and include the call to arms from David Milliband for mixed schools to teach boys and girls separately for some of the d
Gender and Literacy: Improving Boys’ Writing
Robin Lane Associate Literacy Consultant
Gender and Literacy – Improving Boys’ Writing Since the introduction of national tests it has been a reasonably simple task to quantify the differences in attainment between boys and girls in literacy, and most notably in writing. Both research findings and changes in practice have helped to narrow the gap but the fact remains that there remain significant differences between individual schools. This would suggest that there are school, and notably classroom teaching issues that are particularly influential when it comes to raising boys’ attainment in writing. This paper focuses on research and practice since the turn of the century. Many of the findings quite simply confirm earlier judgements suggesting that there are not just differences between schools but also between classes in the same school. The paper consists of relevant extracts and summaries from identified references. The full text of each is available using the web references provided. The significant factors in improving boys’ attainment in writing, emerging from this paper, are: o Quality of teaching o Classroom culture o Teacher knowledge of how to present content o Planned use of speaking and listening o Visual strategies o Providing short breaks for movement in lessons o Practical activity o The incorporation of ICT o Detailed and informed assessment o Emphasis on a disciplined environment with clear routines
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www.ofsted.gov.uk/publications HMI 505: ‘Yes he can: Schools where boys write well’ (2003)
This was a very encouraging initiative by HMI who visited a number of identified schools and focused their observations on the identification of good practice. Main findings Factors that most strongly characterise the work of schools in which boys write well include the following: there is a culture in the school and classroom where intellectual, cultural and aesthetic accomplishment by boys as well as girls is valued by all in responding to written work, value is placed on diversity of style and approach, succinctness as much as elaboration, and logical thought as much as expressiveness marking is prompt, detailed and indicates clearly both what has been done well and where improvements can be made many pupils, both boys and girls, read widely for pleasure and in this way absorb a range of models for their own writing teachers (of English and other subjects) are knowledgeable and enthusiastic about language and are able to link oral work, reading and writing skilfully and explicitly, thus developing pupils’ vocabulary and understanding of style a good balance is maintained between support and independence, with pupils always expected to be as independent as possible pupils are often given choice as to the content of their writing, even when the form or genre is prescribed efforts are made to make writing tasks purposeful, through seeking ‘real’ audiences, through publication and display, and through the use of writing to support thought writing tasks are often tackled in stages, with feedback or review at each stage of planning and drafting pupils write frequently and at length (often as homework) and in this way develop stamina as writers, but they seldom rewrite long pieces unless for ‘publication’. The above characteristics interact in a complex way, but for sustained progress in writing to be achieved, it is essential that good planning and teaching are accompanied by:
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detailed and informed assessment that values boys’ writing a culture that enables boys to take pride in writing well.
This was followed by an extremely useful ‘Literacy search on improving boys’ writing’ by Caroline Daly (19.09.03 – web only).
