Talk for Writing: Evaluation Report and Executive Summary
Author: Dockrell, Julie
Date: 2015-07-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Writing Instruction,Teaching Methods,Imitation,Innovation,Creative Writing,Story Telling,Writing Improvement,Pilot Projects,Faculty Development,Elementary School Students,Feasibility Studies,Program Evaluation,Writing Skills,Comparative Analysis,Mixed Methods Research,Fidelity,Teacher Surveys,Quasiexperimental Design,Intervention,Interviews,Observation,Questionnaires

&quot;Talk for Writing&quot; is an approach to teaching writing that emphasizes three teaching methods: (1) 'imitation' (where pupils learn texts by heart, so they can discuss and dissect them); (2) 'innovation' (where pupils adapt stories to create their own versions); and (3) 'invention' (where teachers help pupils to create original stories). These tasks aim to improve writing ability by giving pupils an understanding of the structure and elements of written language. This project sought to develop &quot;Talk for Writing&quot; into a whole-school programme. The pilot programme ran for 18 months, from January 2013 to July 2014, and involved ten schools in Portsmouth. It included a series of 6 full days for school leadership teams (project teams) plus three whole school conferences (&quot;Big Days&quot;) to train teachers and teaching assistants. It covered all primary age groups from nursery to year 6. In addition to the training and support for schools, the programme provided materials, resources, and guidance for staff development, planning and progression. Each school appointed a &quot;literacy lead&quot;, who was responsible for implementing the programme. This developmental pilot was subject to an evaluation, which had three aims: (1) to appraise the research literature underpinning key dimensions of the &quot;Talk for Writing&quot; pedagogy; (2) to evaluate the promise and feasibility of the programme, and provide formative recommendations to inform future evaluation and development; and (3) to provide an initial quantitative assessment of the potential impact of the programme on writing skills that could be used to inform any future trial. The evaluation took place over twelve months and involved six of the 10 intervention schools, one of which withdrew halfway through the programme following the appointment of a new headteacher, and three comparison schools. There were two comparison schools in Portsmouth and one in London. Key conclusions of the project were: (1) most of the teachers were enthusiastic about implementing Talk for Writing within a whole school approach and felt that it provided a consistent approach to teaching writing. However, one school was withdrawn from the project by a new headteacher; (2) features of the programme were embedded in the classrooms, and teachers generally found the programme straightforward to implement; (3) the project displayed mixed evidence of promise. Teachers reported that it had an impact on pupils' writing skills. However, the literature review found mixed support from the current research base for the principles underlying the programme; (4) further research is required to securely estimate the impact of the approach on academic attainment. It would be valuable to undertake some additional development work to refine the approach before it undergoes a full trial; and (5) other research suggests that oral language may play a stronger role in supporting writing in the early years than in Key Stage 2. The programme might benefit from targeted support of key oral language competencies to support the production of early written text in struggling writers and those with weaker oral language skills.