Difficulties assessing knowledge of grammatical terminology: implications for teacher education and teaching

ABSTRACT

This paper starts by reporting on the design and trialling of an informal, low-stakes test designed to assess the knowledge of grammar terms of pre-service primary school teachers following the UK’s National Curriculum, the results of which were used to inform the design of a series of optional grammar classes. The test proved surprisingly difficult to design, and the final version contains many flaws, some predictable and some less so. In this paper we describe the design process and illustrate the difficulties we encountered, using evidence from our contemporaneous discussions and notes, as well as qualitative feedback and selected results from student teachers’ test scores. We speculate on the extent to which the problems of our test reflect underlying issues with our understanding of the nature of declarative grammatical knowledge; these issues are likely to be relevant in all contexts where formal grammar is taught. We also draw out specific implications for the grammatical framework used in the English National Curriculum, and the associated tests of grammar, punctuation and spelling currently in use.

KEYWORDS:

• Teacher education
• metalanguage
• grammar
• declarative knowledge

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 We are grateful to an anonymous reviewer for this point.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Huw Bell

Huw Bell is a reader in the Faculty of Education at Manchester Metropolitan University. His current research focuses on teaching and learning L1 grammar in primary and secondary schools in the UK, teachers’ attitudes to and beliefs about grammar and their impact on teaching, and the implementation of the National Curriculum. Other research interests include first and second language vocabulary acquisition. Huw works closely with a number of primary and secondary schools across the North West. He teaches postgraduate courses in research methods and educational leadership.

Steph Ainsworth

Steph Ainsworth is a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Education at Manchester Metropolitan University, where she teaches primary English. Steph’s PhD analysed children’s phonological development. Her current research focuses on two main areas: grammar in primary education and teacher resilience. Other more general interests include the teaching of early reading and writing, teacher stress and any other areas where the domains of education and psychology overlap.