The effect of grammar teaching on writing development

Richard Andrews, Carole Torgerson, Sue Beverton, Allison Freeman, Terry Locke, Graham Low, Alison Robinson, Die Zhu

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

116 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This article reports on the results of two international systematic research reviews which focus on different aspects of teaching grammar to improve the quality and accuracy of 5–16-year-olds' writing in English. The results show that there is little evidence to indicate that the teaching of formal grammar is effective; and that teaching sentence-combining has a more positive effect. In both cases, however, despite over a hundred years of research and debate on the topic, there is insufficient quality of research to prove the case with either approach. More research is needed, as well as a review of policy and practice in England with regard to the teaching of sentence structure in writing.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)39-55
Number of pages17
JournalBritish Educational Research Journal
Volume32
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Feb 2006

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