BEYOND SENTENCE COMBINING: A CONSIDERATION OF MOTIVATIONAL AND DEVELOPMENTAL FACTORS IN COLLEGE COMPOSITION TEACHING
Abstract
Research surrounding the efficacy of sentence combining as a technique for improving the quality of student writing reveals that while the technique is highly successful in accelerating linguistic development of elementary and secondary school students, it appears to be less suitable for improving the overall quality of college students' writing. This apparent discrepancy is investigated in order to extrapolate those pedagogical features of sentence combining which account for its success, and subsequently, to apply them to broader rhetorical skills more appropriate to college level writing. The sequential nature of the instruction, the repetition of exercises, the specific goal orientation of the technique, and its coincidence with the natural linguistic development of younger students are shown to contribute substantially to its effectiveness. Among the disadvantages of sentence combining, however, are its limited goals and the failure of such drill-like instruction to coincide with older students' natural development. An analysis of the developmental stages of college students reveals that this age group is highly motivated by a desire for maturation, including association with the adult community's values and behavior. In general, learning is limited to that which seems to meet the perceived needs of the students themselves, and therefore acceleration of their development can best be accomplished by allowing them freedom to determine their own goals through creative inquiry procedures. A program designed to accommodate these needs, to capitalize on the integrative motivation inherent at this stage of development, and, at the same time, to incorporate the positive features of sentence combining might logically be expected to accelerate the linguistic development of college students. Results of a limited field test suggest that such a program of instruction did accelerate linguistic development and also general intellectual development, substantially improving the overall quality of student writing. Such instruction can also provide students with a method for continually reassessing direction of their linguistic growth and finding solutions to an ever-changing set of rhetorical problems.
Degree
Ph.D.
Subject Area
Language arts
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