Editor: Viv Edwards (University of Reading, UK)
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Volume: 17 Number: 5 Page: 355–370
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Principled Understanding? Teaching the Active and Passive Voice
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Debra Myhill
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This paper describes some of the misconceptions and confusions in metalinguistic understanding which are established by the teacher during whole-class teaching of the active and passive voice. It draws
on findings from a larger study investigating how teachers use talk in whole-class settings to scaffold children's learning. Through a detailed analysis of the teacher's interactions with her class, the
paper illuminates the significance of clarity in explanations and choice of examples and the importance of secure subject knowledge. It demonstrates how the teaching of metalinguistic knowledge requires
more than an ability to identify and define terminology, and how an overemphasis upon content can lead to a failure to acknowledge the cognitive and conceptual implications of pedagogical decisions.
© Multilingual Matters 2003
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