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Research shows that:

• Boys' language aptitudes appear to develop later than girls'

• Girls spend more time talking to adults, whereas boys are encouraged to be more active and independent in exploring their world.

• Boys' toys tend to encourage action; girls' toys tend to encourage the creation of a fictional world which tends to depend on a much greater use of language.

Cultural Background

There are significant differences between men and women as a whole in their attitudes towards and experiences of reading in particular. The range of women's reading is often narrow, but it tends to deal with those issues that are important in SAT and GCSE comprehension tasks- human relationships and motivation. It also gives women experience of a form of writing that is highly valued in schools- sustained narrative. Girls have role models for reading particular kinds of text; boys tend not to have.

• Women appear to read for pleasure far more than men: 1/3 of adult males have not read a book in 5 years; 50% of women have finished a book within the past fortnight (Guardian survey).

• Three times as many mothers as fathers are perceived by their children as regular readers (Millard: Differently Literate)

• 80% of girls read at home, whereas 55% of boys do most of their reading at school.(Millard)

• Over 90% of girls share books with friends and family; less than 30% of boys belong to a community of readers. (Millard)

• At age 11 less than 15% of boys see themselves as committed readers, as opposed to 40% of girls. About 80% of boys see themselves as light or occasional readers as opposed to 60% of girls (Millard).

Patterns of Behaviour in School

The following are perhaps particularly true of many boys in secondary school, but a number are also true of some boys in primary school e.g. the difficulty in concentrating for long periods, the unwillingness to do "extra" work.

• Girls spend more time on homework, and are less likely to have a job out of school

• Girls are more likely to conform with teachers' expectations, whereas peer group pressure can make it "uncool" for boys to be seen to work in case they are labelled "swots".

• Girls will often do more than is required of them; most boys will not.

• Girls spend more time on task and can concentrate for a greater length of time; boys tend to concentrate for short periods only.

• It is more socially acceptable for girls to take up traditional masculine activities than for boys to be seen to enjoy "girls' things".

• Boys do not care to compete with girls.

• Boys are more likely to overvalue their achievements than girls.

• Boys are often less willing to discuss their feelings than girls are.

Specific Language Differences

The following are generalisations which clearly do not relate to all boys and girls. They point out tendencies which need to be taken into account in planning for higher standards.

Speaking and Listening

• Boys tend to dominate class discussion, while girls in mixed sex groupings will often simply listen.

• Boys' oral contributions are often competitive rather than reasoned; girls tend to be more collaborative in their approach, more tentative and exploratory.

• Boys are more willing to take risks (speculate), whereas girls will often hold back until they are absolutely sure of their ground.

• Boys often demand and get more of the teacher's attention.

• Boys and girls tend to have different reading tastes; girls' narrative reading matches more closely the demands of the English, Welsh, Religious Education and history curricula.

• Girls are usually willing to read books which feature boys; boys are less willing to read books featuring a heroine.

• In narrative boys often prefer action to exploration of character, motivation or moral issues.

• Boys often prefer to read for a specific purpose related to their own interests, rather than read for pure enjoyment.

• Girls tend to have more positive attitudes towards writing, and tend to write at greater length.

• Girls are more ready to conform with their teachers' expectations, and present their work more neatly.

• Girls' narrative writing often displays more reflection in terms of a greater emphasis on characters and feelings; boys' narrative writing often concentrates on action at the expense of character, motivation and plausibility.

• Girls will often play safe in terms of narrative writing, producing reasonably well crafted work in familiar genres; boys will often attempt to create stories outside their own experience.

• Boys will often write more succinctly than girls.

These must be related as far as possible to the precise problems that schools experience. For example, the majority of pupils with specific language difficulties are boys, and their problems may be very different from those of an alienated under-achiever in the middle ability range. Some problems may need to be addressed within the language curriculum, others across the curriculum, some outside the normal curriculum.

