Becoming a Designer:

Trajectories of Linguistic Development

Debra Myhill

Why linguistic development?

Linguistics is associated with grammar

Grammar is associated with error, accuracy and correctness

The goal of correctness is a narrow conceptualisation of development

Theoretical and pedagogical preoccupation with the ‘grammar debate’

have obscured more constructive discussions about linguistic

development

The Grammar Debate

‘English teachers do not see themselves as grammar police, on the

lookout for mistakes’ [Bomer, NCTE, 2006]

‘teaching children about syntax and the parts of speech will result in better

writing, as well as making them politer, more patriotic and less likely to

become pregnant’ [critique by Pullman, 2005]

New understandings

Theoretically, research on linguistic development is more focused on

young writers and is limited in scope and quantity. Understanding

linguistic development in writers who have progressed beyond basic

mastery is an important theoretical contribution.

Pedagogically, understanding what linguistic development looks like in

secondary-aged writers will help to inform teaching and address the

international concern about writing standards.

Theoretical Context

Linguistic development is only one part of the whole which constitutes writing

development:

Cognitive development

Metacognitive development

Development of socio-cultural understanding

Previous ResearchStudy Sample Result

Hunt 1965 5-18 no evidence that there were linguistic constructions which acted as markers of development [very small sample]

Harpin 1976 7-11 decline in use of personal pronouns; increase in clause and sentence length; increase in use of subordination

Loban 1976 5-18 the use of longer sentences; greater elaboration of subject and predicate; more embedded clauses and adjectival dependent clauses; greater variety and depth of vocabulary

Perera 1984 8-12 more subordination; longer noun phrases; more use of passive and modals; range of adverbials

Raban 1988 5-8 different connectives used in writing compared with speech

Kress 1994 4-8 sentence as textual unit not syntactical unit; early dependence on co-ordination; fewer temporal indicators

Allison 2002 5-9 more subordination; dependence on co-ordination

The Study

Phase 1: Linguistic analysis of texts written in classroom context

Phase 2: observation of teaching and post hoc stimulated recall interviews

with sub-sample of students

The Study

Writing Sample for Linguistic Analysis

Two cohorts of 180 students: Year 8 (aged 12-13) and Year 10 (aged 14-15)

Drawn from 6 schools

Two pieces of writing written in a standard teaching context: one personal

narrative, the other argument.

360 samples of argument; 360 samples of narrative

Writing sample stratified by attainment and gender

The Study

Detailed analysis of 100 words at sentence level

Detailed analysis of whole piece at paragraph and text level

Quantitative and qualitative data

Specific focus on making connections between linguistic structures and

construction of meaning

The StudyNumber of:

Sentence length Sentences; words in shortest sentence; words in longest sentence; minor sentences; confused sentences

Thematic variety Subject openings; adverbial openings; non-finite clause openings; finite clause openings; fronted openings; cleft sentences; and, but, so openings

Text output counts Words; sentences; paragraphs; sentences per paragraph; words per sentence; characters per word; passive sentences

Clauses Finite verbs; finite subordinate clauses; co-ordinate clauses; infinitive clauses; present participle clauses; past participle clauses

Other syntactical structures

Subject-verb inversions; subject clauses; noun phrases; coherence lapses

Trajectories of Development

From speech patterns to writing patterns

From declaration to elaboration

From translation to transformation

FROM SPEECH PATTERNS TO

WRITING PATTERNS

From Speech to Writing

‘the sentence belongs to writing’ [Kress 1994]

Writing is not speech written down

Perera found that children from age 8 understood that writing was not

speech written down

Developing writers have to learn to become more ‘writerly’

Lexical Choice

Word length Mean

Good 4.3

Average 4.1

Weak 4.0

lots majority

stuff substances

place environment

stories narratives

saying proposing

made-up imaginary

nose nostrils

bad negative

p =0.00*

My progression along the narrow ledge was indeed noticeable, and it got

a lot easier to walk on and keep my balance the further I went. In fact, I

was beginning to speed up now that I had walked some distance, and all

of my fear almost vanished, as though it had just evaporated into thin air,

vaporised by this new surge of confidence which I had just received. That

was, of course, until I reached my final destination on the route that I had

just come along.

