieces of writing, narrative and argument, drawn from pupils in year 8 (aged 12-13) and year 10 (aged 14-15). The writing sample was stratified by age, gender and writing quality.
Methods
The writing was subject to linguistic analysis at both sentence and text level, using purpose-built coding frames and a qualitative analysis sheet.
Results.
The linguistic analysis indicates that the patterns of linguistic development show that the influences of oral speech characteristics are strongest in weaker writing than good writing.
Conclusions
Cognitive research into the translation from thought to text needs to address more explicitly the fact that good writing requires not only production of text, but also shaping of text. Although it is well-understood that learning to be a writer draws on ‘talk knowledge’, this study makes it clear that one key element in learning to write with accomplishment is, in part at least, learning how not to write the way you talk, or rather acquiring adeptness in transforming oral structures into written structures.
Abstract.
Myhill DA (2009). From Talking to Writing:. Linguistic Development in Writing.
British Journal of Educational Psychology Monograph Series 11,
6, 27-44.
Abstract:
From Talking to Writing:. Linguistic Development in Writing
Background
Previous research in linguistic development in writing has primarily addressed the acquisition of writing, early linguistic development of writing, and spoken-written interactions in the primary phase. This study explored linguistic development in older writers in the secondary phase.
.
Aims
The aims of this two year study were to investigate both the linguistic constructions in secondary-aged students’ writing, and to explore their understanding of their own writing processes.
Sample
The data reported here draws on the first year data collection: a sample comprising two pieces of writing, narrative and argument, drawn from pupils in year 8 (aged 12-13) and year 10 (aged 14-15). The writing sample was stratified by age, gender and writing quality.
Methods
The writing was subject to linguistic analysis at both sentence and text level, using purpose-built coding frames and a qualitative analysis sheet.
Results.
The linguistic analysis indicates that the patterns of linguistic development show that the influences of oral speech characteristics are strongest in weaker writing than good writing.
Conclusions
Cognitive research into the translation from thought to text needs to address more explicitly the fact that good writing requires not only production of text, but also shaping of text. Although it is well-understood that learning to be a writer draws on ‘talk knowledge’, this study makes it clear that one key element in learning to write with accomplishment is, in part at least, learning how not to write the way you talk, or rather acquiring adeptness in transforming oral structures into written structures.
Abstract.
Beard, R. Myhill DA, Riley, J. (2009). Handbook of Writing Development. London, Sage Publications.
Myhill DA, Jones SM (2009). How Talk Becomes Text: investigating the concept of oral rehearsal in early years’ classrooms.
British Journal of Educational Studies,
57(3), 265-284.
Abstract:
How Talk Becomes Text: investigating the concept of oral rehearsal in early years’ classrooms.
The principle that emergent writing is supported by talk, and that an appropriate pedagogy for writing should include planned opportunities for talk is well-researched and well-understood. However, the process by which talk becomes text is less clear. The term ‘oral rehearsal’ is now commonplace in English classrooms and curriculum policy documents, yet as a concept it is not well-theorised. Indeed, there is relatively little reference to the concept of oral rehearsal in the international literature, and what references do exist propose differing interpretations of the concept. At its most liberal, the term is used loosely as a synonym for talk; more precise definitions frame oral rehearsal, for example, as a strategy for reducing cognitive load during writing; for post-hoc reviewing of text; for helping writers to ‘hear’ their own writing; or for practising sentences aloud as a preliminary to writing them down. Drawing on a systematic review of the literature and video data from an empirical study, the paper will offer a theoretical conceptualisation of oral rehearsal, drawing on existing understanding of writing processes and will illustrate the ways in which young writers use oral rehearsal before and during writing.
Abstract.
Myhill DA (2009). Shaping Futures: Literacy Policy in the Twenty-First Century. Research Papers in Education, 24(2), 129-133.
Myhill DA (2009). Shaping Futures: Literacy Policy in the Twenty-First Century. Research Papers in Education, 24(2).
Myhill DA (2009). Talk about it!. Participatory Talk for Learning Classrooms. In Boorer D, Quintus Perera JSH, Wood K, Piew LS, Sithamparam S (Eds.) Evolving Pedagogies, Brunei: University of Brunei.
Beard R, Myhill DA, Riley J, Nystrand M (2009). The SAGE Handbook of Writing Development. London.
