Writing in English as an Additional Language at Key Stage 2

Writing in English as an Additional Language at Key Stage 2 62
Note: Inter-rater reliability checks showed low levels of agreement about errors with commas
(Appendix 4) so caution is needed in interpreting the following results. Greater agreement would have
increased the number of errors identified and therefore the following results would still hold.
• There was very little difference between EAL and EMT stories.
• Comparing KS2 and KS4 writing shows similar frequencies for the omission and
incorrect use of punctuation. EAL learners achieving level 5 did as well or better
than the high achieving EAL learners at KS4.
• Punctuation of direct speech was a particular problem for all pupils achieving
level 3.
There were significant differences between groups by level:
• Writing by EAL learners achieving level 3 writing, when compared with writing
by those graded as achieving level 4, was characterised by missing punctuation:
commas, full stops and inverted commas.
• Writing by those graded as achieving level 4 tended to contain fewer missing
punctuation marks, but to use commas in the wrong places significantly more
often than writing by pupils achieving level 5.
If we add together errors with full stops and commas, we have a measure of sentence
control through punctuation.
• Stories by EAL learners achieving level 3 had around 7 missing full stops or
commas in the 10 or 11 ‘sentences’ in their first 100 words. This very high figure
is increased by the number of errors made inside direct speech.
The very complex punctuation of direct speech perhaps adds to the confusion of these
writers. In the following extract from an EAL story by a pupil achieving level 3, we
see how missed punctuation and sentence grammar combine to produce a series of
run-on sentences.
It was on a sunny, bright day When John and his mother Where walking on the
croudy street. John and his mother are very helpful, gentle also kind. John saw a
poster on the Window which said new game Here today John thought Would it be
great if I could buy this game so John ran and ran as fast as he could and said
“mom please could I buy a new game? replied John” Well OK lets go before they
are all sold out. So John waited in the queue for a lot of time. (EAL 3)
To some extent, punctuating sentences in written English is a matter of maturity, but,
for the EAL learner, the usual advice to find the places where punctuation is needed
by listening for pauses in the spoken version is less likely to be effective.
Punctuation is actually part of sentence and clause grammar, and needs explicit
instruction to show pupils what full stops and commas do in written text and where
they need them in their own writing. Commas can be taught as part of learning about
complex sentences with embedded clauses.