Underachievement in Writing

Underachievement in Writing

General

Many children think that writing is ‘very important’ Protherough, R (1983) and Literacy still remains one of the two most important and publicized areas of the curriculum. A growing gap between girls and boys achievement, particularly in Literacy has been documented (Connolly 2004; Cox 2000; Warrington 2006; DfES 2004). There is much debate about gender differences in writing and many teachers report that they find it more difficult motivating boys to write for short or long periods of time (Basic Skills agency 2004). Although most of the studies completed have not focused solely on creative writing, this still relates to my topic because before children can be creative they need to be motivated to do so.

The main study in the boys’ underachievement debate to date has been undertaken by (Barne Grainger & Wolstencroft 2004) entitled Raising boy’s achievement in writing. The study found that boys wanted greater choice of topics for writing and a wider variety of writing materials or implements. The project impacted on standards of boys’ achievements and teacher’s professional development. It also found which planning and teaching model worked best (more results and effects will be explained further in the following section).

Other studies have tried to pin point where practitioners are going wrong with teaching boys’ writing. The writing may be imposed in a way that is too structured and children may be focussing too much on passing tests and pleasing the teacher (Grainger et al. 2005). This is supported by Browne (1993) when children were asked how they thought teachers decided what a good piece of writing was and responded with detail about length and accuracy and neatness. The environment can also have an impact, because girls do better, is there a feminised environment where girls can flourish? This suggests we need to cater more towards boy’s interests in every subject (Cox 2000).

The report by Ofsted (1993) titled ‘Boys and English’ suggests this early feminising influence can result in damaging attitudes towards English in adolescent boys. It seems that people are conscious of the poor attitudes to writing that many children develop and that this is affected by the amount of confidence they have in writing (Gorman et al. 1989; Browne 1993; Warrington 2006). This was the case in the We’re Writers project (Grainger et al. 2002, p13) when “KS2 children perceived themselves as weak writers and showed early stages of a long-term negative disposition towards writing.”

An Australian study documented the differences in girls and boys writing. They found that girls can write more complex texts and use more description than boys, while boys are focussed on one event and cannot remove themselves fully, from the story and tell it from another point of view (Kanaris 1999). Clearly something needs to be done to help boys write a story effectively at the same stage as girls can because Ofsted (2003b, p1) found “there is a gap in performance between boys and girls writing”. This report completed by Ofsted (2003b) focuses on schools where boys perform well in writing, below you will find an explanation of some of the things practitioners can do to stimulate boys and indeed girls’ to write effective stories.

Story Stimulus

In 1987 research into the attitudes towards writing was carried out by Janet White for the assessment of performance unit. This research found that imaginative writing was the favourite of over 35% of the pupils tested. To ensure that pupils still enjoy imaginative writing today, we need to ensure that it is interesting and fun for them as was described by the pupils who took part in that study.

There are a number of different ways story writing is taught in the classroom. The writer has explored only one area of stimuli for story writing but there are many more ways of getting children to write imaginatively, and will describe just a few.

There are many ways in which children learn to write and how they should be taught to write (Beard 1984; Browne 1993; Browne 1999). Effective teaching of writing depends on the ability of the teacher to teach from children’s knowledge and understanding, making it relevant to them (Browne 1993; Hiatt 2002). According to Grainger et al. (2005, p 20) Jeffrey and Woods (1997) suggest ways relevance can be achieved, by; “responding to children’s emotions, engaging in their interests and having ‘fun’: giving ideas and stimulating their imagination”. Beard (1984) and Grainger et al. (2005) agree that pupils’ gain more from writing when they are in charge of their own writing and are involved in writing topics, which is mirrored by DfEE (1998).

Beard (1984) was particularly concerned with encouraging teachers to allow children to base their writing on real experience, but one can argue, how easy is it for teachers to relate writing about pirates on a desert island to ‘real’ experience? Teachers would have to use other methods to try and make the task real to the child which is something the writer has focussed on. In his study of what makes good writing stimuli Johnson (2002) found that, although narrative was considered to be hard, the theme still affected the children’s choice, with boys liking a mystery/adventure theme.

