This investigation sought to learn about the oral and written language behavior of students from kindergarten age through grade 7, and to determine the validity of different analytic techniques for measuring children's development in control of syntax. Language samples were collected from 180 children (grades K-3, 5, and 7) by having the children view two silently-run cartoons, and then narrate and answer questions about the film in a recorded interview. Third-, fifth-, and seventh-graders were also asked to write the stories and answers. The typescripts of the responses were analyzed using Hunt's T-units. Principal conclusions were: (1) as grade level increased, so did the word length of total responses to a situation; (2) the most frequent significant increments from grade to grade were in the use of particular complex constructions; (3) deletion transformations may indicate students' growth in manipulating syntax better than subordinate clauses; (4) oral expression appeared to progress most rapidly between kindergarten and the end of first grade, and between the ends of the fifth and seventh grades; (5) in the higher grades, written development in control of syntax surpassed spoken development. (This document previously announced as ED 017 508.) (MM)