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Englicious is a website compendium of educational resources, developed by a team of linguists at the Survey of English Usage at University College London, to support school teachers to teach English grammar according to the standards of the National Curriculum for England and Wales at all levels from Key Stage 1 to 'A' level (ages 5 to 18).

The resource was developed by drawing on databases of natural language, text corpora, which contain many thousands of naturally-produced sentences and spoken utterances. These are augmented by adapted or constructed examples to teach particular points, or to ensure age-appropriate language is employed.

Englicious is centred around a grammatical framework closely based on the English National Curriculum Glossary (see below). The official glossary was further annotated by professional linguists, both to cover omitted constructions and to explain some terms in more detail. This extended glossary is then consistently employed and cross-referenced throughout the resources. Englicious contains a library of prepared lesson plans for use in the classroom, ranging from short starters to large projects. It has dynamic interactive (non-assessed) activities, as well as interactive exercise materials for evaluating student attainment.

Unlike self-learning platforms, the central aim of Englicious is to equip teachers with the knowledge they need to teach English grammar. Alongside resources designed for classroom use, it contains a very wide range of professional development materials aimed at primary and secondary teachers.

Grammar in the English Language National Curriculum

The National Curriculum expects primary (junior) school students at a young age to acquire a knowledge of English grammar terminology (e.g. nouns, adjectives, verbs and prepositions, and functional terms including subjects and objects), to be able to identify these terms in sentences, and to apply their knowledge to their writing. It has a series of statutory levels for each Key Stage and an assessment programme in the form of Standardized Attainment Tests (SATs).

In 2014, the National Curriculum adopted a particular standardised set of grammatical terminology and definitions in the form of a Glossary. Although 'non-statutory', the combination of the adoption of this Glossary across English and Welsh schools, and the SATs – which was used to benchmark pupil's knowledge of terms – has in practice meant that primary school teachers are obliged to teach according to these definitions.

At secondary (high) school, the curriculum does not place the same emphasis on testing pupil's explicit knowledge of grammar terminology, but rather expects pupils to demonstrate that they can apply what they have learned to their English comprehension and composition.

The 'Grammar Gap'

There are two main areas of knowledge about language that teachers need in order to teach grammar. These are

• subject knowledge, i.e. knowledge of the conceptual framework (‘meta-language’) and rules of grammar, and
• pedagogical knowledge, knowledge of how to teach grammar effectively, based on the first.

British schoolteachers face a particular problem, namely that reliable grammar subject knowledge has been difficult to obtain, and as a result teachers often feel anxious about the teaching requirements of the National Curriculum.

The source of this 'grammar gap' is principally due to the fact that few English teachers have received any kind of formal linguistic training in grammar. Hudson and Walmsley write:

Most younger teachers know very little grammar and are suspicious of explicit grammar teaching. Not surprisingly, therefore, new recruits entering teacher-training courses typically either know very little grammar... or have no confidence in their knowledge, presumably because they have picked it up in an unsystematic way... This situation raises obvious problems for the implementation of the official programme.

Many UK English teachers are also critical of the educational benefit of explicit grammar teaching, even though a number of benefits are frequently cited:

• Language is uniquely human, so knowing about grammar and how our language is structured and how it works helps us understand who we are. It is part of our culture and identity. (See e.g. the Bullock Report Recommendation 133)
• We need to study language and grammar for the same reasons that we study literature, art, history, etc.: it enriches us as human beings.
• Knowledge of grammar helps students to learn other languages more easily, and gives them the tools to study literary texts more effectively.

Historically, this criticism was, in the main, well-founded. Traditional approaches to English grammar, emphasising the prescriptive teaching of (often incorrect) Latin rules, followed by 'language drills', have doubtful utility. However, the simplest reason for teaching grammar is obvious. Language has structural rules, which if understood, assist students in comprehension and composition.

However, due to this history, English grammar teaching in schools faces three challenges:

• convincing teachers of the value of grammar in their own teaching;
• teaching the teachers the knowledge they need; and
• developing reliable and age-appropriate resources for use in the classroom.

The Design of Englicious

Englicious is a comprehensive searchable compendium of English grammar teaching resources covering all of the grammatical concepts of the curriculum. Unlike a course book with a linear path, the platform is designed to permit teachers to dip in for the resources they need. Resources are classified by teaching level (primary/secondary, Key Stages, etc.). Content types include starters, lesson plans, assessments, exercises, videos, projects, professional development resources and a comprehensive grammar glossary.

Each lesson plan and resource has an instruction page and associated activities, which may be projected full-screen on whiteboards. Throughout, specialist terms in the glossary are highlighted, and these open an explanatory popup window if required.

Activities are designed to be presented in the classroom on an interactive whiteboard, with many using interactive elements. These include 'mix and match' activities, quizzes, gap fills, carousels, etc. Other activities use language as a prompt for open-ended projects and discussions. Many exercises are dynamically refreshed from a pool of authentic examples.

Methods of Teaching

The principal purpose of the Englicious project is to give teachers and learners a better understanding of the concepts and terminology of English grammar as they are described in the 2014 National Curriculum for England. Resources are designed around the goal of teaching and assessing this knowledge in an engaging manner, using technology that appeals to young learners.

However, the purpose of the site is not limited to teaching and learning grammar for its own sake (or indeed to pass school tests). Englicious encourages an informed and critical understanding of grammar, to allow students to see grammar as a meaning-making tool. The authors say that Englicious encourages learners to:

• Be playful and experimental, e.g. playing with syntax and making humorous phrases;
• Acknowledge non-standard forms and varieties of English as valid and valuable, e.g. analysing the grammar of regional vocabulary;
• Use grammar in context, e.g. exploring the language of different written and spoken registers, or building characters in creative writing.

External links

• Englicious website