ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the grammar of the whole text, including vocabulary choices; grammatical features within sentences; and structural and cohesive devices. It focuses on the application of pupils’ grammatical knowledge as readers - analysing and evaluating the effect of a writer’s choices; and as writers - explicitly deploying language features to achieve particular effects on the reader. It draws on research by Professor Richard Andrews on the reciprocal relationship between reading (primarily a skill of language reception) and writing (a skill of language production). A sequence for teaching writing – firmly rooted in the ‘reading into writing’ or ‘creative imitation’ approach – is provided. The sequence involves ‘reading as a writer’ through close exploration of text, unpicking the way a writer uses language to create particular effects, and then ‘writing as a reader’ to consciously use those features in new writing, including texts that provide advice, instruction and explanation; recount events, providing commentary and personal reflection; motivate, inspire and persuade; give an opinion, argue a case or debate a point of view; and tell a story, evoking setting and atmosphere, and conveying character.
