Presents a lesson plan that uses subordinating conjunctions and prepositions as "magic words." After a lesson or unit of study, students write content specific sentences using the "magic" conjunctions and prepositions. This activity serves as a unit review, helps with concept formation, and increases writing skills. (MJP)

A survey of 34 professors teaching English as a second language in 20 Japanese universities elicited information about common errors in student writing. In open-ended questions, respondents identified 40 student error types, which were grouped into 18 categories. The most common problem category was sentence development, and other high-frequency…

A study examined the transition from dependent writing (dictation) to independent writing for 40 first grade students. Specifically, the study investigated (1) how, in terms of common quantitative language units (mean words per t-unit, mean number of dependent clauses, words per maze, mean number of dependent clauses per t-unit, and length in…

The focus of this journal edition is remedial writing instruction in high school and college. Articles in the journal are: "The Remedial Student is Different," by Karl K. Taylor; "Writing Apprehension: (I) Combating Fear of Failure," by Donna K. Gorrell; "Writing Apprehension: (II) Where Does Fear of Writing Come…

This study compared a grammar program using a linguistic approach with one using a traditional approach to determine how each affects children's ability (1) to construct sentences which have variety in structure, and (2) to comprehend silent reading. Five experimental and five control classes of fourth-grade children were randomly selected from…

The complex nature of grammar and its relevance to teaching today are explored in the light of modern linguistics. Reviewing the development and fundamental theory of transformational generative grammar, the author points out its substantial merit and also its failure to be understood as exemplary grammatical analysis of language rather than…

Developed to increase student ability to communicate effectively in a growing range of situations, this kindergarten through grade eight writing and speaking program is based on clusters of instructional and performance objectives for each grade level. The guide begins with a discussion of the goals of education, a point of view about language…

The New Jersey College Basic Skills Placement Test (NJCBSPT) is designed to measure basic reading, writing, and mathematics skills of students entering New Jersey colleges. The test consists of five sections: Essay, Reading Comprehension, Sentence Sense, Mathematical Computation, and Elementary Algebra. The test is intended to answer the question…

This unit is intended to help teach and test the prepositions outlined in the "English as a Second Language Guide" of the Milwaukee Public Schools. The text is sequenced to develop listening and understanding skills first, then speaking and writing skills, and finally reading comprehension without visual clues. Review and testing sections are…

The present study reports on exploratory research to determine whether the Aluminum Paragraph, a sentence-combining exercise developed by O'Donnell (Hunt, 1970) to measure the development of syntactic complexity in the writing of native speakers of English, can also serve as a measure of the active syntactic proficiency of learners of English as a…

Supplementary to "NAEP 1996 Trends in Academic Progress," this report describes two aspects of writing for which change has been measured since 1984: writing fluency as determined by holistic scoring; and mastery of the conventions of written English as determined by mechanics scoring. The introduction discusses the layout and means of…

Beginning with the 1985-86 school year, the Texas Educational Assessment of Minimum Skills (TEAMS) tests have been based on the objectives provided in this publication for teachers and test development specialists. The writing skills objectives for grade 7 require: (1) knowledge of standard capitalization; (2) knowledge of standard punctuation;…

A curriculum unit on English for mathematics students at the University of Haifa is presented. The text content concerns mathematics while integrating language principles. Exercises are included that involve comprehension of geometric diagrams, reading comprehension, word meanings, and restructuring sentences. The 12 sections cover: projective…

This collection of essays on literary composition sets forth rhetorical principles formulated from a close inductive study of contemporary American prose. The first essay develops a system of analyzing sentences by structural levels and outlines a generative rhetoric for the sentence consisting of the processes of "addition,""direction of…

Information on the Ontario Test of English Achievement is presented. Attention is directed to the background and objectives of the test, test development, subtest characteristics and properties, validity, and recommendations concerning test use. The objective of the test was to determine the language competence of incoming students to assist…