Experts will launch a radical approach to understanding the challenges of writing well at school and university.
A team working on a major new study will create a 'map' of writing task types, and their key linguistic features, across different subject areas and educational levels.
This will lead to an online resource and guidance to help educational professionals and researchers better understand the different linguistic and academic challenges posed by different text types and the ways in which they differ and overlap across levels and disciplines.
The work will help teachers structure learning by showing what students are likely to have done previously, what they are doing contemporaneously in other disciplines, and what will be expected at later levels.
They will also create and evaluate an online resource and guidance to help users navigate the map to understand how individual tasks, and the texts students produce, fit into their broader educational experiences and needs.
The UKRI-funded project will run for three and a half years. It will be led by Philip Durrant, Annabel Watson and Victoria Wong, from the University of Exeter and Larissa Goulart, from Montclair State University.
Professor Durrant said: "By better understanding the different linguistic challenges and learning opportunities presented by different writing tasks, educators will be better prepared to help students face the challenges and benefit from the opportunities.
"By understanding the range of tasks set across different disciplines and year groups, educators will be better able to make links and comparisons between the tasks they set and those students are encountering in other areas. They will be better able to understand how tasks relate to students' prior knowledge and experience. And they will be better able to look ahead to what students will be expected to write at later levels."
The model will be created through analysis of existing texts produced by school and university students. Researchers will also survey school teachers and university lecturers to determine the range of text variation currently found across subject areas and educational levels in England.
The online resource will enable educational practitioners to gain insights into the writing they are asking students to do, the linguistic demands texts are likely to place on students, and how texts fit into the broader range of educational text types students are likely to encounter.
Researchers will work with an advisory group of teacher educators, representatives of educational associations and exam board subject advisor to maximize the meaningfulness, relevance, and comprehensiveness of the resources.