Apart from providing a very healthy bibliography it conducted its search in two specific areas: Possible factors identified as accounting for the poor performance of boys in writing Factors identified as promoting improved performance by boys in writing The latter can be summarised as:
Teacher confidence in the subject and high expectations shared by teachers and pupils Tightly structured, well-focused lessons. This is further defined as: 9 A brisk start to lessons 9 Clearly stated and shared objectives 9 Explicit task-setting 9 Well-maintained and appropriate pace 9 Varied activities in clearly phased stages 9 Teachers’ modelling of writing 9 ‘jigsawing’ 9 Class-shared headings, structures and sentence stems for note-taking (Frater, 1998)
Explanation of the features of good writing and connected linguistic features that have an effect on the reader 9 9 9
A range of strategies for writing, identified as: Stepped instructions using mini plenaries and task cards The use of verbal organisers and frames to scaffold text structure Regular opportunities for paired investigative and collaborative writing tasks 9 The use of drama conventions to explore aspects of character, setting or plot such as through tracking (mind mapping), freeze framing, hot seating and character sculpting 9 Incorporation of ‘talk for writing’ time in literacy sessions to provide opportunities for pupils to talk through the overall shape and direction of their text prior to beginning to write 9 Using techniques such as the ‘author’s chair’ to enable the pupils to talk about their writing
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9 Using ICT in all stages of the writing process – to plan, draft, edit
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and publish (Higgins, 2002) Topic selection in narrative writing; boys wishing to choose their own writing topics and be writing ‘close to self’. Medium term planning which is specifically adapted to meet pupils’ needs in their different stages of writing development Oracy – its vital role in the formulation and articulation of ideas Experiencing emotionally powerful texts with engaging narratives Planning and drafting should have clear aims Effective drafting – that is rooted in a range of strategies involving whole-class, group, paired and individual work Writing frames modified to the specific needs of an individual, group or class Active learning tasks with drama as a key strategy Non-confrontational approaches to discipline help establish collaborative classrooms that foster shared approaches to literacy development Pupil consciousness-raising, supporting individual pupil awareness and responsibility for their development of literacy The use of visual media – cartoons, television, video and computer games Using the power of ICT to improve pupils’ engagement with a wide range of literacy activities Poetry writing, offering highly structured approaches and greater freedom with sentence and clause structure Target-setting. Strategies include: Sharing assessment information with pupils and parents Assemblies with a specific focus on boys’ achievement Regular opportunities for staff to meet and discuss the progress of targeted groups and individuals Mentors allocated to targeted pupils Homework and revision clubs (Frater 1998, 2002) Using older pupils as male role models Schools where teachers question their practice, plan collaboratively and regularly review curriculum organisation are more likely to support boys’ success in literacy Teachers who have developed subject knowledge about how to represent content to their pupils
The whole of this research paper is a worthy read.
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www.clpe-project.ik.org/
The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education sponsored research entitled, ‘Effective teaching to promote boys’ literacy and achievement’. The initial findings were reported by Kimberly Safford. Patterns of teaching that made a difference Effective oral rehearsal • Time to formulate a response to reading • Opportunities to bring own experiences into discussions of reading. • Extending understanding of a text, incorporating ideas into writing. • Teachers are crucial models of how these discussions might take place and go forward. • Through role play and enactment, underachievers more fully imagine and enter the world of the text and in the process can acquire the language of authors, narrators and characters. • Through drama and collaborative writing underachievers can be a part of and contribute to a larger text. ICT – enthusiasm and expertise • Opportunities to practice and play at reading and writing that don’t look ‘babyish’: web reading, publishing, email, discussion software – and writing journals. • An audience in school or in cyberspace motivated boys to write high quality texts. The more time underachievers spent in a pre-writing phase, eg •developing ideas through discussion and drama •making notes and drawings •collecting ideas and images •collaborating and reflecting •working with an editing partner •emailing questions and receiving a response the greater was the positive impact on their writing. Opportunities to write frequently, and at length, increase stamina for writing and also improved transcription • Boys who wrote very little began to take risks and write more. • Boys who were unenthusiastic about writing became engaged in their writing.