General

Schools should:

• Identify the pupils whose attainment causes concern, and make appropriate provision. They may include:

pupils with specific literacy problems- typically working below L2 at KS1 and achieving L1-2 at KS2 and L2-3 at KS3.

pupils whose achievement is below the standard expected at their age- typically L3 at KS2; L4 at KS3

• Identify the problems. These may include:

poor self esteem

negative attitudes towards work (more prevalent at secondary level)

inability to handle longish periods of time and work independently

lack of awareness of how to build on strengths and address weaknesses

low attainment in reading

poor spelling and presentation

unwillingness to develop writing at length.

inability to take into account the needs of audience, purpose and register in writing.

Key Stages 1 and 2

Primary schools should

• Identify clear whole school objectives for pupils' attainment in reading and writing, speaking and listening by the end of Y2, Y4 and Y6.

• Identify the pupils who are falling behind in reading and writing, particularly those in Y2 and Y3, and arrange additional help

• Ensure that pupils are fully aware of the teacher's expectations in terms of the purpose and quality of work, and what should be completed within a given time.

• Where appropriate, keep the pace of work brisk so that all pupils stay on task.

• Recognise that success in both languages breeds confidence; ensure an appropriate linguistic balance across the curriculum, and nurture positive attitudes towards both languages in the classroom.
• Implement effective strategies for pupils to plan and review their work according to understood criteria.

• Ensure an appropriate balance between English and Welsh across the curriculum, and nurture positive attitudes to both languages.

Key Stages 3 and 4.

In developing the four language modes and ensuring an equitable curriculum for all, English and Welsh departments should give specific attention to:

• the place of drama

• ensuring that girls and boys contribute equally to oral work

• valuing the individual reading of all pupils

• breadth, balance and challenge in the reading curriculum

• the writing repertoire

Literacy is, however, a cross curricular issue, especially since the widespread reduction in time for English and Welsh departments. The language departments cannot service the whole curriculum: English and Welsh are themselves learning disciplines with a purpose, tradition and body of knowledge with a particular bias towards the affective, the imaginative and the literary. The higher reading skills and transactional writing need to be developed across the curriculum.

• Provide additional targeted help for pupils with specific language difficulties (L3-) in line with suggestions from Basic Skills Unit.

• Develop a mentor system.

• Develop specific short and long term targets for pupils, and clear guidance on how they can attain them.

• Reward success, and create a culture which persuades boys that "it's cool to work".

• Review the effects of setting and banding, bearing in mind that pupils in lower sets tend to adjust their expectations and ambitions accordingly. Ensure that setting takes account of potential as well as performance.

• Ensure that lessons are well paced, with clear objectives, and that all pupils stay on task.

• In setting tasks adopt the pattern- "Describe, Reflect, Speculate"- so that pupils are aware of the different stages of learning and can apply them in their work.

• Audit opportunities for speaking and listening, reading and writing across the curriculum.

• Ensure that well managed oral work encourages boys and girls to contribute equally.

• Use non-curricular time e.g. pastoral periods, assembly, to show that private reading is something that all adults do.

• Make the library accessible and welcoming, and use pupils' ideas to develop it.

• Create opportunities for research, using IT sources as well as books, across the curriculum.

• Use problem solving approaches to reading (DARTS) across the curriculum.

• Model varieties of writing for different purposes and audiences across the curriculum.

• Adopt a whole school policy for the introduction of vocabulary, spelling and presentation.

Speaking and listening

It is essential that pupils discuss their reading, writing and learning. They are unlikely to be able to express their ideas in writing if they cannot do so orally. It is important therefore that genuine group work is developed in the primary classroom. In many secondary classrooms more work need to be done to enable pupils to explain, discuss and support their ideas and points of view at some length across the curriculum.

There is a need to encourage some boys to reflect more before voicing an opinion, and to realise that they need to support their views with hard evidence. There is a place for exploratory, tentative utterances, which are not a sign of weakness but of mature uncertainty; boys need to realise that these are both valid and appropriate at times. Listening is an equally important skill, and pupils need to learn how to listen to each other, and build upon each other's contributions.

