Writing in English as an Additional Language at Key Stage 2

Writing in English as an Additional Language at Key Stage 2 77
7 Using language resources to construct time in a
story
In this chapter we see how several of the features discussed earlier are brought
together in writing a story. As the integrated framework for writing in Chapter 2
shows, an effective story needs clear organisation at whole text level combined with
appropriate and accurate use of language at sentence, clause, phrase and word levels.
In narrative genre, a writer has to construct a story that takes place over time, with
characters taking part in events that happen in a connected sequence and lead to a
resolution. The writer needs to use the resources of the English language to sequence
and connect events, and to show the actions of characters.
If we focus on how a writer builds the timeline of a story, we find that stories often
begin by placing the characters in a particular time setting:
It was a summer’s day (Story 3, EAL 5)
In the summer holidays (Story 4, EMT 3)
As the story moves on and the plot unfolds, timing and changes in time are marked by
words and phrases such as later, finally or from that day on, and by the use of the
English tense system. The following language resources play a key role in building
time into a story:
• Time phrases, in the Adverbial slots of clauses
• Subordinate Adverbial clauses
• Verb tenses.
In this chapter, we use the project findings to show how teachers can investigate
children’s use of these language resources and how all pupils, but particularly EAL
learners, might be helped to construct time in stories more effectively.
7.1 Use of time phrases
Time phrases are those phrases that include some indication of time or timing. They
are often formulaic phrases that begin with a preposition such as in or at, and they are
placed in Adverbial slots in clauses. Phrases can include single words like later, but
are different from full clauses.
7.1.1 Types of time phrases
Extracting all the time phrases from Story 4 (EMT 3) gives us a list that can be
divided into three groups: those that place an event at a specific point in time; those
that give the duration of an event; and those that place two or more events at times
relative to each other.
A specific point in time
in the summer holidays
Duration of time
for an hour and a half
for about 10 minutes