that the knowledge of grammar and language variation the book under review teaches is


relevant to all aspects of literacy teaching, not just sentence combining, and it would be a shame if a title, which ties this specifically to sentence combining, deters readers who would find it useful. Perhaps there is the potential for two books! In the meantime this slim volume has a great deal to recommend it and is a valuable addition to the resources for teachers of writing for adults.


Burton, M. (2012) Grammar for Sentence Combining: Underpinning Knowledge for Adult Literacy Practitioners. Leicester: NIACE. Burton, M. et al (2010) Progress for Adult Literacy Learners. London: NRDC


Grief, S, and Chatterton, J (2007) Developing Adult Teaching and Learning: Practitioner Guides. Leicester: NIACE.


Sue Grief worked in adult literacy for 25 years as a teacher, trainer, co-ordinator and development adviser. She also helped to manage a series of research projects for the National Research and Development Centre for Adult Literacy and Numeracy (NRDC) and is co-author of the NRDC Practitioner Guide on writing. Sue is now retired.


Literacy and the Practice of Writing in the 19th Century:


A Strange Blossoming of Spirit Ursula Howard


Leicester: NIACE (2012) 349 pages £24.95


ISBN 978-1-86207-564-7 Reviewed by Doreen Chappell


Ursula Howard focuses on writing, by her own admission the aspect of literacy which is less likely to be addressed, in past and present literacy research, and indeed, in opportunities


for adult education. She cites how, until very recently, the means for attainment by adults in the 20th and 21st centuries was the


achievement of a qualification measured by a


still presents us with the need for innovative solutions.


Howard tackles her subject by setting the scene in the developments of a thirst for


communicating in writing by describing a history of education for adults (and children). She comments on how often 'self-help' groups formed, who did not have access to learning in an 'official' way, because of time or monetary


constraints. Again, as a practitioner in the field for many years, it struck me that in some ways there are connections here with today, or rather with the groups that met in the 1970s, when Adult Literacy, as it was then named, existed heavily supported by volunteers, in the home, in pubs, in libraries; “nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9) comes to mind. Was this in some ways more effective in really enabling


learners to explore and enjoy writing, without the drive for accreditation?


She explores culture and class, with reference to well or lesser known writers, particularly those whose literacy has been acquired with a working class background, which perhaps we, as modern, privileged educators, would not have imagined


took place. Notable is the poet John Clare, who read his own compositions to his parents pretending that they were the instruments for copy book texts, as they would not have seen a poetry writing son as having any realistic prospects for the future.


Howard provides case studies of both men and women writers, illustrating from their


backgrounds and lives evidence of the breadth and depth of writing practices in the 19th


century. She explores creative and more formal texts, as well as the value and vital nature of letter writing for communication; something which today would be replaced largely by emails and text messages, and thus be seen as much less important.


The book provides an insight into perhaps a surprising wealth of writing practices in existence in an era when long work hours and poverty


multiple choice reading test, with no need for the might be expected to override the desire for this conscious act of writing. She also discusses why we might assume that our 19th century ancestors were less literate in writing than we are today; in fact almost the opposite is true; or perhaps it is rather that there has been little appreciable change, notwithstanding the raising of the ceiling to measure literacy skills. This has particular resonance for Skills for Life


practitioners. Despite the gains at higher levels elicited by recent surveys, literacy acquisition


33


method of communication. To a Skills for Life practitioner today, the ways in which people acquired their skills are an inspiration and reinforce innovative ideas, albeit constrained by the confines of today's funding regimes. Certainly, there are discussion points here to share with present day learners, if only to show them that their desire to learn, often under difficult circumstances, can be reflected even back in history.


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