Grammar as a resource for developing metalinguistic understanding about writing
- Autores: Debra Myhill
- Localización: Development of writing skills in children in diverse cultural contexts: contributions to teaching and learning / coord. por Alina Galvao Spinillo, Carmen Sotomayor, 2023, ISBN 9783031292859, págs. 43-64
- Idioma: inglés
- Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
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Resumen
This chapter will consider how the teaching of grammar can actively support students in understanding the nature of writing and being a writer. It will present a theorised perspective on how teaching students how grammatical choices represent meaning-making decisions in written texts and how those grammatical choices can serve to realise the writer’s authorial intention and address readers’ needs. This perspective will draw on the work of Halliday, in particular, who argued that language is socioculturally situated and that grammar is a principal resource for shaping meaning in text. Halliday’s work will be linked to research on metalinguistic understanding, particularly Gombert, and will argue why metalinguistic understanding plays a fundamental role in being a writer who can make appropriate choices in written texts. The chapter will then consider a pedagogical model which exemplifies this perspective, with reference to a research programme conducted over 15 years, which has highlighted key elements of successful implementation and also aspects which limit its effectiveness. To conclude, the chapter will propose that teaching writing using strategies, which support the development of metalinguistic understanding of the ways in which grammatical choices shape meaning, is a powerful way to improve writing and the agency of writers.