Browne (1993, p18) comments that “Children can very often tell elaborate stories at school but when it comes to putting this down on a piece of paper they produce one sentence”, but she also comments on the amount of independence children should be given, so maybe children should be given a chance to puzzle things out for themselves. This is supported in a study investigating the factors influencing story plans of 11 year olds not dissimilar to my own; Sutton and Green (2002) found that when help was provided in the form of prompts, the plans tended to lack development and individual creativity. This suggests that children may need story stimulus rather than more guidance (Poole 1980), although the evidence from the study may not translate to younger children.

Another form of stimuli that could work well and relate to children is asking them to bring in a toy to interview and write a story about what it tells them, this is definitely relating to real experience in its true form, giving them inspiration to write (Cowley 2002).

Drama is included in the National Curriculum and this can help children with their writing (Poole 1980; Hiatt 2002; Warrington 2006). Drama is seen as a pathway to the imagination. Not only does it develop their imagination but their speaking and listening skills as well (Poole 1980; Cremin et al. 2006; Mages 2006). It is acknowledged in particular, as useful in supporting boys’ writing and in the project by Mages (2006) drama was used to explore themes of narrative and provided pupils with first-hand real experiences to use in their writing. It helped them formulate and plan their writing. There was positive feedback from the drama sessions when the children commented on how it had helped them have an idea of how a character would feel. Two other studies agree with the findings of that project: Cremin et al. (2006) found that drama helped deepen involvement in narrative and being part of the process of creating fictional worlds helped them get their own ideas onto paper. “Writing cam naturally through the use of drama.” (Cremin et al 2006, p277) Crumpler (2005) focussed just on young learners and found that drama engaged imagination and helped with composition of texts in interesting ways. Role play may also be relevant and another way to make sure that the all children feel valued is to make sure than in any role-play area (inside or out) there are objects from all cultures and religions. E.g. for a clothes and shoe shop include clothes and shoes from different cultures e.g. sari or Indian shoes etc… Through role-play they can appreciate the similarities and differences of others e.g. in the opticians at my placement the children learnt that children wore glasses to see well. Principle number 5 in the CGFS also relates to this; ‘No child should be excluded or disadvantaged because of ethnicity, culture, home language etc…’
Reading a book could also be a stimulus for story writing. Text and picture can be used to promote Literacy and can be a starting point (Evans 1998; Hiatt 2002; Poole 1980). Children read for pleasure and in doing so absorb models for their own writing, this shows that if children read before they write, this informs their writing and if good children’s literature is used a teacher can stretch imagination and extend ability for children to listen imaginatively (Ofsted 2003b; Poole 1980). Unfinished stories or stopping at a certain part of stories to predict an ending could be useful. Children can be asked to finish the story in different ways; spookily or happily this also encourages children to listen actively so that they know how the story started to be able to finish it (Poole 1980). In the project by Barne, Grainger and Wolstencroft (2004) it was found both reading and being read to gave children taking part in the study a sense of story form but in contrast Mages (2006, p335) found that “images alone may not always be sufficient in creating representations of the story in their imaginations.”

Teacher’s have a great responsibility because children’s creative abilities are most likely to be developed when the teacher’s creative abilities are engaged, they are a catalyst for creative development with principles rather than routines (Grainger 2002; NACCCE 1999; Poole 1980; Hiatt 2002).

One of the two stimuli focussed on in the Raising boys achievement study was visual stimuli (Barne, Grainger and Wolstencroft 2004). The importance of visual Literacy is stressed by (Duffy 1998, p7) “In communities where creativity and imagination are championed, visual literacy is promoted.” A story box is hard to describe and can be known as many things. A similar activity is usually called a story bag which includes items connected with a story and this can also help with writing (Hiatt 2002). A story box activity is described by Dynes (1988, p53) as “a stimulating exercise for the imagination which provides a lot of fun.” These types of activities work on the basis that curiosity is the key for writing (Poole 1980).

World Wide Shopping Mall offers a range of educational products from Learning Resources, suitable for both the home and in the classroom.