2008
Myhill DA, Fisher R, Jones S, Lines H (2008).
Effective Ways of Teaching Complex Expression in Writing. A Literature Review of Evidence from the Secondary School Phase. The Department for Children, Schools and Families. the Department for Children, Schools and Families.
Author URL.
Myhill DA (2008). Towards a Linguistic Model of Sentence Development in Writing. Language and Education, 22(5), 271-288.
2007
Myhill DA, Locke T (2007). Composition in the English/Literacy Classroom. English Teaching: Practice and Critique, 6(1), 1-10.
Myhill, D.A. (2007). Designs on writing (3). Secondary English Magazine, 11(1), 25-28.
SJones, Myhill DA (2007). Discourses of Difference? Questioning Gender Difference in Linguistic Characteristics of Writing. Canadian Journal of Education, 30(2), 456-482.
Southgate CCB (2007). Editorial. Reviews in Science and Religion, 50
Myhill DA, Jones SM (2007). More than just Error Correction: Children’s Reflections on their Revision Processes. Written Communication, 24(4), 323-343.
Myhill DA, Jones, S. (2007). More than just error correction. Students' perspectives on their revision processes during writing. Written Communication, 24(4), 323-343.
Myhill, D.A. (2007). Reading the World:. Using Children’s Literature to teach Controversial Issues. In Claire H, Holden C (Eds.) Teaching Controversial Issues in Democratic Societies.
Myhill D, Jones S (2007). What Works? Engaging in research to shape policy: the case of grammar.
ENGLISH TEACHING-PRACTICE AND CRITIQUE,
6(3), 61-75.
Author URL.
Myhill DA, Jones SM (2007). What Works? Engaging in research to shape policy: the case of grammar. English Teaching: Practice and Critique, 6(7), 61-75.
2006
Myhill, D.A. Jones SM (2006). 'She doesn't shout at no girls'. Cambridge Journal of Education, 36(1), 63-77.
Myhill D, Jones S (2006). 'She doesn't shout at no girls': Pupils' perceptions of gender equity in the classroom.
Cambridge Journal of Education,
36(1), 99-113.
Abstract:
'She doesn't shout at no girls': Pupils' perceptions of gender equity in the classroom
Based on a larger, cross phase study investigating underachieving boys, this article explores pupil's responses to a single interview question inviting pupils to articulate their perceptions of whether teachers treat boys and girls the same. The article records that the predominant perception is that teachers treat boys more negatively than girls, and that this perception increases with age. Pupils speak of teachers' expectations of boys and girls as being different, more being expected of girls both in terms of achievement and behaviour. Unsolicited, the pupils make reference to the gender of the teacher as pertinent, female teachers being perceived as less influenced by gender expectations. The article raises concerns as to the role of education in amplifying society's stereotypes rather than challenging them and aiming for a climate of gender equity in the classroom.
Abstract.
Myhill, D.A. (2006). Designs on Writing (1). Secondary English Magazine, 10(2), 23-28.
Myhill DA (2006). Talk, Talk, Talk: Teaching and Learning in Whole Class Discourse. Research Papers in Education, 21(1), 19-41.
2005
Myhill DA, Fisher, R.J. (2005). Informing Practice:a review of recent research in literacy and the teaching of English.
Author URL.
Myhill DA (2005). Prior knowledge and the (re)production of school written genres. In Kostouli T (Ed) Writing in context: Textual Practices and Learning Processes in Sociocultural Settings, Springer, 117-136.
Myhill DA, Dunkin, F. (2005). Questioning Learning?. Language in Education, 19(5), 415-427.
Myhill DA, Warren, P. (2005). Scaffolds or Straitjackets?. Critical Moments in Classroom Discourse. Educational Review, 57(1), 55-69.
Myhill DA, Jones S, Hopper R (2005). Talking, Listening, Learning. Effective Talk in the Primary Classroom., Open University Press.
Myhill, D.A. (2005). Tense Times. Secondary English Magazine, 9(1), 27-30.
Myhill, D.A. (2005). Testing Times: the impact of prior knowledge on written genres produced in examination settings. Assessment in Education, 12(3), 289-300.
Myhill, D. (2005). Texts as Design, writers as designers. English in Education, 39(2), 5-21.
