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Improving Writing Through Sentence Combining

Presented By

Dr. Bruce Saddler

Presentation Files & Handouts

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application/pdf iconSlide Handout - Improving Writing through Sentence Combining

Narrative

In this presentation, Dr. Saddler presents an overview of sentence combining, an effective method to teach sentence construction skills and improve writing. Dr. Saddler describes the components of the sentence combining intervention, as well as the mechanisms that make it effective. Dr. Saddler also reviews the research on sentence combining, and provides suggestions of things to consider when implementing this intervention in classrooms of various levels, with various types of writing.

Session Recordings

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Key Concepts

  1. <p><strong>Sentence construction ability is a critical skill for a writer to master.&nbsp; </strong>Sentences are the structures that words are placed into in writing in order to convey meaning.&nbsp; While there are no set rules for what type of sentence works best in a particular situation, well-crafted sentences can improve writing, make it more enjoyable to read, and lead to higher grading of written products.</p>
  2. <p><strong>Sentence combining is an effective method to directly teach sentence construction skills.&nbsp; </strong>Sentence combining instruction generally begins with combining kernel, or irreducible, sentences into effective longer sentences.&nbsp; Students can combine the kernels in any grammatically acceptable way, and begin to explore adding or removing details, and rearranging words or phrases.&nbsp; This method has been found to be effective with students from elementary age to college age.&nbsp; Sentence combining teaches students a method of manipulating sentences that results in more mindful writing practice.&nbsp; Sentence combining teaches sentence structure, sentence editing, punctuation, and paragraph organization.&nbsp; It also provides students with practice controlling syntax, which may improve students’ ability to create variety in their writing.</p>
  3. <p><strong>Sentence combining has benefits on the physical demands of writing.&nbsp; </strong>The activities involved in sentence combining often increase student motivation, and reduce the use of choppy or run-on sentences.&nbsp; Sentence combining may also increase students’ willingness to experiment with syntactical variations in their writing.&nbsp; Sentence combining activities may also improve students’ understanding and use of punctuation, and foster an increased awareness of how readers might respond to their writing, thereby prompting students to consider revision.</p>
  4. <p><strong>Revision is often a sentence-combining act.&nbsp; </strong>Revision is the process of taking already written sentences and transforming or manipulating them to improve them.&nbsp; Sentence combining gives students experience and confidence in the act of revision, and area that is often difficult.</p>
  5. <p><strong>Sentence combining has benefits on the cognitive demands of writing.&nbsp; </strong>Students become more familiar with the syntactic structures used in writing by experimenting with sentence combining, and can free mental energy.&nbsp; Students can also experiment with word order and sentence construction without focusing on generating content.</p>

Implications For Teachers

  1. Organize lessons to include teacher modeling, supported practices, and independent practice. Introduce: Explain to students that sentence combining is an activity that will help them write more interesting sentences that sound better to readers. Explain that good writers often work with their sentences to make them sound better. Let students know that there can and most often will be more than one right answer, and explain that when there are “mistakes” it’s okay. Model: Display clusters of kernel sentences and model or collaboratively model with students how to combine: (The students are happy. The students are smart.) Be sure to explain that many combinations are possible. Discuss the different features of the different sentences. (The smart students are happy. The happy students are smart. The students are smart and happy. Happy and smart are the students.) Supported Practice: Work with students collaboratively, or have students work alone or in groups to practice. Teachers can also provide cues, such as underlining the word that should be combined, providing a cue word in parenthesis, or giving a specific direction as to what types of words to add or remove. (The girl fell over the log. She lost her balance. (because) = The girl fell over the log because she lost her balance.; The cake was delicious. The cake was chocolate. = The chocolate cake was delicious.) Independent Practice: Assign activities and have students complete. Share several options at the end, and have students discuss which are the best options, and why.
  2. Teach students techniques to use in their sentence combining. Suggest that students try some of the following when combining sentences. (a) Combine the kernels in any grammatically acceptable way. (b) Change the form of words (“threw” to “was throwing”). (c) Add appropriate function words (because). (d) Rearrange by moving words, phrases, and clauses around to produce the best effect. (e) Add or eliminate Details.
  3. Make sentence-combining activities meaningful. Sentence combining activities can be organized in set sequence, but can also be taught depending areas of need in student writing. These activities can also be organized around content areas, or used with classroom books or literature. Reduce these passages down to kernel sentence levels, and have students combine into new sentences. Compare to the author’s original work, discuss the differences, and reinforce content while you’re at it.
  4. Sentence-combining activities must be without risk. Students should be encouraged to experiment in sentence-combining activities. If a combined sentence is grammatically acceptable, there should not be a “right” or “wrong” answer. Rather encourage students to explore and discuss what makes sentences more or less effective for different purposes.
  5. Build activities and instruction that will help students’ transfer sentence combining into their own writing. Sentence combining activities must not be stand-alone skill building exercises, but rather transfer to students’ actual writing. Use student-writing examples for sentence combining and include sentence combining as a key element on rubrics for student writing pieces.