Articles- Underachievement in Writing
	Underachievement in Writing General Many children think that writing is ‘very important’ Protherough, R (1983) and Literacy still remains one of the two most important and publicized areas of the curriculum. A growing gap between girls and boys achievement, particularly in Literacy has been documented (Connolly 2004; Cox 2000; Warrington 2006; DfES 2004). There is much debate about gender differences in writing and many teachers report that they find it more difficult motivating boys to write for short or long periods of time (Basic Skills agency 2004). Although most of the studies completed have not focused solely on creative writing, this still relates to my topic because before children can be creative they need to be motivated to do so. The main study in the boys’ underachievement debate to date has been undertaken by (Barne Grainger & Wolstencroft 2004) entitled Raising boy’s achievement in writing. The study found that boys wanted greater choice of topics for writing and a wider variety of writing materials or implements. The project impacted on standards of boys’ achievements and teacher’s professional development. It also found which planning and teaching model worked best (more results and effects will be explained further in the following section). Other studies have tried to pin point where practitioners are going wrong with teaching boys’ writing. The writing may be imposed in a way that is too structured and children may be focussing too much on passing tests and pleasing the teacher (Grainger et al. 2005). This is supported by Browne (1993) when children were asked how they thought teachers decided what a good piece of writing was and responded with detail about length and accuracy and neatness. The environment can also have an impact, because girls do better, is there a feminised environment where girls can flourish? This suggests we need to cater more towards boy’s interests in every subject (Cox 2000). The report by Ofsted (1993) titled ‘Boys and English’ suggests this early feminising influence can result in damaging attitudes towards English in adolescent boys. It seems that people are conscious of the poor attitudes to writing that many children develop and that this is affected by the amount of confidence they have in writing (Gorman et al. 1989; Browne 1993; Warrington 2006). This was the case in the We’re Writers project (Grainger et al. 2002, p13) when “KS2 children perceived themselves as weak writers and showed early stages of a long-term negative disposition towards writing.” An Australian study documented the differences in girls and boys writing. They found that girls can write more complex texts and use more description than boys, while boys are focussed on one event and cannot remove themselves fully, from the story and tell it from another point of view (Kanaris 1999). Clearly something needs to be done to help boys write a story effectively at the same stage as girls can because Ofsted (2003b, p1) found “there is a gap in performance between boys and girls writing”. This report completed by Ofsted (2003b) focuses on schools where boys perform well in writing, below you will find an explanation of some of the things practitioners can do to stimulate boys and indeed girls’ to write effective stories. Story Stimulus In 1987 research into the attitudes towards writing was carried out by Janet White for the assessment of performance unit. This research found that imaginative writing was the favourite of over 35% of the pupils tested. To ensure that pupils still enjoy imaginative writing today, we need to ensure that it is interesting and fun for them as was described by the pupils who took part in that study. There are a number of different ways story writing is taught in the classroom. The writer has explored only one area of stimuli for story writing but there are many more ways of getting children to write imaginatively, and will describe just a few. There are many ways in which children learn to write and how they should be taught to write (Beard 1984; Browne 1993; Browne 1999). Effective teaching of writing depends on the ability of the teacher to teach from children’s knowledge and understanding, making it relevant to them (Browne 1993; Hiatt 2002). According to Grainger et al. (2005, p 20) Jeffrey and Woods (1997) suggest ways relevance can be achieved, by; “responding to children’s emotions, engaging in their interests and having ‘fun’: giving ideas and stimulating their imagination”. Beard (1984) and Grainger et al. (2005) agree that pupils’ gain more from writing when they are in charge of their own writing and are involved in writing topics, which is mirrored by DfEE (1998). Beard (1984) was particularly concerned with encouraging teachers to allow children to base their writing on real experience, but one can argue, how easy is it for teachers to relate writing about pirates on a desert island to ‘real’ experience? Teachers would have to use other methods to try and make the task real to the child which is something the writer has focussed on. In his study of what makes good writing stimuli Johnson (2002) found that, although narrative was considered to be hard, the theme still affected the children’s choice, with boys liking a mystery/adventure theme. Browne (1993, p18) comments that “Children can very often