Linguistics for children: The intermodal presentation of English grammar metalanguage in materials for young learners

Grammar has been slowly reintroduced in British schools thanks to projects such as the New National Curriculum for English, which explicitly include the “understanding of grammar” and the terminology required to discuss linguistic facts as objects of teaching. Many books have appeared which focus on grammar metalanguage instruction. A qualitative analysis of the strategies adopted to such end in a selection of materials for young learners (Years 1-6) shows that most publications feature a multimodal popularizing approach, akin to that of other types of scientific knowledge dissemination for children. This suggests that grammar terms are treated like specialised terminology, and that, although no true recontextualisation of specialised concepts can be observed, reformulation and adaptation are pervasive in order to meet the needs, tastes and cognitive skills of the young “lay reader”. For this reason, grammar teaching resources can be seen as a special form of popularisation of linguistics for kids.