The Positive Effect of the Repetitive Application of Structured Sentence Patterns

1
The Positive Effect of the Repetitive Application
of Structured Sentence Patterns

• Jay Rau

2
Research Question

• What effect does the repetitive application of
  structured sentence patterns have on students
  ability to write and to perform on the English
  portion of
  the ACT examination?

3
What are structured sentence patterns?

• Sentence Diagram Redux
• Structured sentence patterns are the fifteen
  most common sentence structures in the English
  language. Each pattern is identified by a number
  / letter combination

• Simple Sentences 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E, 1F
• Compound Sentences 2A, 2B, 2C
• Complex Sentences 3A, 3B
• Items in a Series 4A, 4B, 4C, 4D

4
Pattern 1A - S // V (simple sentence)

• 1A Examples
• 1) Mr. Rau // ate cookies.
• 2) Corie // received a check.
• 3) Laura // was removed from class.
• 4) Andrae // is smart.

5
Pattern 2B S / V S / V (compound sentence
with a semicolon)

• 2B Examples
• 1) John / went to bed he / was extremely
  tired.
• 2) The plant / died its stem / was frozen.
• 3) We / had laryngitis we / had sung too much.
• 4) Will / called last night he / seemed upset.

6
Pattern 3A (subordinating conjunction) S / V
, S / V . complex sentence

• Pattern 3A Examples
• (After) you / graduate from Senn, you /should
  attend NEIU.
• (As long as) Mom / does not come home early, I /
  can throw a party.
• (Whenever) Tania / is around, I / get goose
  bumps.

7
Pattern 4B Items in a Series (most common) 1,
2, and 3.

• 4B Examples
• 1) The United States of America / has a
  government of the people, by the people, and
  for the people.
• 2) (You) / Go to the grocery and get butter,
  milk, and bread.

8
Features of Research

• Research involved 5 Hispanic-Americans, 3
  African-Americans, 2 Middle-Eastern Asians, 1
  Asian / Pacific Islander, 2 Caucasians, and 1
  Native American
• Test-Retest Procedure Students were given a
  practice English portion of the ACT in October
  and the same test in March in a simulated testing
  environment.
• Students were exposed to patterning instruction
  for sixty 45-minute lessons (3 days a week)

9
The Positive Effect

• The results showed average gains of almost 20
  or four converted (norm-referenced) score points
  from 20.4 on the pretest to 24.1 on the posttest.

10
Process

• Teach each pattern individually (students take
  notes)
• Focus on subjects / main verbs (underline twice)
• Have students practice writing a minimum of 10
  sentences for each pattern
• Have students analyze informational text to
  detect patterns
• Have students write paragraphs and essays using
  different patterns
• Have the students analyze sample ACT English
  exams
• Have students write analyze and write
  combinations of patterns

11
Positive Effects of Patterned Sentences

• Create a brain template for students
• Promote a variety of sentence structures
• Encourage semicolon and colon usage
• Dramatically improve ACT English portion
  performance
• Eliminate the need for debilitating grammar
  verbiage
• Virtually eliminate run-ons and fragments
• Especially effective with second language
  learners
• All editing is done in the context of student
  writing

12

Illinois Language Arts Standards
3A - Students who meet the standard can use
correct grammar, spelling, punctuation,
capitalization and
structure.  3B - Students who meet the
standard can compose well- organized and coherent
writing for specific purposes and audiences. 
13
Visit my Website!!! It includes four links for
every Language Arts Standard!!! (Hundreds of
Resources for Students, Teachers, and
Administrators)
www.neiu.edu/jprau
Patterned Sentence Ordering Information Call
[phone]