English key stage 2

Teaching should ensure that work in 'speaking and listening', 'reading' and 'writing' is integrated.

Knowledge, skills and understanding

Speaking

1. To speak with confidence in a range of contexts, adapting their speech for a range of purposes and audiences, pupils should be taught to:

1. use vocabulary and syntax that enables them to communicate more complex meanings
2. gain and maintain the interest and response of different audiences [for example, by exaggeration, humour, varying pace and using persuasive language to achieve particular effects]
3. choose material that is relevant to the topic and to the listeners
4. show clear shape and organisation with an introduction and an ending
5. speak audibly and clearly, using spoken standard English in formal contexts
6. evaluate their speech and reflect on how it varies.

Listening

2. To listen, understand and respond appropriately to others, pupils should be taught to:

1. identify the gist of an account or key points in a discussion and evaluate what they hear
2. ask relevant questions to clarify, extend and follow up ideas
3. recall and re-present important features of an argument, talk, reading, radio or television programme, film
4. identify features of language used for a specific purpose [for example, to persuade, instruct or entertain]
5. respond to others appropriately, taking into account what they say.

Group discussion and interaction

3. To talk effectively as members of a group, pupils should be taught to:

1. make contributions relevant to the topic and take turns in discussion
2. vary contributions to suit the activity and purpose, including exploratory and tentative comments where ideas are being collected together, and reasoned, evaluative comments as discussion moves to conclusions or actions
3. qualify or justify what they think after listening to others' questions or accounts
4. deal politely with opposing points of view and enable discussion to move on
5. take up and sustain different roles, adapting them to suit the situation, including chair, scribe and spokesperson
6. use different ways to help the group move forward, including summarising the main points, reviewing what has been said, clarifying, drawing others in, reaching agreement, considering alternatives and anticipating consequences.

Drama

4. To participate in a wide range of drama activities and to evaluate their own and others' contributions, pupils should be taught to:

1. create, adapt and sustain different roles, individually and in groups
2. use character, action and narrative to convey story, themes, emotions, ideas in plays they devise and script
3. use dramatic techniques to explore characters and issues [for example, hot seating, flashback]
4. evaluate how they and others have contributed to the overall effectiveness of performances.

Standard English

5. Pupils should be taught the grammatical constructions that are characteristic of spoken standard English and to apply this knowledge appropriately in a range of contexts.

Language variation

6. Pupils should be taught about how language varies:

1. according to context and purpose [for example, choice of vocabulary in more formal situations]
2. between standard and dialect forms [for example, in drama, the effect of using standard or dialect forms]
3. between spoken and written forms [for example, the differences between transcribed speech, direct speech and reported speech].

Breadth of study

7. During the key stage, pupils should be taught the Knowledge, skills and understanding through the following range of activities, contexts and purposes.

Speaking

8. The range should include:

1. reading aloud
2. presenting to different audiences
3. extended speaking for different purposes.

Listening

9. The range should include opportunities for pupils to listen to:

1. live talks/readings/presentations
2. recordings [for example, radio, television, film]
3. others in groups.

Group discussion and interaction

10. The range of purposes should include:

1. investigating, selecting, sorting
2. planning, predicting, exploring
3. explaining, reporting, evaluating.

Drama activities

11. The range should include:

1. improvisation and working in role
2. scripting and performing in plays
3. responding to performances.

Teaching should ensure that work in 'speaking and listening', 'reading' and 'writing' is integrated.

Knowledge, skills and understanding

Reading strategies

1. To read with fluency, accuracy and understanding, pupils should be taught to use:

1. phonemic awareness and phonic knowledge
2. word recognition and graphic knowledge
3. knowledge of grammatical structures
4. contextual understanding.

Understanding texts

2. Pupils should be taught to:

1. use inference and deduction
2. look for meaning beyond the literal
3. make connections between different parts of a text [for example, how stories begin and end, what has been included and omitted in information writing]
4. use their knowledge of other texts they have read.

Reading for information

3. Pupils should be taught to:

1. scan texts to find information
2. skim for gist and overall impression
3. obtain specific information through detailed reading
4. draw on different features of texts, including print, sound and image, to obtain meaning
5. use organisational features and systems to find texts and information
6. distinguish between fact and opinion [for example, by looking at the purpose of the text, the reliability of information]
7. consider an argument critically.

Literature

4. To develop understanding and appreciation of literary texts, pupils should be taught to:

1. recognise the choice, use and effect of figurative language, vocabulary and patterns of language
2. identify different ways of constructing sentences and their effects
3. identify how character and setting are created, and how plot, narrative structure and themes are developed
4. recognise the differences between author, narrator and character
5. evaluate ideas and themes that broaden perspectives and extend thinking
6. consider poetic forms and their effects
7. express preferences and support their views by reference to texts
8. respond imaginatively, drawing on the whole text and other reading
9. read stories, poems and plays aloud.