Myhill, D.A. (2005). Ways of Knowing:. Writing with Grammar in Mind. English Teaching: Practice and Critique, 4(3), 77-96.
Myhill, D.A. (2005). Writing Creatively. In Wilson AC (Ed) Creativity in Primary Education, Exeter: Learning Matters Ltd, 58-69.
2004
SJones, Myhill DA (2004). 'Troublesome Boys' and 'Compliant Girls': Gender identity and perceptions of achievement and underachievement . British Journal of Sociology of Education, 25(5), 557-571.
Myhill, D.A. (2004). All about the Passive. Primary English Magazine, 9(5), 29-32.
Myhill, D.A. (2004). Classroom Observation Schedule. In Lankshear C, Knobel M (Eds.) Handbook of Teacher Research, Open University Press.
Myhill, D.A. (2004). Inactive or Interactive?. A consideration of the nature of interaction in whole class teaching. Cambridge Journal of Education, 34(1), 35-49.
Burns C, Myhill D (2004). Interactive or inactive? a consideration of the nature of interaction in whole class teaching.
Cambridge Journal of Education,
34(1), 35-49.
Abstract:
Interactive or inactive? a consideration of the nature of interaction in whole class teaching
Recent learning theories and the suggested importance of ‘interactive’ approaches in national initiatives, (NLS, NNS) led to an ESRC-funded action research project involving the University of Exeter and teachers in three schools—‘Using Talk to Activate Learners’ Knowledge' (TALK). This investigated how ‘interactive’ whole class teaching was and whether teacher-pupil interactions permitted recoding of information and understanding. The findings corroborate those from Galton (1999a, 1999b), Mroz (2000) and English (2002): that teacher-led questioning and explanation still dominate, as do teachers' objectives. Interaction as participation was differentially experienced by higher and lower abilities, boys and girls, with few opportunities for pupil initiation or extended response. The study, however, provides a model for more fully analysing the varying forms and functions of teachers' questions and statements which may lead to a greater clarity in recognising ways to provide more effective discourse for learning. © 2004, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
Abstract.
Myhill, D.A. (2004). Making Connections: Grammar and Meaning. Secondary English Magazine, 8(1), 23-26.
Myhill DA, Brackley M (2004). Making Connections:Teachers' Use of Children's Prior Knowledge in Whole Class Discourse. British Journal of Educational Studies, 52(3), 263-275.
Myhill DA, Jones, S. (2004). Noisy boys and Compliant Girls?. Literacy Today, 41, 20-21.
Jones SM, Myhill, D.A. (2004). Seeing Things differently: Boys as Underachievers. Gender and Education, 16(4), 531-546.
SJones, Myhill DA (2004). Seeing things differently: teachers' constructions of underachievement . Gender and Education, 16(4), 531-546.
Amer, E. (2004). The Impact of Invention Techniques upon Students Compositional Writing in EFL. The English Teacher: an International Journal, 7(1), 1-8.
Jones SM, Myhill, D.A. (2004). Troublesome Boys and Compliant Girls. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 25(5), 557-571.
2003
Myhill, D.A. (2003). Postgraduate Student Difficulties in Learning Grammar. In Neather EJ (Ed) Getting to Grips with Grammar, London: CILT, 79-82.
Myhill, D.A. (2003). Principled Understanding? Teaching the Active and Passive Voice. Language and Education, 15(5), 355-370.
Myhill D (2003). Principled understanding? Teaching the active and passive voice.
Language and Education,
17(5), 355-370.
Abstract:
Principled understanding? Teaching the active and passive voice
This paper describes some of the misconceptions and confusions in metalinguistic understanding which are established by the teacher during whole-class teaching of the active and passive voice. It draws on findings from a larger study investigating how teachers use talk in whole-class settings to scaffold children’s learning. Through a detailed analysis of the teacher’s interactions with her class, the paper illuminates the significance of clarity in explanations and choice of examples and the importance of secure subject knowledge. It demonstrates how the teaching of metalinguistic knowledge requires more than an ability to identify and define terminology, and how an overemphasis upon content can lead to a failure to acknowledge the cognitive and conceptual implications of pedagogical decisions. © 2003 D. Myhill.
Abstract.
