Research School Network: What The Research Says About Primary Literacy Priorities In Bradford Applying research recommendations to our local context


What The Research Says About Primary Literacy Priorities In Bradford

Applying research recommendations to our local context

Over the last year the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) released their Literacy guidance documents for key stages oneand two. There’s a lot of information in them to take in, but which aspects of it are most pertinent to Bradford schools? Of course, each school differs, but are there any common themes for schools in the Bradford area?

Given that the wards making up central Bradford are amongst the 10% most deprived wards in England’ (1) it is probably this factor that we as educators in the city need to be focusing on. Bradford’s literacy problems are more likely to be due to its levels of deprivation than its numbers of EAL children. In fact, research from the EEF shows that the achievement of pupils with EAL varies widely’ (2), largely due to the fact that the definition of EAL… gives no indication of a students’ proficiency in the English language‘ (3). The report goes on to say, many of the factors associated with risk of low achievement are the same for EAL as for first language English pupils’, such ashaving an identified Special Educational Need… being entitled to a Free School Meal [or] living in an economically deprived neighbourhood.

Firstly, it is important to note that we can’t expect a one-size-fits-all approach to improving Literacy: every child needs to be seen as an individual and taught accordingly – both literacy guidance documents recommend that high-quality structured interventions supplement core classroom teaching for children who require more focused literacy instruction to make expected progress. But for those children who do come from a deprived background, are there any general key findings from research which might inform our teaching?

As well as being one of the country’s most deprived cities, Bradford has been identified by The National Literacy Trust as an area which needs the most support to tackle poor literacy skills in all age groups. All three of the city’s constituencies fall in the top” 15 per cent of need, according to their survey (4). This is more than a correlation between deprivation and low levels of literacy but it is difficult to say whether deprivation causes illiteracy or vice versa. What is sure is that in Bradford, it is imperative that children’s literacy skills, such as reading and writing, need to improved.

Let’s focus in on the first recommendation from both the guidance reports: in the key stage one document it is headed Develop pupils’ speaking and listening skills and wider understanding of language’ and in the key stage two documentdevelop pupils’ language capability to support their reading and writing’. The KS1 document points out that a focus on developing oral language skills is especially important for the development of a range of reading and writing skills in this age group.’ If we want improve children’s reading and writing skills then it would appear that oracy is foundational.

Robin Alexander in his presentation to the DfE in 2012 said ‘…talk is essential to children’s thinking and learning, and to their productive engagement in classroom life, especially in the early and primary years. We now have additional evidence, from over 20 major international studies, that high quality classroom talk raises standards in the core subjects…’ (5)

The guidance document recommends that in KS1 and in KS2:

  • pupils read books aloud and are encouraged to have conversations about them;
  • a teacher models inference-making by asking relevant questions aloud and answering them herself and by thinking aloud;
  • pupils engage in paired or group work (collaborative learning activities) so they can share the thought processes that led them to make inferences;
  • pupils take part in activities which extend pupils’ spoken and receptive vocabulary; and
  • teachers encourage children to clearly articulate their ideas verbally before they start writing.

The guidance document also recommends that in KS2:

  • teachers use structured questioning to develop reading comprehension.

As can be seen from the above suggestions, these opportunities to work on speaking and listening skills come through other learning activities such as reading books and planning writing. Deliberately planning for further interwoven opportunities to practice oracy across the primary curriculum will ensure that this is made a priority without having to create a discrete slot in the school timetable. It is also worth noting that, according to other EEF-commissioned research, some of the suggestions above (particularly those relating to vocabulary), are useful for EAL pupils: Given the importance of knowing almost all of the words in a text to extract meaning from it, expanding all pupils’ vocabulary, but particularly EAL pupils, is likely to be effective as has been demonstrated by many of the studies in this review.’ (6)

The EEF guidance suggests that speaking and listening skills (or oracy skills) are foundational to reading and writing. The evidence suggests that children in Bradford, many of whom come from a deprived background, will benefit from a focus on oracy across the primary curriculum.

More from the Bradford Research School

Show all news

This website collects a number of cookies from its users for improving your overall experience of the site.Read more