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• Boys who had “loads of ideas” began to control their writing. Characteristics of improving writers, eg: Increasing confidence Increasing stamina Increasing experience Increasing independence Characteristics of improving writing, eg: Evidence of texts that have been read Written language forms, not speech forms Longer texts Coherent, cohesive texts Spelling strategies The big shapes of an inclusive pedagogy for boys • Access to physical act of writing – to make it more inviting, to “free-up” writing; range of formats for planning & drafting • Role of ICT – communicative and publishing power, writing for a real audience • Reading and responding- time to talk, teacher models of responsive reading • Drama and role play as a springboard for writing – entering the world of the text, experiencing and expanding language for literacy • To write in different voices and formats around the same text and bring these together in longer pieces of writing or as part of a performance • Collaboration for support, and for fun – the social aspect of literacy • Use of whole texts for planning units of work; extending the teaching sequence, flexible planning www-rba.educ.cam.ac.uk/Paper%20EB.pdf
This is a paper of work in progress by Eve Bearne, University of Cambridge Faculty of Education. It outlines the issues surrounding boys and writing and then describes approaches taken by Primary school teachers involved in the Raising Boys’ Attainment Project. A number of significant factors have emerged: Principles and organisation: .. not engaging in purposeless writing – less writing, but writing which matters and which is relevant to the learners; 7
.. the importance of ‘companionable’ writing through using response partners and group work; .. a move away from commercial schemes for teaching writing; .. a specifically genre-based approach across all curriculum areas where work in literacy sessions is consolidated in another subject in a systematic way; .. incorporating speaking and listening and, in some schools, ICT into literacy sessions; covering a range of writing types but also teaching (and allowing choice of) different ways to approach writing. The processes of writing: .. enabling boys to experience writing without the initial constraints of attention to the secretarial features, for example, through using writing journals and opportunities for sustained writing, with time to generate ideas, time to improve text and ‘get it right’; .. an emphasis on talk and time to reflect - finding ways to talk about learning and literacy; more oral preparation for writing, with explicit attention to the structures of texts and opportunities to tell stories, give explanations or instructions, debate issues, before having to write narrative, procedural or persuasive texts; .. deliberate use of visual texts and visual approaches to writing and explicit discussion of how these relate to writing. The teacher’s role .. teachers as writers: not only teachers modelling different forms of writing but also writing for pupils and alongside them in the classroom; .. teachers being prepared to take risks in bringing more creativity to literacy sessions; .. having a clear sense of the levels and experience of all pupils and using this information to move learning forward; .. having some sense of how literacy is perceived and supported at home. The success factors above are related to the coherent management of learning at whole school and classroom level. They involve an emphasis on longer term learning, not teaching alone. This includes establishing a culture which values learners as individuals within an ordered learning environment with clear boundaries and high expectations. Such a culture involves – and creates – trust between children and adults. In the classroom, a key factor would be managing mixed ability teaching with a very clear view of pupils’ achievements and progress and knowledge of how to move their learning on - in other words, informed differentiation.
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Emphasis is also placed on a classroom culture which values learners as individuals within an ordered learning environment with clear boundaries and high expectations. Classroom teaching should be encouraging individual confidence in learning. Bearne reflects on the elements of effective literacy teaching and suggests that there is broad agreement on these. However, she raises what she now considers is the single most significant factor: the role of speaking and listening – in a range of different forms. Whilst opportunities for speaking and listening, including drama, are recognised as useful in promoting increased confidence and fluency in literacy, there are dangers in over-generalising about the role of talk. The Raising Boys’ Achievement project has identified as critical both the teachers’ use of language and the opportunities for pupils to extend their spoken repertoires. It has provided detailed evidence of the importance of systematic and clearly conceptualised oral work and identified some specific approaches to speaking and listening which contribute to improvements in boys’ literacy: .. Modelling the language of texts and of learning: teachers automatically using specific terminology about texts and language as well as offering ways of thinking through their use of language, for example, Why has the author chosen to use those words?; and What might be a way forward for this group? .. Thinking aloud: teachers sharing their thought processes and giving their own opinions, for example, I feel that this is more effective because… and I can see that working…. .. Asking questions – teachers: questions from teachers which are workfocused (rather than behaviour-focused) and vary between those requiring a precise response and those inviting reflection or speculation. This can be enhanced by the expectation that not everyone will have to answer all the time and that there will be chances for extended expression of opinion. .. Asking questions – pupils: this was observed as a significant contributor to boys’ engagement with learning. Where pupils are encouraged to formulate their own questions about learning and opportunities are created for pupils to ask questions of each other and the teacher there are gains in learning. Teacher questioning acts as a model for pupils’ questions. .. Talk during literacy sessions: deliberate planning for inclusion of all aspects of speaking and listening in each lesson. The schools where boys are most successful as learners and in literacy are those where they have had consistent opportunities for different kinds of talk from very early in their schooling. This includes informative talk where pupils are expected to explain their ideas, knowledge or opinions, which helps them
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to realise what they know and gives a structure for understanding and writing informational texts. Formative talk - reflective, exploratory and negotiatory talk helps shape and develop ideas - particularly in group work. Working and learning together are greatly enhanced when groups know the language of negotiation and cooperation. Performative or presentational talk is particularly important. Although at first some boys might feel exposed by the presentational element of lessons, in a supportive and challenging environment a culture is established that it’s cool to be seen publicly as good at something and that even if you might be feeling insecure inside, there can be satisfaction in taking on a challenge.
