Small group teaching appears an effective strategy for raising writing skills among pupils between Levels 3c and 4b¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · causal r3 · q3 · i1 small
Currency · newest study 2014 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i1 The trial demonstrates that small group teaching increases writing skills among pupils predicted to achieve between Level 3c and 4b, consistent with the emerging evidence base for small group tuition. → Torgerson 2014

Evidence¶

Torgerson 2014¶

Torgerson, D., Torgerson, C., Mitchell, N., Buckley, H., Ainsworth, H., Heaps, C., & Jefferson, L. (2014). Grammar for Writing: Evaluation Report and Executive Summary. Education Endowment Foundation. https://www.educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/evaluation

q3 · i1 · causal · r3

Authors' conclusion drawn from the trial's small-group comparisons (effect sizes 0.24 versus control and 0.21 versus whole class). The article states "small group teaching is an effective strateg y to increase writing skills" for this attainment band.

"The study does demonstrate that small group teaching is an effective strateg y to increase writing skills among pupils between Level 3c and 4b, which is reasonably consistent with the emerging evidence base for small group tuition."

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

• Writing Skills — outcome: instruction changes it

Related Claims¶

• Small-group delivery of Grammar for Writing outperforms whole-class delivery on extended writing (effect size 0.21) — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Small-group Grammar for Writing shows a statistically significant but small positive effect on extended writing versus control (effect size 0.24) — possibly the same claim (merge candidate)
• SRSD combined with memorable experiences produced a large, statistically significant improvement in extended writing for pupils predicted Level 3 or insecure Level 4 at the primary-secondary transition — related