The purposes of this research was to develop English writing skills through techniques of sentence skeleton and signpost word analysis for English major students, and to compare the writing skills before and after the study. The sample consisted of 43 English major juniors at Faculty of Education, Ubon Ratchathani Rajabhat University, enrolling in…

Discusses the steps involved in using short-paragraph dictation exercises: (1) preparing a passage which is of high interest and focuses on grammatical problems exhibited by students; (2) determining the best way of presenting the passage; and (3) evaluating student performance. Identifies the technique's benefits for improving writing skills.…

An assignment to write a comment in less than fifty words encourages conciseness and precision. (JH)

Theory and research indicated that sentence-combining exercises (SCE's) might be effective for improving the writing of learning disabled (LD) pupils. Seven college seniors in special education were trained to implement SCE's naturalistically in tutoring 13 LD pupils in grades 1-6 over a 10 week period, with a control group of 8 seniors tutoring…

There is evidence that the ability to produce syntactically complex structures in a foreign language can be accelerated through a different strategy for teaching writing. A writing strategy is outlined which introduces the student gradually and in a very structured way to the concept of sentence-combining. (CHK)

Noting that grammar is alive, changing, and controversial, this book offers a combination of guidelines and creative language use for people who have already been exposed to the rules of grammar to help them start building their own style of speaking and writing. The first part of the book "Recalling the Parts of Speech," provides a…

Most students today have been reared on television and have had only slight brushes with the parts of grammar. Nevertheless, a variety of sentence pattern exercises and sentence combining lessons based on the students' own writing can be used to augment, challenge and improve students' writing skills and vocabulary. In the first exercise, students…

Precise and effective writing can be taught and learned; a knowledge of grammar makes it easier both for the student and teacher. (Editor)

To determine the relationship between handwriting speed and syntactic complexity, a study examined the syntactic features of 60 students enrolled in either a basic writing course or a traditional college composition course. Fast and slow handwriting were identified from highest scores on any one of four writing "tests." The writing…

Current research in reading indicates that what the reader brings to the printed page is far more important to comprehension than the information appearing there. This paper presents a model of how the integration of reading and writing skills can be undertaken, thereby strengthening both skill areas. With selections from a literary text and a…

The word "grammar" can be defined in at least four different ways: "intuitive grammar," our intuitive sense of sentence structure; "effective grammar," a command of the syntactic resources of the language; "'good' grammar," the use of socially prestigious grammar; and "formal grammar," the systematic study of the structure of the language. Formal…

Developed by the Oregon Elementary English Project, this curriculum unit, intended for grades three and four, introduces students to some of the mechanics of writing and provides some practice in using these mechanics. The unit contains an introduction to writing and seven sections, covering beginning and end punctuation, commas, the apostrophe,…

Students in grades 4, 5, or 6 can learn to write more concretely, accurately, and deliberately by employing three strategies: (1) elimination of those words or phrases that garble meaning or repeat unnecessarily; (2) substitution of more specific, concrete, and generally more appropriate expressions for ones that are vague and unimaginative; and…

This book is designed to help individuals prepare for the Writing Skills Test, which is the first of five tests that make up the General Educational Development (GED) Test battery. The introduction offers a detailed description of the content, format, and scoring of the GED test, focusing on the Writing Skills Test, and a descriptive outline of…

A practicum provided 10th- grade students in 2 English honors classes with direct instruction in sentence combining. The goal of the program was to increase the syntactic complexity of student writing, to have students express more in each sentence. Instruction was approached from different aspects. The students worked with two textbooks on…