Literacy news
Back-to-basics grammar test for 11-year-olds from next year
5 Jul 2012
The Department for Education has published plans for a new writing exam to measure children's grasp of vocabulary, spelling, grammar and punctuation. This will form part of the Sats tests and is one of the Coalition's strategies to help children master the basics before starting secondary education.
The exam will focus on the grammatical functions of words, including nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, prepositions and conjunctions. Pupils will also be expected to recognize the difference between formal and non-standard English, in response to concerns that too many youngsters rely on so-called “text speak” in their written work. Another objective is to teach pupils how to use "fluent, joined and legible" handwriting and they will be taught to use punctuation marks correctly, with a focus on full stops, question marks, commas, inverted commas and apostrophes.
However, the plans have already been faced with the possibility of boycott by the teaching unions over concerns that it risks narrowing the curriculum and promoting a culture of “teaching to the test”. The National Association of Head Teachers warned that it would pile “increased misery” on 10 and 11 year-olds who were already drilled to pass separate exams in maths and reading at the end of primary school.
Read the full story on The Telegraph.