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Case Studies www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/primary/casestudies/literacy/boys_achievem ent/1094273/ This is a report of work undertaken in a Reception class where visual strategies were used and the impact this had on their ideas, concentration, sequencing of events and description of settings and characters. www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/primary/casestudies/literacy/boys_achievem ent/1094329/ This is a report of work undertaken in a Year 4 class. It describes the use of multi-cultural texts, together with visual and drama strategies and the impact these had on the boys’ attitude to writing. Other examples of Primary Case Studies can be found at: www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/primary/casestudies/literacy/boys achievement
Press Cuttings www.literacytrust.org.uk/Database/boys
Many of the recent press cuttings presented in the Update – latest information on gender and achievement relate to reports of findings in secondary schools and include the call to arms from David Milliband for mixed schools to teach boys and girls separately for some of the day. This followed a fouryear study by Cambridge University. He also suggested setting up strict girl-boy seating plans for certain mixed-sex lessons having referred to some work in Essex. (Independent, 17.11.04) Earlier research within the same study, had suggested a variety of teaching strategies:
Breaking up lessons into smaller ‘chunks’ Incorporating five-minute ‘breathers’ for boys Extra help from an early age for those most likely to fail Single sex lessons
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Greater collaboration and toning down the competitive atmosphere (boys who are struggling to compete would rather not compete than compete and lose) Using a wider variety of teaching styles.
The researchers were somewhat cautious about the use of single sex lessons suggesting that for every school where this had been a success, there is another where it made no difference or made matters worse. They stressed that there was much to learn from the successful schools but that the key elements were, undoubtedly ‘good teaching, a culture of high expectations and good relationships between pupils and staff. It is important to remember that gender is only the fifth most important determinant of a pupil’s academic performance, coming way below prior attainment and social background. (Independent, 12.09.02)
Purpose to be made clear Outcomes to be clearly stated Plans to be structured and build on prior knowledge Tasks to be broken down Reviews to take place at the end of lessons.
(TES, 21.09.04)
A further study, from Manchester University, concluded that there needs to be as much attention placed on encouraging boys to be positive about the hidden curriculum of discipline and respecting authority as there is in raising academic achievement. TES Primary Magazine, 2001)
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Other useful references: www.basic-skills.co.uk The Basic Skills Agency Bridges for Literacy (2002) Effective Practice in Writing at Key Stage 2 (2001) Improving Boys’ Literacy (1997) Securing Boys’ Literacy (2000) - all by Graham Frater www.kirklees-ednet.org.uk/subjects/rba/index.asp This takes you into the Kirklees Raising Boys’ Attainment website. The Coordinator is Gary Wilson. Suffolk LEA The Suffolk LEA has investigated what works for boys in school. There is no direct access to this through the LEA website. The work of the Literacy Manager, Sally Rundell can be accessed through: www.literacytrust.org.uk/Researcherindex www.warwick.ac.uk/staff/D.J.Wray David Wray has a solid reputation for his very practical contributions to literacy teaching, notably through his development of ‘writing frames’. His website offers access to both articles and resources.
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