Scott, What I can tell you is that Michael Kischner and I have had many
many students tell us that after doing our grammar class, which includes
diagramming and sentence combining with a focus on syntax,  students
report that they are much better readers than they were before. This
would seem to support your idea. But it isn't real research!

Edith Wollin 

 

From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Scott Woods
Sent: Wednesday, November 26, 2008 1:12 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Experimental design help

 

Dear List:

 

I want to test a technique involving grammar for its effectiveness in
improving reading comprehension.  Please let me know what you think of
my design and if you have any suggestions for related research.

 

I want to test the whether breaking prose into grammatical chunks and
arranging those chunks on the page to show their relationships improves
reading comprehension.  The basic idea is that if students can see the
pattern of phrases and clauses in sentences, then they will better
understand the passage.  

 

Using brief passages with multiple choice questions, each student will
read some passages in normal prose and others in what I call "graphic
syntax," text with the phrase and clause structure made clearer.  Half
the students will do one set, the odd numbers, say, in normal text and
the evens in graphic syntax; the other half will do the evens in normal
text and the odds in graphic syntax.  Thus, every passage and question
will have a control group, but the students themselves don't have to be
controlled.  I will compare the error rate on each set to see if there
is any large difference.  

 

The group would be 112 seventh graders whose median reading percentile
is 91 and median language arts percentile is 95.

 

I did this experiment last year and found a slight difference in favor
of the experimental condition, but I let students take as much time as
they needed and refer back to the text.  This time, I will have them
read the passage under timed conditions, then turn the page and answer
the questions under timed conditions.  This should more closely mimic
the real conditions of normal reading, where one does not go back to the
text to find information to specific questions.  Time pressure
highlights the difference between solid performance and superior
performance.

 

A related experiment would include a control group which does not know
much about formal grammar and a group which does, that is, which has
studied and can name and create the phrases and clauses into which the
text is divided.  This condition would test the utility of teaching
students to name and create phrases and clauses as an aide to reading
comprehension.

 

Any suggestions for changes, clarification, sources?

 

Thanks, 
Scott Woods


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