Supporting English grammar teaching worldwide

Digital teaching resources developed by language experts at UCL are transforming English grammar teaching in UK schools, and are helping to build confident English speakers across the globe.

English is an evolving language, and the way it is taught has varied over time. For decades during the late-20^th century, English grammar was hardly taught formally in UK schools. When the 2014 National Curriculum was introduced, grammar was reintroduced, but a generation of teachers, through no fault of their own, lacked the skills and knowledge to teach it effectively.

A team led by Professor Bas Aarts (UCL English Language & Literature) stepped in to help, and developed a web-based teaching and learning resource – called Englicious – to support educators across the UK and internationally to deliver more effective English grammar teaching.

With support from UCL Innovation & Enterprise and knowledge exchange funding from UCL’s Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF), the team developed a comprehensive set of resources that align with England’s National Curriculum. It also devised continuous professional development (CPD) training materials for teachers.

The free online library of resources, complemented by a mobile app and printed materials, includes games, projects and lesson plans. The resources focus on grammar but also include exercises to improve spelling, punctuation and writing for both primary and secondary students.

““Our Englicious resources have significantly enhanced English language teaching practice for thousands of teachers in the UK and globally.”

English is the official language of 67 countries worldwide and approximately 1.5 billion learners in more than 100 countries are studying English. Since 1959, UCL’s Survey of English Usage has been collecting samples of how the English language is used in practice.

Extracts from this collection of linguistic data have been embedded in the Englicious resources, providing relevant examples of English language usage for teachers in those countries to use in lessons.

To date, more than 12,000 teachers had signed up to the Englicious website from over 200 countries worldwide. And so far, more than 1,000 teachers in the UK have completed the ‘English Grammar for Teachers’ training, either in person or online. A CPD module is also now available on the FutureLearn platform. In his latest collaboration, Professor Aarts will be training a new cohort of English Language teachers in New Delhi, India.

“This course exceeded my expectations. It was informative and well structured,” one teacher reported. “If you’re looking for clear explanations of grammar terms and loads of resources for teaching grammar in a fun way, then this is the course for you.”

In recent years the Survey of English Usage has sold Englicious resource packs to schools, which helps to fund the project.

“Our Englicious resources have significantly enhanced English language teaching practice for thousands of primary, secondary and further education teachers in the UK and globally,” enthuses Professor Aarts.

“They provide research-based learning materials for students of all ages to improve their understanding of English grammar and its usage”, he adds.