Syntax Commons^™

Differences In Syntactic Complexity In The Writing Of El1 And Ell Civil Engineering Students, Santiago Gustin

Dissertations and Theses

Traditional studies in syntactic complexity consider increased clausal complexity to be characteristic of development, proficiency and growth in written language production. However, this stereotypical view ignores two important facts. First, complexity differs by register (i.e. daily speech versus formal writing). Second, as the proficiency of writers increases, their complexity in formal writing changes from clausal complexity to phrasal complexity (i.e. lower-proficiency writers have more subordinate clauses whereas higher-proficiency writers tend to have more noun phrases). Therefore, in this study, I argue for the need to consider not just clausal complexity but also phrasal complexity measures when assessing development and performance …

Syntactic Complexity, Error And The Holistic Evaluation Of Esl Student Essays, John S. Sparks

Dissertations and Theses

This study was designed to test five hypotheses in order to answer the following general research questions: 1) Are measures of syntactic complexity valid indices of ESL writing quality as measured by the holistic rating of student essays? 2) Would a measure of frequency and seriousness of error reflect evaluators' perceptions of ESL writing quality?

A Comparative Study Of Three Language Sampling Methods Using Developmental Sentence Scoring, Cheryl Diane Dong

Dissertations and Theses

The present study sought to determine the effect different stimulus material has on the language elicited from children. Its purpose was to determine whether a significant difference existed among language samples elicited three different ways when analyzed using DSS. Eighteen children between the ages of 3.6 and 5.6 years were chosen to participate in the study. All of the children had normal bearing. normal receptive vocabulary skills and no demonstrated or suspected physical or social delays. Three language samples. each elicited by either toys. pictures. or stories. were obtained from each child. For each sample. a corpus of 50 utterances …

The Effects Of Two Management Techniques On The Generalization Of A Syntax Structure, Karin Jeanne Goodling

Dissertations and Theses

The effectiveness of any language training program is determined by generalization of the clinically trained behaviors to spontaneous speech. Traditional language programs which employ operant procedures to establish the behavior in the clinic and reinforcement from family, teachers and peers in a variety of settings to obtain generalization, have been successful in establishing the use of grammatical rules in the clinic setting, but reportedly have failed to promote generalization. Recent literature in the areas of semantics and pragmatics has produced a trend toward teaching language in natural contexts. The purpose of this study was to investigate: 1) whether a group …

A Comparative Study Of The Northwestern Syntax Screening Test Data, Sharon Ann Moore

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study was to compare NSST data (Lee, 1969, 1971) with data obtained in Portland, Oregon for children 4.0-4.11 years of age. The questions this study sought to answer were: 1) Is there a significant difference between the expressive and receptive scores obtained by Lee, (1969, 1971) and the scores obtained in Portland, Oregon? 2) What are the means, standard deviations and percentiles of the NSST scores of a select group of four-year-old children in Portland, Oregon?

A Comparison Of Spanish Language Samples Elicited By The Investigator In The Clinic And By The Mothers In The Home, Soledad Chavarria Navas

Dissertations and Theses

The primary purpose of the present study was to compare the quality of spontaneous language samples elicited from twelve low socioeconomic, normally developing, migrant Spanish-speaking subjects by their mothers in the home and by this investigator in the clinic. The subjects ranged in age from three years, one month to six years, nine months.

The essential question sought to determine if the comparison of language samples elicited in the home by the mothers and the language samples. elicited in the clinic by the investigator yielded significant differences in syntactical language development as measured by the Developmental Assessment of Spanish Grammar …