Seminar by Professor Debra Myhill (University of Exeter) 'Do you know your adverbs from your articles? What place for grammar in the Curriculum?'

In the context of national grammar tests for all 11 year olds, this presentation will explore briefly the contested place of grammar in the curriculum, and will offer a theorised rationale for the benefit of including grammar within the teaching of mother tongue language. Adopting an interdisciplinary perspective, drawing on Halliday’s social semiotic view of how language makes meaning, and on cognitive perspectives which consider the place of metalinguistic thinking in the process of writing. Using findings from a series of studies conducted in the Centre for Research in Writing, the presentation will illustrate how the teaching of writing can make meaningful connections for developing writers between language choices and meaning-making, and support them become more autonomous, independent writers. This seminar will be recorded