UEA’s ‘GrammarSlammer’ academic reaching millions through TikTok
By: Communications
Sarah Brownsword, a lecturer in Primary education at the University of East Anglia (UEA) has developed a novel way to engage her Primary PCGE students by utilising TikTok as a means to record and disseminate course content.
Despite her intentions to create just for the students on her course, her audience has since grown to nearly 18k followers, with her videos on grammar, punctuation and vocabulary, under the handle @grammarslammer, having been liked more than 177k times and viewed more than 6m times and counting.
Sarah was inspired to start as she noted that students were arriving with limited experience of grammar, something they would later be required to teach, and existing learning resources weren’t being accessed. Sarah explains:
“Lots of our students come to us with no prior knowledge of grammar at all. They couldn't tell you what a noun or an adjective was. I've spent the last few years trying to find ways to support their subject knowledge and their curriculum knowledge. I did make some videos previously which I've put on Blackboard, but they just weren’t using or watching them. So that's when I kind of thought, actually, why don't I try TikTok?”
Study in UEA's School of Education and Lifelong Learning
Initially, Sarah re-recorded her existing content for TikTok as short videos, with her audience limited to the students she taught. As she widened this to cover more aspects of grammar and language, her audience grew.
With content covering everything from ‘15 British Insults in Danger of Extinction’ (116.9k views) to ‘Parenthesis’ (159.8k views), it is her regular videos about Year 6 SATs questions that bring about her most memorable interactions, with Sarah saying:
“I use the grammar test from previous SATs papers as a starting point for questions in the build-up to the exams that take place in May every year. I get a lot of parents who use them, saying to me I've shown your videos to my child or, you know, every day we sit down and we look at your TikTok.”
Although TikTok has a minimum account holder age of 13, Sarah has had children younger than this comment on her posts saying that they got a question right because they’d seen her video, though she is clear that they are not her intended audience, saying:
“I'm a little bit conflicted about it because children shouldn't be on TikTok. I don't aim my videos at children. I don't encourage children to comment on them because I just think there's an ethical issue there, but I am aware that year sixes do watch them because of SATs.”
Sarah’s content clearly has a positive influence on people, including her students, but she would never use the term ‘influencer’ to describe herself, saying:
“I wouldn't use that word, and I think that part of the reason that I wouldn't is because when you say influencer, people think of makeup and beauty products or people trying to sell you stuff. Obviously, I'm not trying to sell anybody anything.
“It would feel like giving myself a title that I haven't earned. It probably wouldn't bother me if somebody else decided that's what I was though, it’s a funny one.”
Sarah’s success on TikTok hasn’t gone unnoticed amongst colleagues, but she does appreciate that it can be a step into the unknown for people to tap into the potential themselves, saying:
“On our primary PGCE, there are two course directors, myself and my colleague Martin, who leads the maths side. I actually had a conversation with him during graduation about maths, I can't remember how it came up, but I suggested to him, well why don't you do it on TikTok? I sometimes send him my TikToks to look at and I know that that's something that he's thought about as well.
“I'm hoping some of my colleagues will join me. But who knows? It's scary for people putting their face out there if that's something that they’ve never done before. It was scary for me at the start to actually record and upload myself. It makes you feel really vulnerable because you're opening yourself up for criticism because people don't hold back on criticising you on TikTok.”
Despite amassing millions of views on her videos, and engaging with both her students and with people across the country and beyond, Sarah has yet to be asked to share her TikTok experiences at a conference, a sign perhaps that her work is ahead of the curve in her professional sphere. She said:
“I was at an academic conference a couple of weeks ago and I mentioned TikTok and nobody's on it. This was a literacy conference, and they just aren't aware of it and don't use it. They think it's something for young people lip syncing and dancing.”
While her success has been unexpected, her academic interest has been piqued by it, with Sarah saying:
“I am thinking about doing some kind of a research project with it. I'd be really interested in finding out how students are engaging with it. I set it up to support their subject knowledge, but does it make a difference?
"It’s always time with things like that though, isn't it?”
If you are looking to start university in September 2024 and still thinking about your options, consider joining a UK Top 25 university this September through Clearing.
Find out more about Clearing and view available courses
Related Articles
New £1.1 million grant to improve well-being of teens in care
Researchers at the University of East Anglia are launching "LIMITLESS II", a £1.1 million project aiming to improve the well-being support available to teens living in care funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).
Read more
England’s public libraries generate value every year
England's public libraries generate value of at least 3.4bn each year, according to a landmark analysis by economists from the University of East Anglia.
Read more
More support needed for children with disabilities using the Internet
Children with disabilities need better support to manage their online lives and potential online risks, finds UEA researcher.
Read more