Knowledge about language

In order to understand language, pupils need first to be involved in receiving and making it. In older textbooks and methods, the assumption was that use needed to be preceded by knowledge, that before writers could use nouns, they needed to know what a noun was. In best practice today, however, teachers encourage pupils through stimulating contexts to use and develop their language, teaching about it at the point when it is most likely to help them to improve their performance and extend their understanding and interest.

The nature of that offered knowledge has also changed in recent practice. Whereas once it was thought desirable to start with the smaller units of language (the word, the sentence) it is now recognized that pupils' ability to understand and use language depends more on their ability to see how larger units are manipulated: the paragraph which sets out to create a character for a story, or, for example, the series of paragraphs which will make up the account of the life cycle of the butterfly. It is very much easier for pupils to see what is required for such larger units of meaning because they can so easily be related to the writer's purpose: to create an atmosphere, identify the villain, describe a sequence of events, and so on.

This does not mean that the smaller units are neglected. Within these larger purposes there is still a need for the teacher to help pupils with word choice, with a turn of phrase, with sorting out the meaning or punctuation of a sentence. In doing so the grammatical terminology of the sentence, the word (noun, verb, etc) and punctuation should be introduced as the technical terms by which teacher and pupil discuss such matters. It is in this context that at certain times the teacher should also go beyond the immediate purposes of the reading or writing to give pupils knowledge of the roots, derivations and make-up of words which are especially interesting in themselves, as well as being of assistance with spelling.

In approaching knowledge of language in this way, teachers will have the security of working within a consistent English language programme. In these guidelines the English language outcomes have been redefined and their aspects identified. The stages in the development of each outcome have been clarified in such a way as to enable the pupils' language ability to be progressively extended. Throughout, care has been taken to acknowledge the processes, including different kinds of assessment processes, which will enable that extension to take place. A strand which deals with the appropriate use of linguistic concepts and terms is incorporated within each of the four sets of attainment targets and programmes of study.