I have nor reference information. But my personal experience with students, especially when they move from personal narraitive writing to academic scientific writing, sentence combining helps a lot> I remember somebody says that academic discourse is not natural, it is learned, not acquired. Sentence combing helps thewriter to see the complexity of idea relations. >From: Russ Hunt <[log in to unmask]> >Reply-To: CASLL/Inkshed <[log in to unmask]> >To: [log in to unmask] >Subject: Sentence combining as test item? >Date: Sat, 12 Aug 2000 14:48:38 AST4ADT > >I recently recieved a question from a teacher friend here in New >Brunswick (Susan MacDonald, for those who might remember her from >previous Inkshed meetings). She's concerned about the provincial >grade 11 English test. The province is proposing a new item for the >test. This is part of it: > > ---------------- >Student instructions: > >Sentence Combining > >Combine each group of sentences into one effective sentence. > > a. All of the original ideas must be included in each newly > constructed sentence. > b. Do not add any new ideas. > c. Your score will be based on effective combination of ideas, > correct spelling and punctuation. > d. If you have difficulty with a particular group of sentences, > go on to other sentences and come back to the difficult group when > you have time. > >Sample item D > > 1. Ian Rankin is one of the most famous writers of the twentieth > century. > 2. Rankin was born in Edinburgh. > 3. Rankin has written six detective novels. > 4. One of these novels won the prestigious "Golden Dagger > Award". > 5. The winning novel is titled The Hidden Highway. > >Sample item F > > 1. Freud and Jung "discovered" the unconscious in the nineteenth > century. > 2. Each had a very different view of this mental space. > 3. For Freud the unconscious was a savage place which harboured > humanity's primitive instincts. > 4. For Jung the unconscious was a place which contained > humanity's collective wisdom. > > =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= > >She asked me what I thought about it, and whether I knew of research >bearing on issues of current views of sentence combining, whether >testing sentence combining is a useful strategy, and whether the >likely consequence of including such an item -- that teachers would >be more likely to include formal sentence combining instruction in >their classrooms -- was one to be desired. (My own immediate >question is why in Heaven's name anyone would attempt to construct >one Frankenstein sentence which included all this stuff, but let that >pass. You can also let pass my ignorance about who Ian Rankin, "one >of the most famous writers of the twentieth century" is, or what Doug >Vipond pointed out, that it's got Jung in the wrong century. Unless >you think someone should care at least distantly about what they're >writing.) > >I'd be grateful for any thoughts or (especially) references on this, >and I'll pass them on to her. > > -- Russ > __|~_ >Russell A. Hunt __|~_)_ __)_|~_ Professor of English >St. Thomas University )_ __)_|_)__ __) PHONE: (506) 452-0424 >Fredericton, New Brunswick | )____) | FAX: (506) 450-9615 >E3B 5G3 CANADA ___|____|____|____/ [log in to unmask] > \ / > ~~~~~~~~~~~~ http://www.StThomasU.ca/~hunt/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~ > > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- > To leave the list, send a SIGNOFF CASLL command to > [log in to unmask] or, if you experience difficulties, > write to Russ Hunt at [log in to unmask] > > For the list archives and information about the organization, >the annual conference, and publications, go to the Inkshed Web site at > http://www.StThomasU.ca/inkshed/ > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- To leave the list, send a SIGNOFF CASLL command to [log in to unmask] or, if you experience difficulties, write to Russ Hunt at [log in to unmask] For the list archives and information about the organization, the annual conference, and publications, go to the Inkshed Web site at http://www.StThomasU.ca/inkshed/ -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-