Plain English Summary
Background and study aims
The aim of this study is to assess how effective the Grammar for Writing programme is at improving the writing skills of Year 6 pupils. Grammar for Writing is a way of teaching writing that assumes that rather than teaching grammatical rules in the abstract, teachers should help pupils to understand how linguistic structures convey meaning. The programme is designed to be delivered by teachers as standalone units of work or as a series of units within a whole class setting. Each unit is around 4 weeks’ worth of work. A previous study looked at whole-class and small-group delivery of one unit adapted for Year 6 after Key Stage 2 SATs assessments. However, this found only limited effects. This evaluation of Grammar for Writing focuses on whole-class delivery of two units of Grammar for Writing during Year 6.
Who can participate?
Year 6 teachers and pupils at schools that have not have taken part in the previous Grammar for Writing study or introduced the programme previously
What does the study involve?
Participating schools are randomly allocated to one of two groups: either the intervention group or the control group. Year 6 teachers in the intervention group schools receive 4 days of training and deliver two units of work to their Year 6 classes. Teachers in the control group schools teach Year 6 writing using 'business as usual' methods. The pupils in both groups undertake two writing assessments from past Key Stage 2 (KS2) SATs (pre-2013) at the end of the Summer term 2017. Their KS2 scores for reading, writing and spelling, punctuation and grammar from the Summer 2017 assessments are also collected from the National Pupil Database (NPD). Key Stage 1 English results are also collected from the NPD. Teachers undertake a short online survey and grammar quiz at the beginning and end of the study.
What are the possible benefits and risks of participating?
Pupils may benefit from an improvement in their writing skills. There are no anticipated risks as the programme has been tested previously.
Where is the study run from?
The programme is delivered by the University of Exeter and Babcock LDP (UK)
When is the study starting and how long is it expected to run for?
March 2016 to October 2017
Who is funding the study?
Education Endowment Foundation (UK)
Who is the main contact?
Dr Louise Tracey
Trial website
Contact information
Type
Scientific
Primary contact
Dr Louise Tracey
ORCID ID
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8304-613X
Contact details
Department of Education
Berrick Saul Building
University of York
York
YO10 5DD
United Kingdom
Additional identifiers
EudraCT number
ClinicalTrials.gov number
Protocol/serial number
N/A
Study information
Scientific title
Evaluation of the Grammar for Writing programme – a school-level randomised controlled trial
Acronym
Study hypothesis
The aim of this study is to independently assess whether the Grammar for Writing programme, delivered to Year 6 pupils leads to improvements in children's writing skills.
Ethics approval
The Education Ethics Committee, University of York, 04/04/2016, ref: 16/18
Study design
Two-armed effectiveness randomised controlled trial
Primary study design
Interventional
Secondary study design
Cluster randomised trial
Trial setting
Schools
Trial type
Other
Patient information sheet
Not available in web format, please use the contact details to request an information sheet
Condition
Teaching writing
Intervention
Schools are randomly allocated to intervention or control conditions. Randomization will be at the school-level to reduce the possibilities of diffusion which could occur with an in-school design. Schools were stratified by region (North-East/not-North-East) and then randomised using minimisation on a 1:1 allocation within region. Randomisation was conducted and recorded using MinimPy software (Saghaei & Saghaei, 2011).
1. Year 6 teachers in intervention schools receive 4 days of CPD and deliver two units of the Grammar for Writing programme to their Year 6 classes
2. Teachers in control schools teach Year 6 writing using 'business as usual' methods
The children (control and intervention) will undertake two writing assessments from past Key Stage 2 (KS2) SATs (pre-2013) at the end of the Summer term 2017. Their KS2 scores for reading, writing and spelling, punctuation and grammar from the Summer 2017 assessments will also be collected from the National Pupil Database. Key Stage 1 English results will also be collected from the National Pupil Database to act as a baseline measure. Teachers will undertake a short online survey and grammar quiz at the beginning and end of the study.
Intervention type
Other
Phase
Drug names
Primary outcome measure
Combined results of two tasks from past Key Stage 2 (KS2) writing assessments (pre-2013) independently administered to children in Year 6 classes in evaluation schools by the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) in June 2017
Secondary outcome measures
Year 6 children's Key Stage 2 assessment scores on each element of literacy (writing; reading; grammar, punctuation and spelling) in Summer 2017. This data is collected nationally and will be accessed through the National Pupil Database
Overall trial start date
01/03/2016
Overall trial end date
20/10/2017
Reason abandoned (if study stopped)
Eligibility
Participant inclusion criteria
1. Eligible schools will not have taken part in the previous Grammar for Writing trial or have implemented the programme previously
2. All Year 6 teachers and Year 6 pupils in eligible schools
3. Half of schools will be from the North East and the other half will come from across the rest of England
4. There will be a high proportion of disadvantaged schools (on average 29% EverFSM as defined in the National Pupil Database)
Participant type
Other
Age group
Mixed
Gender
Both
Target number of participants
150 schools; c.7,500 pupils
Participant exclusion criteria
1. Although they do not have to be two-form entry, very small schools (fewer than 20 Year 6 pupils) will be kept to a minimum
2. Schools who have implemented the programme previously
3. Parental opt-out for use of pupil data
Recruitment start date
04/04/2016
Recruitment end date
05/10/2016
Locations
Countries of recruitment
United Kingdom
Trial participating centre
University of Exeter
Knightley
Streatham Drive
Exeter
EX4 4PD
United Kingdom
Trial participating centre
University of York
Berrick Saul Building
University of York
YO10 5DD
United Kingdom
Sponsor information
Organisation
Education Endowment Foundation (UK)
Sponsor details
9th Floor
Millbank Tower
21-24 Millbank
London
SW1P 4QP
United Kingdom
Sponsor type
Government
Website
Funders
Funder type
Government
Funder name
Education Endowment Foundation
Alternative name(s)
Funding Body Type
Funding Body Subtype
Location
Results and Publications
Publication and dissemination plan
Evaluation Report and Executive Summary to be published on the Education Endowment Foundation website in Summer 2018.
IPD sharing statement
The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study will be stored in the Education Endowment Foundation’s (EEF) data archive subject to the agreement of the Department for Education. The EEF intends to have an open data policy whereby this data will be accessible for research purposes.
Intention to publish date
01/08/2018
Participant level data
Stored in repository
Basic results (scientific)
Publication list