Non-fiction and non-literary texts

5. To develop understanding and appreciation of non-fiction and non-literary texts, pupils should be taught to:

1. identify the use and effect of specialist vocabulary
2. identify words associated with reason, persuasion, argument, explanation, instruction and description
3. recognise phrases and sentences that convey a formal, impersonal tone
4. identify links between ideas and sentences in non-chronological writing
5. understand the structural and organisational features of different types of text [for example, paragraphing, subheadings, links in hypertext]
6. evaluate different formats, layouts and presentational devices [for example, tables, bullet points, icons]
7. engage with challenging and demanding subject matter.

Language structure and variation

6. To read texts with greater accuracy and understanding, pupils should be taught to identify and comment on features of English at word, sentence and text level, using appropriate terminology [for example, how adjectives and adverbs contribute to overall effect, the use of varying sentence length and structure, connections between chapters or sections].

Breadth of study

7. During the key stage, pupils should be taught the Knowledge, skills and understanding through the following ranges of literature and non-fiction and non-literary texts.

Literature

8. The range should include:

1. a range of modern fiction by significant children's authors
2. long-established children's fiction
3. a range of good-quality modern poetry
4. classic poetry
5. texts drawn from a variety of cultures and traditions
6. myths, legends and traditional stories
7. playscripts.

Non-fiction and non-literary texts

9. The range should include:

1. diaries, autobiographies, biographies, letters
2. print and ICT-based reference and information materials [for example, textbooks, reports, encyclopedias, handbooks, dictionaries, thesauruses, glossaries, CD-ROMs, internet]
3. newspapers, magazines, articles, leaflets, brochures, advertisements.

Teaching should ensure that work in 'speaking and listening', 'reading' and 'writing' is integrated.

Knowledge, skills and understanding

Composition

1. Pupils should be taught to:

1. choose form and content to suit a particular purpose [for example, notes to read or organise thinking, plans for action, poetry for pleasure]
2. broaden their vocabulary and use it in inventive ways
3. use language and style that are appropriate to the reader
4. use and adapt the features of a form of writing, drawing on their reading
5. use features of layout, presentation and organisation effectively.

Planning and drafting

2. To develop their writing on paper and on screen, pupils should be taught to:

1. plan - note and develop initial ideas
2. draft - develop ideas from the plan into structured written text
3. revise - change and improve the draft
4. proofread - check the draft for spelling and punctuation errors, omissions and repetitions
5. present - prepare a neat, correct and clear final copy
6. discuss and evaluate their own and others' writing.

Punctuation

3. Pupils should be taught to use punctuation marks correctly in their writing, including full stops, question and exclamation marks, commas, inverted commas, and apostrophes to mark possession and omission.

Spelling

4. Pupils should be taught:

Spelling strategies

1. to sound out phonemes
2. to analyse words into syllables and other known words
3. to apply knowledge of spelling conventions
4. to use knowledge of common letter strings, visual patterns and analogies
5. to check their spelling using word banks, dictionaries and spellcheckers
6. to revise and build on their knowledge of words and spelling patterns

Morphology

7. the meaning, use and spelling of common prefixes and suffixes
8. the spelling of words with inflectional endings
9. the relevance of word families, roots and origins of words
10. the use of appropriate terminology, including vowel, consonant, homophone and syllable.

Handwriting and presentation

5. Pupils should be taught to:

1. write legibly in both joined and printed styles with increasing fluency and speed
2. use different forms of handwriting for different purposes [for example, print for labelling maps or diagrams, a clear, neat hand for finished presented work, a faster script for notes].

Standard English

6. Pupils should be taught:

1. how written standard English varies in degrees of formality [for example, differences between a letter to a friend about a school trip and a report for display]
2. some of the differences between standard and non-standard English usage, including subject-verb agreements and use of prepositions.

Language structure

7. Pupils should be taught:

1. word classes and the grammatical functions of words, including nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions, articles
2. the features of different types of sentence, including statements, questions and commands, and how to use them [for example, imperatives in commands]
3. the grammar of complex sentences, including clauses, phrases and connectives
4. the purposes and organisational features of paragraphs, and how ideas can be linked.

Breadth of study

8. During the key stage, pupils should be taught the Knowledge, skills and understanding through addressing the following range of purposes, readers and forms of writing.

9. The range of purposes for writing should include:

1. to imagine and explore feelings and ideas, focusing on creative uses of language and how to interest the reader
2. to inform and explain, focusing on the subject matter and how to convey it in sufficient detail for the reader
3. to persuade, focusing on how arguments and evidence are built up and language used to convince the reader
4. to review and comment on what has been read, seen or heard, focusing on both the topic and the writer's view of it.

10. Pupils should also be taught to use writing to help their thinking, investigating, organising and learning.

11. The range of readers for writing should include teachers, the class, other children, adults, the wider community and imagined readers.

12. The range of forms of writing should include narratives, poems, playscripts, reports, explanations, opinions, instructions, reviews, commentaries.