This is the first article in a new series that demonstrates how grammar can be taught in a rich literature context. The first of the series is being provided as a free resource to coincide with the UKLA Grammar conference. Further resources will be provided on the member’s site. In this first paper, the wonderful book by Carol Ann Duffy called Lost Happy Endings can be used to teach quality grammar in context for a variety of year groups. At the heart of the project was the determination that grammar should be taught in context and through high quality books. Having worked with schools on grammar training in the locality, it had become clear that many teachers lacked the knowledge of what grammar could be explored through real books.

An evaluation of the BFI Lead Practitioner Scheme for moving image media literacy.

UKLA / Wiley-Blackwell Research in Literacy Education Award Winner – Literacy 2010.
This paper draws from a current research project that is exploring three pre-teenage children’s text production in social networking sites.

Teachers are digikids too: the digital histories and digital lives of young teachers in English primary schools.

UKLA / Wiley-Blackwell Research in Literacy Education Award: Award Winner – Journal of Research in Reading 2009.
This paper investigated the degree to which children’s inference generation ability generalises across different media and predicts narrative comprehension over and above basic language skills and vocabulary.

Taking as its starting point a selection of surveys and policy documents before moving to consider views from theorists, writers and young readers, this article seeks to stimulate debate about why reading literature as part of the curriculum still matters.