Myhill, D.A. (2003). The Communicative Approach in Egypt: digging into the Pyramids. In Gollin J, Ferguson G, Trappes-Lomax H (Eds.) Symposium for Language Teacher Educators, Edinburgh: IALS, University of Edinburgh.
2002
Myhill, D.A. (2002). Bad Boys and Good Girls?. Patterns of Interaction and Response in Whole Class Teaching. British Educational Research Journal, 28(3), 339-352.
Myhill, D.A. (2002). Consultant Editor for. Eames, K, Taylor, K and Trelawney-Ross, D. Writing: Steps to Success Levels 3-4+. London, Hodder and Stoughton.
Myhill, D.A. (2002). Consultant Editor for. Eames, K, Taylor, K and Trelawney-Ross, D. Writing: Steps to Success Levels 4-5+. London, Hodder and Stoughton.
Myhill, D.A. (2002). Consultant Editor for. Eames, K, Taylor, K and Trelawney-Ross, D. Writing: Steps to Success Levels 5-6+. London, Hodder and Stoughton.
Dunkin, F. (2002). Thats a Good Question. Literacy Today, 33, 8-9.
2001
Myhill, D.A. (2001). Better Writers. Westley, Courseware Publications.
Myhill D (2001). Professional experience and the investigative imagination - the ART of reflective writing.
BRITISH JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY,
71, 179-180.
Author URL.
Myhill, D.A. (2001). Why shaping and crafting matter. Secondary English Magazine, 5(1), 15-19.
Myhill, D.A. (2001). Writing: Creating and Crafting. English in Education, 35(3), 13-20.
2000
Myhill D (2000). Misconceptions and difficulties in the acquisition of metalinguistic knowledge.
Language and Education,
14(3), 151-163.
Abstract:
Misconceptions and difficulties in the acquisition of metalinguistic knowledge
This paper describes the outcomes of an investigation into the misconceptions and difficulties encountered when learning grammar. The study is based on evidence collected from a class of twelve-year-olds who were engaged upon a work scheme focusing on grammar, and two cohorts of PGCE English students under taking an intensive grammar course. The analysis suggests that learning metalinguistic knowledge can be made problematic for several reasons. Firstly, learning is confounded by the acquired misconceptions which learners bring with them, often misconceptions created by teachers and textbooks. Secondly, there are specific characteristics of English grammar which cause confusion, particularly the mobility of word class. Finally, the process of acquiring metalinguistic knowledge can be hampered by cognitive difficulties related to the conceptual demands of grammar, the transfer of learning from passive to active understanding, and the patterns of inter-connected learning in grammar. The paper suggests that too much professional energy has been attributed to the debate about whether grammar should be taught or not, whilst insufficient research resource has been allocate to investigating how pupils learn. The findings point to a need for development of metalinguistic subject knowledge in teachers and for further research on pupil acquisition of metalinguistic knowledge. © 2000 D. Myhill.
Abstract.
1999
Myhill D, Pearson J (1999). Book Reviews. Teacher Development, 3(2), 301-308.
Myhill D (1999). Writing matters: Linguistic characteristics of writing in GCSE english examinations.
English in Education,
33(3), 70-81.
Abstract:
Writing matters: Linguistic characteristics of writing in GCSE english examinations
The article describes the outcomes of a national investigation in the UK into the linguistic characteristics of writing in GCSE English examinations. The study analysed samples of writing in terms of their correctness, effectiveness and patterns of linguistic features used. This article exemplifies how the procedure used can provide valuable information about what writers can and can’t do and argues that greater precision in describing writing will promote better teaching and learning. © 1999 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Abstract.
1997
Harland F, Myhill D (1997). The use of reflective journals in initial teacher training.
English in Education,
31(1), 4-11.
Abstract:
The use of reflective journals in initial teacher training
The intention of this article is to examine the role of reflective journals in Initial Teacher Training courses, and, in particular, how they can enable students to develop critical independence for professional self-appraisal. It explores the value of journal writing in the process of learning about teaching by reproducing an edited extract of one PGCE (Post-Graduate Certificate in Education) student’s course journal, and by offering both a student’s and a tutor’s perspective of the significance of the journal. © 1997 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Abstract.
1993
Myhill D (1993). Choice and Diversity: the Politics of Culture. English in Education, 27(3), 17-23.
