Research School Network: Direct Instruction in English How the principles of clear communication can be applied to teaching the core skills in Secondary English

One of the main issues that we face in English is its subjectivity; the texts that we explore are always open to interpretation and indeed one of its greatest attributes is the fact that most interpretations are valid. This, subsequently, poses the problem of how to teach a subject which could potentially be interpreted in the classroom thirty different ways and the added issue that pupils may have up to five different teachers over their secondary school life.

Arguably, Direct Instruction could be perceived to be restrictive to a child’s creative flair in English but it is essential that the core skills are explicitly taught consistently throughout the five years in a spiralling curriculum. One of the ways we have developed this is through our set processes and the language we frame in classes.

A key part of Direct Instruction is clear communication. Engelmann suggests that following the Wording Principle is one way that teachers can get clear communication. This is where simple and structured phases are used to describe examples in a lesson. The aim of this is to provide a clear focus on the details of the task therefore limiting the possibility of misinterpreting the information that is being taught. More information about the other 4 principles of clear communication can be found here.

As a department we used the Wording Principle when we explored the concept of structure. Historically, we have all taught this component in similar yet different ways: building blocks; jigsaw; focus shifts; action movement, how information is released amongst many others. Whilst these are all correct, they can provide an element of confusion to a pupil if each year they are presented with a different interpretation of what structure actually is, even to the point they do not comprehend that we’ve all been teaching the same thing. However, by framing our language and uniformly providing one definition: structure is the journey the writer takes the reader on, throughout their whole secondary life and using this as a springboard for other ideas (including the ones mentioned earlier), pupils are able to form their own links and apply metacognition when approaching the question.

Equally, we have used the Wording Principle in our set process for approaching language analysis. By always framing our own language in the same way and live modelling classwork using the set process not only develops their metacognition but also allows them to access the work readily each lesson and to be able to retrieve the information fully. Furthermore, we have broken down the model to teach year on year so they are constantly being taught through direct instruction but are also subjected to the building blocks required for increasing depth of thought and consolidation of prior learning.

More recently, in my own teaching I have become aware that some of my Y11 students are still not exhibiting the correct level of analytical skills in their literature essays (data gathered from the recent round of mock exams); they still lack insight, depth and critique which would demonstrate progress from Y10 and move them higher in the mark-scheme. At this juncture, Engelmann would say the fault lies with the instruction rather than the students themselves. For this reason, through the Wording Principle I explicitly taught sentence stems using the analytical verbs: teach, warn, celebrate, highlight and criticise. Students were instructed to use these sentence stems to approach the theme of conflict in Romeo & Juliet.

A student initially wrote, ​“Shakespeare presents conflict at the beginning of the play in the quotation, ​“thrice disturb’d the quiet of our streets.” The empty paragraph opener, consequently, set the tone for the response as lacking depth and insight; whereas, after Direct Instruction – specifically using the Wording Principle and providing set phrases for them to choose from – the improved response said, ​“Shakespeare presents conflict at the very beginning of the play to warn the audience that feuding and fighting can have a hugely negative effect on others, evidenced by the quotation, ​“thrice disturb’d the quiet of our streets.” Once the standard of the paragraph was raised and set, the whole response saw improvement and instantly became more developed.

Departmentally, we firmly believe that by explicitly teaching the fundamental skills, pupils are able to write creatively and explore their own interpretations of a literary/non-literary piece.