tell elaborate stories at school but when it comes to putting this down on a piece of paper they produce one sentence”, but she also comments on the amount of independence children should be given, so maybe children should be given a chance to puzzle things out for themselves. This is supported in a study investigating the factors influencing story plans of 11 year olds not dissimilar to my own; Sutton and Green (2002) found that when help was provided in the form of prompts, the plans tended to lack development and individual creativity. This suggests that children may need story stimulus rather than more guidance (Poole 1980), although the evidence from the study may not translate to younger children. Another form of stimuli that could work well and relate to children is asking them to bring in a toy to interview and write a story about what it tells them, this is definitely relating to real experience in its true form, giving them inspiration to write (Cowley 2002). Drama is included in the National Curriculum and this can help children with their writing (Poole 1980; Hiatt 2002; Warrington 2006). Drama is seen as a pathway to the imagination. Not only does it develop their imagination but their speaking and listening skills as well (Poole 1980; Cremin et al. 2006; Mages 2006). It is acknowledged in particular, as useful in supporting boys’ writing and in the project by Mages (2006) drama was used to explore themes of narrative and provided pupils with first-hand real experiences to use in their writing. It helped them formulate and plan their writing. There was positive feedback from the drama sessions when the children commented on how it had helped them have an idea of how a character would feel. Two other studies agree with the findings of that project: Cremin et al. (2006) found that drama helped deepen involvement in narrative and being part of the process of creating fictional worlds helped them get their own ideas onto paper. “Writing cam naturally through the use of drama.” (Cremin et al 2006, p277) Crumpler (2005) focussed just on young learners and found that drama engaged imagination and helped with composition of texts in interesting ways. Role play may also be relevant and another way to make sure that the all children feel valued is to make sure than in any role-play area (inside or out) there are objects from all cultures and religions. E.g. for a clothes and shoe shop include clothes and shoes from different cultures e.g. sari or Indian shoes etc… Through role-play they can appreciate the similarities and differences of others e.g. in the opticians at my placement the children learnt that children wore glasses to see well. Principle number 5 in the CGFS also relates to this; ‘No child should be excluded or disadvantaged because of ethnicity, culture, home language etc…’ Reading a book could also be a stimulus for story writing. Text and picture can be used to promote Literacy and can be a starting point (Evans 1998; Hiatt 2002; Poole 1980). Children read for pleasure and in doing so absorb models for their own writing, this shows that if children read before they write, this informs their writing and if good children’s literature is used a teacher can stretch imagination and extend ability for children to listen imaginatively (Ofsted 2003b; Poole 1980). Unfinished stories or stopping at a certain part of stories to predict an ending could be useful. Children can be asked to finish the story in different ways; spookily or happily this also encourages children to listen actively so that they know how the story started to be able to finish it (Poole 1980). In the project by Barne, Grainger and Wolstencroft (2004) it was found both reading and being read to gave children taking part in the study a sense of story form but in contrast Mages (2006, p335) found that “images alone may not always be sufficient in creating representations of the story in their imaginations.” Teacher’s have a great responsibility because children’s creative abilities are most likely to be developed when the teacher’s creative abilities are engaged, they are a catalyst for creative development with principles rather than routines (Grainger 2002; NACCCE 1999; Poole 1980; Hiatt 2002). One of the two stimuli focussed on in the Raising boys achievement study was visual stimuli (Barne, Grainger and Wolstencroft 2004). The importance of visual Literacy is stressed by (Duffy 1998, p7) “In communities where creativity and imagination are championed, visual literacy is promoted.” A story box is hard to describe and can be known as many things. A similar activity is usually called a story bag which includes items connected with a story and this can also help with writing (Hiatt 2002). A story box activity is described by Dynes (1988, p53) as “a stimulating exercise for the imagination which provides a lot of fun.” These types of activities work on the basis that curiosity is the key for writing (Poole 1980). World Wide Shopping Mall offers a range of educational products from Learning Resources, suitable for both the home and in the classroom. Author: Victoria Jane Chalk Date:27/02/2008 References:	World Wide Shopping Mall Chancery Lane Malton North Yorkshire YO17 7HW UK Tel: 01653 602 880 Fax: 01653 602 889 Company No: 3307834 VAT Reg No: 722179444
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