The Primary English ENCYCLOPEDIA The Primary English ENCYCLOPEDIA The Heart of the Curriculum THIRD EDITION Margaret Mallett with a Foreword by Sue Palmer First published in Great Britain in 2002 by David Fulton Publishers Second edition 2005 This edition published 2008 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 270 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2008. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” © 2002, 2005, 2008 Margaret Mallett Note: The right of Margaret Mallett to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data ISBN 0-203-93182-3 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 10: 0-415-45103-5 (Print Edition) ISBN 13: 978-0-415-45103-1 Contents Foreword by Sue Palmer vii Acknowledgements ix About this Encyclopedia xi Introduction. Primary English: the heart of the curriculum xiii Encyclopedia entries A–Z 1 Extended entries Audio books/tapes/cassettes 16 Bilingualism 26 Book making 31 Children as authors 45 Children’s literature – a guide to the entries, etc. 50 Comics 61 Creativity in English 72 Drama and English 100 Early Years language and literacy 105 Fiction: choosing and using 127 History of children’s literature 153 History of English teaching (in the primary school) 162 Illustrations: finding a vocabulary 167 Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and English 174 Interactive white boards 182 Junior Years language and literacy 189 Language acquisition 194 Non-fiction reading and writing 228 Poetry 250 Radio programmes for children 267 Reading 268 SATs 288 Schools’ radio programmes 291 Schools’ television programmes 293 Shakespearean drama (in the primary years) 297 vi Contents Speaking and listening 303 Special Educational Needs (SEN) in language and literacy 308 Television programmes for children 327 Visual literacy 343 Writing 351 A Who’s Who in Primary English 363 My ten top texts 377 My top ten children’s books published since 2000 379 List of entries in the Encyclopedia 381 Index 385 Foreword In a Times Educational Supplement review, I once wrote that no one book could cover every aspect of primary English teaching today. The subject is so vast, so integral to everything that happens in the primary classroom, and so intensely controversial that a single volume – especially by one author – could never hope to do it justice. I was wrong. In her Primary English Encyclo- pedia, Margaret Mallett manages to accomplish this. It was therefore a great honour to write the foreword to the second and now this third, even more comprehensive, edition, amended to take account of the renewed Framework. From ‘Abbreviation’ on page 1 to ‘Zone of proximal development’ 362 pages later, Margaret tackles everything anyone could want to know about the teaching of English language, literacy and literature in the primary years, and she does so with clarity, practicality and considerable panache. To do justice to complex or controversial areas such as Early Years language and literacy, Speaking and listening and History of English teaching, her ‘extended entries’ take the form of mini-essays combining passionate concern with balanced, rational argument. This third edition includes several new entries, such as Multimodal texts, The British Library and The Primary Review, and additions to the existing entries on Information and Communications Technology and English and Interactive white boards, ensuring the encyclopedia is thoroughly up-to-date in terms of new technology and ‘new literacies’. Margaret originally planned this book at the request of her students, who wanted a starting point for learning about language and literacy. But she also set herself the aim of writing a book that ‘soars above the requirements of the day to capture some things of enduring importance about the primary English classroom’ (after all, as her subtitle points out, English is the heart of the curriculum). She fulfils that aim admirably, reminding us through the breadth of her knowl- edge that obsession with tests, targets and objectives is not what English teaching is about. The English language, and the uses of literacy that spring from it, are part of our heritage and, more importantly, ourselves. Everything about the way we teach English profoundly affects chil- dren’s development and learning. The thoroughness and scholarship with which Margaret Mallett has compiled this encyclopedia is matched by the wisdom and humanity of her writing. Students and teachers can consult its pages confident that the author is both an expert on primary English and a passionate advocate for the sensitive teaching of the subject that is at the heart of the curriculum. Sue Palmer Acknowledgements I would like to thank all the children, teachers and student teachers with whom I have worked and who have made me feel that English is one of the most exciting elements of the Primary Curriculum. I very much appreciate the generosity of the authors and publishers who allowed me to illus- trate some entries with pictures from their work. Full acknowledgement is given on the pages where the work appears. I am grateful to the staff and children of Castlecombe Primary School in Mottingham, Kent for allowing me to use the writing samples with the entries on alliteration, poetry and special educational needs. My thanks go also to Elaine Shiel and the children of Primary 3, Corstorphire Primary School, Edinburgh for the writing about Cocoa the Brown Bear which appears with the entry on shared writing. Sele First School allowed me to include two poems about the Angel of the North and I thank the children and teachers involved. Michelle Coles and Abbie and Rowan kindly allowed me to include Abbie’s ‘Edward the Lion’ poem and Rowan’s pieces under the play and recount entries. My colleagues at Goldsmiths College have been a great inspiration and include, most recently, Clare Kelly, Michelle Coles, Chris Kearney, Celia Burgess-Macey and Colton Paul. I have also benefited over the years from the insights of the other members of the editorial team working on the journal English 4–11 (The English Association, Leicester) – John Paine, Eve Bearne, Marion Hampton, Dee Reid, Liz Connolley and Brenda Marshall. Clare Kelly and Angela Wilson read selected entries and made helpful comments. Neither are responsible for any errors that remain. But, above all, I would like to thank my husband, David Mallett: this task would not have been accomplished without his encouragement and practical help. About this Encyclopedia As I worked on the third edition of this encyclopedia, I kept in mind the helpful comments about the first two editions made by reviewers, students, teachers and colleagues. Readers rightly expect a work like this to be kept up to date. I have done my best with ever- changing websites and new editions of key books – but I’m sure you will catch me out the odd time! The Primary Framework for literacy and mathematics is a new entry and I welcome the encouragement of flexibility and creativity in literacy and English lessons. Teachers and student teachers can visit government sites for the latest requirements and guidance, but will benefit also from reading more widely. So I have added an entry on the Primary Review, an independent study of all aspects of primary education. As Professor Alexander remarked when the project was launched, he and his team aim to ‘ask questions about the quality of the education children receive without fear or favour’. New literacies are transforming how children think, learn and imagine and I have augmented entries exploring new modes and media and created a new entry on multimodal texts. I was also concerned to find room for things of interest that might not be found readily elsewhere, for example, lyrical non-fiction, museums and English, and The British Library. Of course, no one author can be an expert on everything in such a complex and important area as Primary English and readers are constantly referred to other books, resources and web- sites to expand their knowledge and understanding. Support is given over planning, evaluating and working creatively within the current frameworks. But teachers have wider intentions and interests than these and the main aim of this encyclopedia continues to be to support the reflec- tive practitioner by addressing the issues that matter profoundly to Primary English in a constructive but critical manner. The alphabetical format means key words and concepts can be easily found. However, I have been concerned that this should not fragment the English curriculum and appear to avoid the complexities. So I have written what I hope is a unifying introduction – Primary English: the heart of the curriculum. This gives an overview which sets out some of the enduring principles on which excellence in the Primary English classroom is properly based and draws out the significance of the relationship between the four language processes. The Audience My audience includes student teachers on BA (Ed), GRT and PGCE courses, new teachers and teachers returning to the classroom after a career break.