Introducing Prose Composition to Year 9 Students: Strategies for Developing Confidence in English to Latin Translation

Denise Batchelor

doi:10.1017/s2058631018000181

Abstract

This research will investigate whether the teaching of prose composition to a group of students with no or very limited experience helps improve their linguistic knowledge and performance. The investigation covers two different strategies: a step method and an annotation method, The new WJEC Eduqas GCSE Latin paper was first examined in 2018 and contains an optional prose composition section. This comprises three sentences to be translated from English into Latin.

Highlights

Introduction and contextThis research will investigate whether the teaching of prose composition to a group of students with no or very limited experience helps improve their linguistic knowledge and performance
I felt it was important in my interventions not to mention the change to the GCSE for the students and the inclusion of prose composition
A variety of different grammatical aspects was listed with verb tenses, endings, noun declensions and word order being the most common

Summary

Introduction

Introduction and contextThis research will investigate whether the teaching of prose composition to a group of students with no or very limited experience helps improve their linguistic knowledge and performance. The investigation covers two different strategies: a step method and an annotation method, The new WJEC Eduqas GCSE Latin paper was first examined in 2018 and contains an optional prose composition section. This comprises three sentences to be translated from English into Latin. The school is rated as outstanding with very high levels of attainment and below average numbers of students with English as an Additional Language or satisfying Pupil Premium criteria (Ofsted 2013). In Year 8 there are four classes of Latin. Students are interested in Latin and want to continue learning it throughout the school, with GCSE uptake in Year 10 still high

Methods

Results

Conclusion