Beyond the Chicken and the Nightingale: Challenging the Passive Acquisition Model

Lindsay IllichAssistant Professor of English

Curry College

Research Question

Does direct instruction in sentence rhetorics lead to growth in syntactic complexity?

Research Question

Does direct instruction in sentence rhetorics lead to growth in syntactic complexity?

What are the attributes that reflect growth in syntactic complexity?

Is there, or could there be, an expansive approach to sentence-pedagogies that offers a cognitive measures for identifying levels of causality or other higher order concerns in student writing?

Constraints Disciplinary history of studies related to

syntax (see Connors, “Erasure of the Sentence”): “What iceberg did this Titanic meet?”

Disciplinary attitudes toward grammar instruction

The Upside

Meta-analyses suggest some approaches to sentence rhetorics may produce results related to syntactical complexity

Centuries old tradition in the rhetoric of the sentence from which to draw, which includes pedagogical strategies as well as a fully articulated vocabulary of the sentence

Technologies that facilitate quantitative analyses to measure growth

Hypotaxis Average words/sentence

Grade Level

Student 1 6.73%(18.7) -1.3

(9.1) -0.1

Student 2 14.23% (22.4) 1.4 (10.1) 1.2

Student 3 12.07% (18.6) 5.2 (10.8) 3.5

Student 4 8.84% (21.4) 3.8 (11.2) 1.3

Student 5 -53.00% (18) -4.6 (10.1) 1.3

Grade Level calculated using the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level formula

Growth in Syntactical Complexity

Sample SentencesSAT WWII ESSAYS

Student 1: The last example in “the Catcher in the Rye,” is how Holden want to save all the children from falling off the cliff in adulthood.

Student 2: Intelligence is all how smart in your choices you are, not necessarily studies.

Student 3: He was never a fan of school work, tests, homework, etc.

Student 4: These CEOs and bankers said they felt they deserved their bonuses.

Student 5: Small decisions may be small at the time you make them but when you think back to me times in your life they’ll be the decisions that you’ll always remember.

Student 1: This shooting of Trayvon Martin is a case that unfortunately has happened before but not gotten national spotlight.

Student 2: Not only are you helping to put money back in the pockets of the farmers that grew those foods down the road from you, but you are investing in the health of you and your family as well as the economy.

Student 3: Perhaps the biggest argument from critics is that Invisible Children’s funding was not going to the capture of Joseph Kony, rather being used for personal expenses.

Student 4: In a successful attempt to further strengthen the connection between V for Vendetta and 1984, the filmmakers specifically cast John Hurt to play Chancellor Sutler because Hurt played Winston Smith in the film version of 1984, which was appropriately released in 1984.

Student 5: Gavin is growing up in the United States as a normal four year old, while the underprivileged Ugandan children are growing up in fear.

PILOT

1 group, same treatment

Undefined direct instruction

Quantitative analysis restricted to hypotaxis, words per sentence, and Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level

Single PD/PI

Selection bias

REDESIGN

2 of 3 sections receive direct instruction Systematic curriculum design using Williams, Kolln, Killingsworth & Holcomb

Quantitative and qualitative analyses using both code and holistic rubric developed to measure syntactical complexity using Core Standards as a guide

Multiple PD/PI Model (???)

Linked courses with opt. out

Appendix A: SAT for Student 5Decisions you make in your life, whether small or big, can ultimately be decisions that can change your life forever. Have you ever thought about if you hadn’t said or done one little thing, then your life could be completely different than the way it is today. We all make small decisions everyday like whether to stay home, go shopping, do homework, etc. When we make these small decisions we don’t realize that they are building character and the person we’ll be in the future. Some small, minor decisions make no impact on our lives, or so we think, while others can end up being the greatest or even the worst thing that could’ve happened. Have you ever thought about not making one tiny decision then maybe you wouldn’t have met someone who ha a great importance in your life. Throughout my three years in high school I’ve met some amazing people that I know I could never forget. I’ve made some incredible memories with them that I’ll always keep in my heart. But when I think back to when I first met them if I hadn’t made decisions then I would most likely never have known them. Maybe if I hadn’t gone to the football game that night and stayed home then things would be completely different now. Small decisions may be small at the time you make them but when you think back to me times in your life they’ll be the decisions that you’ll always remember.

Appendix B:

A man lived in a farmhouse. He was old. He lived alone. The house was small. The house was on a mountain. The mountain was high. The house was on the top. He grew vegetables. He grew grain. He ate the vegetables. He ate the grain. One day he was pulling weeds. He saw something. A chicken was eating his grain. The grain was new. He caught the chicken. He put her in a pen. The pen was under his window. He planned something. He would eat the chicken for breakfast. The next morning came. It was early. A sound woke the man. He looked out the window. He saw the chicken. He saw an egg. The chicken cackled. The man thought something. He would eat the egg for breakfast. Hefed the chicken a cup of his grain. The chicken talked to him. He talked to the chicken. Time passed. He thought something. He could feed the chicken more. He could feed her two cups of grain. He could feed her in the morning. He could feed her at night. Maybe she would lay two eggs every morning. He fed the chicken more grain. She got fat. She got lazy. She slept all the time. She laid no eggs. The man got angry. He blamed the chicken. He killed her. He ate her for breakfast. He had no chicken. He had no eggs. He talked to no one. No one talked to him.