In the past, I have made many criticisms of the way 'Grammar' is taught in primary schools. My main points are:
1. Grammar was only introduced into primary schools as a way of assessing teachers (Bew Report 2011). It was introduced on the basis that grammar has 'right and wrong answers'. This is false. Many of the questions asked on GPS papers create false binaries. That's because language is full of acceptable variants ie different but totally OK ways of saying and writing things. We shouldn't be fibbing to children that everything on the GPS curriculum is a matter of right or wrong. This is particularly the case with punctuation.
2. The grammar in the Grammar curriculum is only one of several ways of describing language. It is particularly weak because it views language as a set of rules and rigid descriptions. Many of these rules are based on the way grammarians described the way Latin was written down hundreds of years ago. Another way of viewing language is that it's based on a set of choices. We choose what to say and how we say it according to many things going on in our heads and going on around us ie 'contexts'. We can, for example, identify some of these contexts as 'genre' (ie what kind of speech or writing is this?), 'participants' (ie who is speaking or writing? who is listening or reading), 'theme' or 'subject' of the piece of language we're looking at.
This tells us that language is always and actually 'language in use'. If we are really interested in what children can do with language, we need to help them see and explore the differences and variations of language being used in actual and real situations. GPS takes language out of language-in-use and creates artificial sentences and demands that children 'spot' the rules or terms.
3. There is an error in the GPS grammar which says that a given word 'is' a given term eg the children are asked to say things like, 'That word 'is' an adjective.' Or, 'Those words are a 'fronted adverbial'.' One problem with this is that the terms keep changing. For example if I read, 'that's my book', I was taught in the 1950s/60s that the word 'my' 'is' a 'possessive adjective' or it 'is' a 'possessive pronoun' or even that it 'is' a 'determinative possessive pronoun' (!). It's now called a 'determiner'. So what 'is' it? Which one of the four is it?
4. There are some big problems with the way these terms have been given and fixed. The most notable of these is 'tense'. In written ancient Latin, it made sense to say that a given 'verb form' was matched to a given way of talking about time. The grammarians could say that that verb form meant it was eg 'present' or 'past' and so on. In modern English, this is clearly not the case. We use verb forms in flexible ways. We can use what GPS calls the 'present tense' in a passage that indicate the 'future' or the 'past'. What's more, we have other words to indicate time, words like 'tomorrow' or 'yesterday'. All this adds up to the idea that it would be better to talk about 'time aspect' (or some such) to indicate that we have whole structures to show what time frame we are using: a mix of verbs, adverbs, phrases, clauses and these are dependent on the 'contexts' that I mentioned before. The whole apparatus about 'tense' in GPS is false.
5. The most pernicious aspect of GPS (formerly SPaG of course) is the crass way in which it's been used in relation to pupils' writing. It has reduced some children's writing to what I've called 'writing by numbers'. That's to say, a given so-called 'grammatical' feature has been identified as necessary for a child to reach the 'right' level of writing. This makes 'grammar' the master of what makes 'good' writing. But 'grammar' should at most be a means of describing some aspects of language not of prescribing how the 'best' writing should be. Again, if we worked on the principle of 'language in use' and used the 'contexts' I mentioned we would get to the idea of children learning how to use language in the best way for a given situation. We need different kinds of language for different situations.
6. There are some hidden messages in GPS: one notable one is what it says about class and culture. It elevates one particular language use above all others: a poorly defined 'formal' English as being universally suitable and desirable. This downgrades many other forms of English, speech, local, diverse, and informal uses of language that have been part of culture and life for hundreds of years.
I isolated some questions on this year's KS2 GPS test and posted my very short thoughts on Twitter. I've copied these and that's what follows now.
Question:
Circle the two determiners in the sentence below.
In an hour, we will be getting on our train.
My comment:
EAT THAT YOU 50s and 60s EDUCATED FOLKS! 'OUR' IS A 'DETERMINER'. IF YOU DARE CALL IT WHAT YOU USED TO CALL IT YOU ARE A LOSER.
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Question:
Insert a hyphen in the correct place in the sentence below.
We were very busy in the run up to the school play.
My comment:
IS THERE A POINTLESS RULE THAT YOU CAN'T PUT A HYPHEN IN 'SCHOOL PLAY'? REALLY? DOES THIS MATTER? I'M GOING TO START PUTTING A HYPHEN IN FROM NOW ON.
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Question:
Circle the co-ordinating conjunction in the sentence below.
I started drawing a car, but then I changed my mind because I had a better idea.
My comment:
THIS IS AN EG OF ADULTS TRYING TO TRICK CHILDREN BY 'DISTRACTING' THEM WITH A 'WRONG' ANSWER. WHAT'S THE POINT?
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My comment on the fronted adverbial question:
The absurdity of terminology: the 'fronted adverbial' in 'With big smiles on our faces, we lined up for the class photo' clearly describes 'we', not 'lined up'. Therefore it's adjectival in content! But that term doesn't exist!
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Question:
Insert a colon in the correct place in the sentence below.
Many fossils are not as big as people think some are so small that you need a microscope to see them.
My comment:
THAT’S OK THANKS, I'LL USE A FULL STOP. MORE MISLEADING RUBBISH.
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My comment re ‘dashes’’:
There are two questions which ask you to put dashes in the correct place! What's with the fetish about dashes? Life is possible without putting dashes anywhere. More rubbish.
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Question:
Insert a semi-colon in the correct place in the sentence below.
The suitcase was heavy the box was lighter but more awkward to carry.
My comment:
[ACTUALLY I'D PREFER TO USE A FULL STOP. IT'S NOT MORE 'CORRECT' TO USE A SEMI-COLON THERE. MISLEADING NONSENSE.]
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Q12 requires you to make 'warm' and 'cool' antonyms! Absurd rubbish.
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Question:
Circle the correct verb form in each underlined pair to complete the
passage below.
William Shakespeare, the famous writer, is / was born in Stratford-
upon-Avon in 1564 and later will move / moved to London where he will become / became an actor. Even today, Shakespeare’s plays
are performed / performed around the world.
My comment:
WE KNOW WHAT ANSWER THEY WANT BUT IN FACT USING 'IS' AND 'WILL BECOME' IS PERFECTLY ACCEPTABLE IN SOME CONTEXTS. THEY ARE NOT 'INCORRECT' FORMS.
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My comment on active-passive
On the 2022 KS2 GPS test there are three questions on active-passive forms. Three? Imagine being the examiners saying to themselves: 'Let's really hit'em with the passive, this year.' Like, why? Is it a 2022 thing?
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