In an epilogue to the 1967 research report, "Transformational Sentence-Combining" (See ED 018 405.), John Mellon considers the significance of the sentence-combining experience and answers the charges of critics--Wayne O'Neil, James Moffett, and Francis Christensen--regarding his original research findings. Mellon points out, for example, that…

A review of traditional and transformational studies on the phenomenon of sentential complementation (noun clauses) reveals many areas of agreement. Although some adherents of generative grammar may have occasionally obscured this aspect because of the offensive nature of their criticism of other modes of analysis, it is seen that, in several…

The language curriculum initiated at the Rhode Island School for the Deaf consists of two stated innovations in teaching methods, which are language development through concept formation and application of transformational grammar. Description of the teaching method reveals that aurally handicapped pupils learn to analyze sentence structure by…

Written for probationary patrol inspectors at the Border Patrol Training School, El Paso, Texas, this text presents a concise, traditional analysis of Spanish grammar. Each of the 21 lessons focuses on an aspect of the language including sections on the parts of speech, special verbs, commands, numbers, passive voice, and the subjunctive mood. A…

The primary purpose of this experiment was to see if instructional materials created for fourth graders could enhance their normal syntactic development, and if these materials would succeed better with black or with white students. For one school year a sentence-combining curriculum was demonstrated on 180 students who had been grouped…

A study in which the patterns and possibilities of free modifiers in the writing habits of three students, who were rated low in language ability, is described. The primary purpose of the study was to determine if complicated syntactic elements used as free modifiers could be lifted from the complex subject of grammar and be presented as…

Most Russian courses suffer from an inadequate approach to the presentation of syntax even though continued emphasis on syntax from the beginning would help to remove the trial and error syndrome inherent in purely audiolingual methods and would channel the student's efforts to internalize and make automatic his answers in a relevant context, thus…

The procedures used to develop a list of concepts taught in fourth-grade language arts are described. Thirty concepts from the list were randomly sampled and then analyzed. Analysis consisted of listing examples and non-examples, relevant and irrelevant attributes, subordinates and supraordinates, and a definition and principle for each concept.…

The project described in this report examines the development of Swedish-speaking children's syntax from the appearance of the first two-work sentences until all the basic syntactical rules are mastered. The procedures and techniques for the experiment are described and preliminary findings are discussed. Children practice language by repeating an…

Investigations designed to eliminate ambiguities in the Andre and Kulhavy procedure and to investigate the effects of noun modifications and sentence voice in the category clustering of sentences were conducted. Two experiments were carried out; both employed a mixed factorial design and were prepared in dittoed booklets. The Ss were run in…

Examines the role and significance of systematic error correction and explicit grammatical explanation in adult foreign language education. The type and nature of certain grammatical errors which are characteristic of the interlanguage of Arab learners of English as a second language and which seem insusceptible to defossilization are…

Study of native speakers of Yoruba who spoke English as a second language found that transfer of learning from one language to the other decreased with increasing proficiency in English. Transfer from Yoruba to English was higher than from English to Yoruba at lower levels of proficiency in English. (Author/CB)

A study of native English-speakers' (N=36) and English-as-a-second-language students' (N=60) understanding of conjunctions while reading indicated that more advanced ESL students were more capable of inferencing or using available logical relationships than were intermediate ESL students. (Author/CB)

Using third, sixth, and ninth grade students of Anglo, Black, and Hispanic ethnicity, a study examined their use of the conjunctions "and,""but,""because," and "even though." Results indicated that for all groups, correct use of conjunctions was correlated with reading comprehension. (HOD)

The multifaceted structure of sentence-completion test items was analyzed to explain verbal comprehension. The three stimulus constituents were technical, logical-semantic, and associative-contextual. Guttman's facet and order theories and smallest space analysis were used. Results confirmed the multiple skills involved in solving these tasks.…