Many girls, on the other hand, need to develop more confidence and a greater sense of initiative, especially when talking in front of the whole class. They, as well as boys, need to take on a variety of speaking and listening roles. Girls in mixed sex classes should be as vocal as girls in single sex classes.

Schools should:

• Develop drama across the curriculum as a means of extending pupils' oral repertoire and register and increasing their confidence.

• Ensure that all pupils have regular opportunities, at individual, class and group level, to use oral language for the purposes delineated in the National Curriculum.

• Develop discussion skills across the curriculum, and ensure that all pupils take on a range of roles in group work.

• Give pupils regular opportunities to make formal presentations to their peers.

Reading

Many children, particularly boys, do not care for the solitary nature of reading and find it difficult to derive enjoyment from books on their own, yet that is the main model of reading offered to them in KS2. Such a model makes it difficult for teachers to intervene in the reading process, and support children in the reading of more challenging and varied texts. At the most basic level, it is difficult for teachers to discuss books that they have not read

At the same time, schools often do not appear to value pupils' individual reading outside imaginative fiction. Teachers may not realise, therefore, the extent and nature of private reading that boys actually do. Individual reading policies need to make it clear that all reading "counts".

Most of children's learning depends on social interaction, and reading, too, needs to be made into a social experience, particularly at KS2. Increasingly the curriculum demands that pupils reflect on their reading, discuss plot, character and language, and understand the implications of subtext. They can usually only do that through discussion with others who have read the same book. At all key stages pupils should have opportunities to read individually, with a group, and with their whole class.

Children need to be taught how to extract information efficiently from non-fiction texts, and, having done that, how to read it critically. Advanced reading skills need to be taught in meaningful contexts across the curriculum at both key stages.

Schools should:

• Create reading partnerships between home and school to ensure that parents (including the father) read regularly with their children, especially in Y0-2

• Encourage adults in the community (especially males) to assist with reading in the classroom.

• Institute "catch up " programmes for children falling behind in reading, particularly in Y2, Y3 and Y7.

• Ensure that the reading curriculum functions on three levels:

class (shared reading), where specific aspects of reading can be taught

group (guided reading), where pupils work together on a shared text

individual, where pupils pursue their own reading interests.

• Create a community of readers within the classroom through group work on texts, class displays of favourite books, swapping books and magazines etc.

• Encourage pupils to read and share non-fiction texts, especially those that relate to their own interests.

• Develop research skills in meaningful contexts across the curriculum, using CD ROM and the Internet as well as books.

• Develop group problem solving approaches to reading across the curriculum (DARTS), so that pupils are reading for a clear purpose.

• Make reading activities social and enjoyable, so that if the text itself is not enjoyed, the activity is.

• Show that the school values the whole range of pupils' reading, including magazines, comics etc.

• Show that reading is valued by all staff across the curriculum.

Writing

The main emphasis on writing in the primary sector tends to be narrative despite the fact that story is probably one of the most difficult forms to actually write. Pupils who regularly read narrative, often girls, tend to find it easiest to cope, even if their stories tend to be rather predictable. Rarely are features of narrative writing actually taught; where this happens, both boys' and girls' stories improve.

But writing has many purposes beyond narrative, in particular thinking and reflecting on learning, restructuring and communicating knowledge and ideas. The EXEL project defines 6 genres in which pupils should write across the curriculum: recount, report, explanation, procedure, persuasion, discussion. All these need to be taught and modelled for pupils in all key stages across the curriculum.

Schools should:

• Ensure that pupils write for a variety of purposes across the curriculum.

• Model different writing forms for pupils so that aims and expectations are clear.

• Integrate reading and writing activities, and show pupils how to incorporate ideas, vocabulary and structures in their reading into their own writing.

• Create real audiences for pupils' writing.

• Teach planning skills, and how to approach a written task step by step.

• Devise whole school policies for spelling and presentation, and teach proof-reading skills.

• Ensure that marking focuses clearly on strengths and weaknesses, and that redrafting concentrates on improving specific aspects of written work.

• Praise pupils' achievements in writing, and celebrate them in public.