A Study of a Collaborative Instructional Project Informed by Systemic Functional Linguistic Theory: Report Writing in Elementary Grades MARIA ESTELA BRISK AND TRACY HODGSON-DRYSDALE, BOSTON COLLEGE, AND CHERYL O 'CONNOR, BOSTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS ABSTRACT The current study examines the teaching of report writing from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade through the lens of systemic functional linguistics (SFL) theory. Teachers were part of a univer- sity and public school collaboration that included professional development on teaching genres, text organization, and language features. Grounded in this knowledge, teachers explicitly taught students to write reports. Results indicate that students understood the purpose of reports. Although report writing was challenging, students at all levels, supported by their teachers, presented the topic in an organized way, showed awareness of audience and voice, and used language that resulted in coherent writing. INTRODUCTION "Writing today is not a frill for the few but an essential skill for the many" (National Commission on Writing [NCW], 2006, p. 49).The types of writing required for success in college and at work include writing to inform, persuade, describe, and report. However, the findings of a survey of 178 primary-grade teachers, conducted by Cutler and Graham (2008), showed that writing instruction focused on "narrative writing (stories, personal narratives, and poems), writing to communicate (letters), completing worksheets, and responding to material read. Expository writing activities, such as writing to inform or persuade, were much less common" (p. 916). It is through engagement in expository writing activities such as writing reports that children learn new information, organ- ize what they learn, and share it with others (Derewianka & Pri- mary English Teaching Association [Australia], 1990). Tlie situation in the middle grades is similar. In a recent survey of 103 teachers of grades four through six, Gilbert and Graham (2010) found that although their responses suggested that teachers were providing instruction in wTiting short answers, journals, responses to readings, and worksheets, weekly or more often, only 10% reported that they were teaching report writing monthly or more frequently. Teaching expository writing cannot be left to chance if students are to learn to write in the informed and coher- ent manner required to succeed in school, gain admission to col- lege, and succeed in competitive work environments (NCW, 2004). The study that is the focus of this article examined the effects of professional development on systemic functional linguistic (SFL) theory (Halliday, 1994) and the ways the theory informs instruction in report writing in the elementary grades. Together with the university researchers, the teachers in one elementary school developed strategies to teach writing in a variety of genres, including reports. The project emerged from collaboration between the Boston Public Schools and Boston College. The use of this theory to inform writing instruction began in Australia (J. R. Martin, 2009) and continues to influence linguists and educators. The central idea that informs instruction is that writing practices in a given culture are characterized by genre, recurrent forms of texts used for specific purposes, with specific discourse organization and language features. According to this definition, reports are a genre. A SFL perspective on writing instruction focuses on how the language and structures of a writ- ing task vary with respect to the genre of the text (J. R. Martin & Rose, 2008) and the ways teachers can make the academic lan- guage demands explicit to students, thereby allowing them to manipulate language to create meaning. TEACHING AND LEARNING TO WRITE REPORTS Research on the development of the ability to write reports has revealed that students come to school in kindergarten and first o grade with some basic knowledge of writing that enables them to participate in the creation of reports at the level of drawing, label- ing, and making lists (Newkirk, 1987), and distinguish between the genres of stories, poems, and science reports (Kamberelis, 1999). In one study students in third, sixth, and ninth grades were found to have basic knowledge of report writing, but did not show much improvement throughout the grades, with two exceptions: Older students were better able to organize texts, and they learned more about syntax. The researcher concluded that stu- dents have the requisite knowledge and ability, but without ade- quate teaching only marginal improvement can be realized (Langer, 198S). Research on teaching children to write shows that when done in a strategic manner, such teaching is successful (De La Paz & Graham, 2002). A strategic teaching approach engages students in all aspects of the process from selecting a topic to completing a coherent final product, and gradually releases the responsibility to students as they master new writing abilities (Barclay & Traser 1999; Perry & Drummond, 2002).The gradual release of respon- sibility model includes: demonstration and modeling, guided prac- tice, collaborative practice, and independent practice (Pearson & Gallagher, 1983). The work is done as a whole class, in small groups, and independently through a recursive process of writing that includes planning, drafting, writing, revision, and editing