Writing and writing clearly is a highly complex activity that requires the coordination of several processes and subprocesses for it to be effective and purposeful. Across those demands, syntax and the ability to express ideas with clarity can significantly affect a writer's ability to communicate (Berninger, Nagy, & Beers, 2011) and the…

The number of native Arabic-speaking students coming to America to study English in university programs has grown over the past few years, and continues to be substantial. It has also been noticed by the English Language Institute (ELI) at Sam Houston State University (SHSU) that these students often struggle more with reading activities in class,…

Includes sample forms used in the study to elicit students' compositions and examples of those compositions. (SW)

Outlines the basic elements and classroom applications of "word grammar," a form of sector (tagmemic) analysis to be used in standard English instruction. (RL)

Presents a simplified technique for teaching students how to construct sentences using relative pronouns. (RB)

Six pupils were selected at random from each of grades one through eight in a single school and were asked to write a rough draft of any length on any topic of interest to them. The 48 resulting essays were analyzed for errors in punctuation and sentence structure. Results indicated that elementary school children have difficulty in placing…

Rhetorical and linguistic concepts of the sentence are reviewed in the course of introducing the concept of the "minor sentence" (sentence fragments which may occur alone as complete linguistic utterances or which may be combined by parataxis or coordinators with a major sentence). Rather than restraining beginning writers from using…

Teaching students the traditional terminology for sentences is unnecessary and provides them little or no help in improving their writing. This paper outlines the most common difficulties in students' sentences and describes a simplified working vocabulary for teaching students how to solve their sentence problems. The paper shows the methods and…

Author suggests that pupils will write more coherent and unified compositions if they are taught to look for the logical connection between parts, looking to see if two parts are joined by an and" relationship, an and then" relationship, a but" relationship, a more specifically" relationship or a therefore" relationship. (PD)

Offers a method of substituting new words for the words in a well-known phrase to demonstrate the power of syntax. (TJ)

Phonological rules based on "stress-terminal pattern" (the principle that a phonological phrase has one primary stress and one terminal juncture requiring a mark of punctuation) can be used to improve punctuation in composition. These rules require that the writer be able to speak sentences at a normal pace with intonation appropriate to the…

Designed to instruct teachers as well as high school or college students in improving their writing, the Christensen Rhetoric Program is a sequential, cumulative program, published in kit form. The kit includes a script with lectures for the teacher, directions for using 200 transparencies on an overhead projector, and student workbooks which…