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-orient...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Myhill, Debra, Watson, Annabel, Newman, Ruth
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2020
País:España
Institución:Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Repositorio:Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ddd.uab.cat:225778
Acceso en línea:https://ddd.uab.cat/record/225778
https://dx.doi.org/urn:doi:10.5565/rev/jtl3.870
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Grammar
Writing
Metalinguistic understanding
Metatalk
Gramàtica
Escriptura
Comprensió metalingüística
Parla metalingüística
Gramática
Escritura
Comprensión metalingüística
Habla metalingüística
Grammaire
Écriture
Compréhension métalinguistique
Parle de métalinguistique
Descripción
Sumario: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.