The use of ‘like’

I could smell the sweet smell of lavender, like I was standing in a herb

garden.

It seemed like he had stopped trying to get him and gone away.

Over-use of co-ordination

It took me Quite a while to get used to the people but i soon got used to

everyone there and i fitted in Quite nicely but sometimes it does get a bit

worrying for me because I wreckon that everybody will be horrible to me

but if im not horrible to them they won’t be horrible to me or that’s what i

thought!!!

I cried and cried and cried.

FROM DECLARATION TO

ELABORATION

Writing for a Reader

Providing appropriate detail for the reader

Managing information on behalf of the reader

Sentence length

Previous research tends to view sentence length as a proxy for

elaboration: inadequate conceptualisation

Sentence length did increase with age

No significant difference in sentence length by text quality

Poorer texts have more coherence lapses in the long sentences

Managing complex ideas

However, some people might argue that these cases do not outweigh the

benefits of euthanasia and that, compared to the number of satisfied people

who have taken advantage of the system, these unfortunate cases are very

much in the minority.

 

The fear about euthanasia is that some people may be persuaded into

euthanasia through bad advice or by fealing that they are a burden to the

family or society, with that many doctors, nurses and other people believe that

every life has hope and that any life is better than no life at all.

Clause Expansion

It is necessary to test these thing’s on animals because if we, test them on

humans they may get desies, or possibly die and that will cause problem’s

with familys or even with Goverment trying to band brand new perfumes that

wasnt been tested so it would be less trouble if we on animal gets a reaction

from this.

Clearly, the main object of pupils attending schools and other educational

institutions is to gain qualifications which will lead to well paid and powerful

jobs in the “society of tomorrow”, of which they will be a part. To achieve their

maximum potential, it is almost certainly crucial for them to effectively process

and store all the information that is being passed on to them each day.

FROM TRANSLATION TO

TRANSFORMATION

Thematic Variety

We were off to the beach called Sunny Cove. The wind was blowing in our

faces. We are finally there. I set up the tent and looked around. I was a bit

scared but it was quite fun.

When I was young, I was like a mouse. Not just because I was small, but

because I didn’t stop moving. My head was like a fairground. The big wheel

was spinning in my brain. Something always told me that I had go get up

and run somewhere, and that is exactly what I always did. When you’re

young (and we’re talking about three here), there is a lot to discover. One of

those things is stairs.

Textual Rhythm: Sentence Length

The cellar is illuminated for a few seconds as the bulb flashes and goes out.

An after-image is all that is left as the dim light is extinguished. An

abandoned duvet is in the middle of the floor. A few dusty carpet squares in

the corner. More dust.

 

I remember it like it was yesterday. The boredom. Fear. Grown men

stumbling and slipping in the mud like a child taking its first steps. Every

time I think about it a cold shiver runs down my spine. All the sadness,

remorse and loneliness comes rolling back to me like a ball rolling down a

hill.

Linguistic Development

Syntactic complexity ≠ writing development

Writing is a meaning-making activity in which rhetorical choices made

create different shades of nuances of meaning for different audiences and

contexts

Linguistic constructions (eg a complex sentence; a passive) have no

intrinsic merit until they are deployed effectively

Becoming a Designer

Overlapping trajectories

Speech to writing;

Declaration to elaboration;

Translation to transformation

Linguistic development in older writers is framed by these trajectories

within the context of linguistic choice; it is about having a design repertoire

to draw upon, and about crafting sentences and texts to satisfy the

rhetorical demands of the task.

‘We are all apprentices in a craft where no-one

ever becomes master.’

[Hemingway]

Further References:

Myhill, D.A. 2009 Developmental Trajectories in Mastery of Paragraphing: Towards a Model of Development. Written Language and Literacy 12 (1) 26-51

Myhill, D.A. 2009 ‘From Talking to Writing: Linguistic Development in Writing’ In: Teaching and Learning Writing: Psychological Aspects of Education - Current Trends: British Journal of Educational Psychology Monograph Series II (6). British Psychological Society, Leicester, UK. pp27-44.. ISSN 1476 9808.

Myhill, D. A 2008 Towards a Linguistic Model of Sentence Development in Writing. Language and Education 22 (5) 271-288