In the componential approach to modelling reading ability, a number of contributory factors have been empirically validated. However, research on their relative contribution to explaining performance on second language reading tests is limited. Furthermore, the contribution of knowledge of syntax has been largely ignored in comparison with the…

Designed to divide recall protocols for subsequent category analysis, this instrument equates surface syntactic forms with semantic ideas. The instrument defines two types of syntactic proposition--a base syntactic proposition, the simplest independent prediction (structurally) that may be used to convey information, and an alternate syntactic…

Examines the Test of Language Development-Primary (TOLD-P), an individual test of English language proficiency which has four principal uses: to identify problems in language proficiency: to determine strengths and weaknesses in language skills: to document progress provided by programs; and to serve as a device for research.(NH)

These indexes, a set of measures of growth in syntactic fluency, are derived from the research in written syntax of Hunt and Christensen. They are a means of linguistic analysis of each T-unit (independent clause and its modifiers) in a writing sample. The indexes include: mean T-unit length; number of words in free modifiers, final position only;…

The "Write a Sentence Test" was developed for use in the evaluation of student writing abilities in association with a project in Memphis, Tennessee. This paper discusses ways of administering and scoring the test, decisions concerning modification of the test, and experiences when the test was administered to sample subjects. All forms…

Designed to measure syntactic fluency or maturity in narrative writing, the Syntactic Maturity Test for Narrative Writing (SMTNW) is in two parts: (1) the test itself, a group of seventy-six kernel sentences making a coherent narrative, and (2) a means of syntactic analysis of the written samples that result when respondents rewrite the narrative,…

Designed to test the effect upon comprehension of repatterning passages from a tenth grade social studies text by approximating the syntactic patterns found in a transformational analysis of the writing of the tenth grade subjects expected to read the text, this instrument was applied to 34 subjects who were asked to write 1,000 words of prose…

The Syntactic Density Score (SDS) is designed to determine the syntactic density of the oral and written discourse of students in grades 1-14, as well as that of reading materials selected for students. The SDS can be hand tabulated; however, a computer program is available which can determine the score from any corpus of material typed into the…

Designed to provide a scale for assessing the quality of personal or imaginative writing, the Evaluation Scale for Personal Writing (ESPW) consists of a group of twenty-eight imaginative essays written by British fifteen year olds. These essays have been arranged in order of quality by an eight member sub-committee of the London Association for…

The interaction of rules concerning verb placement and verbal conjugation in the acquisition of German as a foreign language is discussed. A study using constrained written tasks showed that accuracy in verbal conjugation varies by word-order environment and improves in tasks that focus solely on conjunction. Tests are appended. (Contains 49…

The application of language processing skills between 2 languages with dissimilar morphosyntactic features was investigated with 72 American university students learning Japanese. Results suggest that learners' first- and second-language knowledge both play a significant role and that the linguistic knowledge and coding capability for text…

Twenty-eight experienced English language professionals were surveyed regarding the degree of difficulty students with deafness with and without learning disabilities might have in dealing with 30 specific English language phenomena. Spelling knowledge and a variety of English discourse, lexical, syntactic, and morphological phenomena emerged as…

Hunt and O'Donnell's Aluminum Paragraph was administered to sixty Canadian college students enrolled in English as a Second Language (ESL) courses. The students were asked to re-write and to improve a paragraph consisting of 32 short, single-clause sentences. The students were identified as low intermediate, high intermediate, and advanced in…

An instructional manual for reference use in college and university teaching is presented, based on a 2-year study of the specific difficulties that students have in receptive communication (listening and reading) in introductory courses. Although the investigation focused primarily on the disciplines of psychology, physics, and philosophy, many…

This guide is intended for use in helping students master the language arts skills necessary to pass the writing skills portion of the General Educational Development examination. It could also be used in adult basic education classes. The following topics are covered in the individual units: capitalization, punctuation, verb tense, subject-verb…