Supporting Elementary-Level English Language Learners’ Writing Development With Functional Grammar Metalanguage

• In Event: Investigations of a Functional Grammar Approach to Enhance the Reading and Writing Achievement of Elementary English Language Learners

Abstract

Increasing attention has recently been paid to the need to strengthen writing instruction for school-aged children (Gilbert & Graham, 2010; National Commission on Writing, 2003). In particular, while it is widely recognized that argumentative writing skills are necessary for students’ success, few instructional practices have been identified that support the development of these skills (Newell, Beach, Smith & VanDerHeide, 2011). An SFL approach to teaching argumentative writing offers teachers and students a metalanguage for discussing and structuring the discursive moves specific to this genre. This paper reports on the ways 5th grade English learners and their teachers took up this metalanguage and the ways it supported the children's writing development.
This research draws on notions of genre from SFL theory, where it is defined as a staged process through which members of a culture achieve a social purpose (Martin & Rose, 2008). SFL researchers have offered ways of describing the stages of pedagogical genres and the language resources that typically realize those stages.

For this presentation, analysis of persuasive writing produced by the same students on two occasions will be discussed, focusing on the students’ construction of the analysis stage. In both cases, the teacher preceded the writing assignment with a discussion of a reading selection supported by SFL-oriented discussion of language and meaning, but in the first instance, no genre-related metalanguage supported the writing instruction. Following professional development on an SFL/stage-based approach, the teacher introduced students to stages expected in argumentation, with genre-specific scaffolds.
Video of the classroom events, field-notes, and curricular materials were analyzed to characterize the support students were given for argumentative writing at both occasions. The two sets of writing samples were coded for presence of genre-appropriate stages, and the second set was further analyzed to identify how children appropriated the support they received to engage in analysis. Results of that analysis were used to develop a proposed continuum from emergent to developed presentation of evidence and analysis, and to identify challenges students encounter in engaging in analysis.
Comparison of the sets of writing suggests the importance of providing explicit, ongoing support for students to engage in the task of analysis. For example, in the writing produced before the discussion of genre stages, analysis was non-existent in almost all cases. While all students attempted to engage in analysis for the second writing task, this study revealed a continuum of development of analysis and identified features associated with emergent growth in the ability to present and analyze evidence in support of an argument.
Elementary teachers typically are familiar with process-oriented writing pedagogies (Cutler & Graham, 2008), but often lack resources for teaching students to develop the content and structure of their writing. Learning about the expected genre stages and practicing using language that enables these stages offers a new way for teachers to be explicit in supporting this important writing skill. This research, then, responds to recent calls (e.g., Newell et al., 2011) for study of young children's development of argumentation and pedagogies that support it.

Author

• Catherine L. O'Hallaron, University of Michigan