> Dear Scott Woods,

I know this is late but you might find the suggestion useful.  I have found
it useful to borrow the arrangement Francis Christensen employs in 'Notes
Toward a New Rhetoric' (see for example, pp. 9-13).  Students draw four
vertical lines down the page on the left-hand side, each slightly further in
from the margin.  Such a page can then be used both for analysis of the
sentences of given passages  (as well as of the structure of paragraphs
themselves -- see pp. 68-9), and for the writing of their own pieces.

With you, I have found Virginia Tufte's books immensely helpful on the
grammar/rhetoric issue -- I am referring not only to 'Artful Sentences' but
also to her earlier 'Grammar and Style'.  They are wonderful books;  no one
could protest that grammar has little to do with good writing after reading
them.

Edmond Wright


Dr. Edmond Wright
3 Boathouse Court
Trafalgar Road
Cambridge
CB4 1DU
England

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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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