Marshall,
The interesting thing about the Graham and Perin study is that is is
a meta-analysis and measures (attempts to measure) the effect of various
kinds of instruction on writing quality, not a discreet element like
T-unit. sentence combining comes in fifth of eleven interventions
recommended, above things like "prewriting." An effect size of .50 is
considered "moderate." I have my reservations about the way the study is
set up, but the research does seem to back up the usefulness of the
approach. If nothing else, research like this can be used to convince an
administrator or department chair that your practices are empirically
grounded. The research also seems to show that the strongest effect is
achieved if there's a conversation about language going on. What Scott
is doing seems very easy to justify.
Craig
Myers, Marshall wrote:
> ATEG Members:
>
> Dave et al.,
>
> You probably know about the sentence combining movement in composition studies back in the late 70's. I had a whole course in it for my Ph.D. in composition and rhetoric.
>
> The greater part of the research indicated that sentence-combining practice did "improve" sentences written in the composition classroom. The method used to measure "improvement" was to count the increase in the number of words in a "t-unit." A "t-unit" is the number of words in a main clause and all its modifiers. For example: "Joe flunked algebra, because he didn't study" would be a t-unit of seven. But this sentence would have two t-units of four: "Joe loves his beer, and Mary likes fine wine."
> The presumption was that any increase in t-unit length as a result of sentence-combining instruction represented a further "sophistication" of a student's sentence writing skills.
>
> I use a sentence-combining textbook (there are still a couple, including Max Morenburg's) around.
>
> The theoretical basis for sentence-combining derived from early t-g theory.
>
> Marshall
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of David Kehe
> Sent: Wednesday, February 11, 2009 1:02 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Sentence composing/grammar to improve writing
>
> Scott,
>
> As you pointed out, there should be a way to measure the effectiveness of teaching grammar. However, we also need to know what "teaching grammar" means. I doubt that your student produced that great sentence in a story after you merely introduced that structure of participle phrases. (You didn't "drill and kill," as Patty Lafayllve described, did you?) Would you mind summarizing the steps that it took to help him internalize and then apply this?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Dave
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar on behalf of Scott Woods
> Sent: Wed 2/11/2009 6:40 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Sentence composing/grammar to improve writing
>
>
> Dear List,
> I have been using using Don Killgallon's Grammar for Middle School: A Sentence-Composing Approach with my seventh grade classes. Here's an example of a first sentence from a short story by one of my students, a native speaker of Arabic and not previously a very good writer:
>
> His face pale, his shirt stained with blood, his pants tattered, his shoes ripped and dirty, the Roman soldier advanced toward the castle, stepping over the rotting bodies of the British, every step taking him closer to the enemy's territory, every step taking him closer to death.
>
> Prior to learning to use absolute phrases and participial phrases (as well as the other modifiers he learned) this student could not have written such a sentence. He could not even really think about improving his style. Teaching students to consciously control sentence structure works, in my experience. Incidentally, students universally enjoy it.
>
> Why don't the studies which measure the effectiveness of teaching grammar look at the specific constructions and sentence types taught and the changes in the frequency and effectiveness of their use? Clause length and other such measures seem clumsy and not particularly useful as measures of writing skill if we are trying to improve student writing.
>
> Scott Woods
>
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