The impact of peer- assisted sentence- combining teaching on primary pupils’ writing

Key issue addressed by the study  This US study explored the effectiveness of two methods of teaching writing skills: –sentence-combining –grammar instruction  Both methods were integrated with peer support

Differences found in pupils’ writing performance  The study found that sentence- combining instruction plus peer support had a positive impact on young writers of all abilities. Pupils were: –twice as likely to combine two sentences using a grammatically correct structure than their counterparts who received grammar instruction –more likely to revise their papers by combining sentences, which improved the quality of their writing

Theory underpinning sentence- combining  Pupils need to be taught about sentence formation and grammar  When pupils are able to form sentences it frees up mental capacity for other writing processes such as planning  Sentence combining is primarily a revising skill useful for making improvements to existing text

The teaching strategies  For each teaching group (sentence-combining and grammar): –pupil pairs were taught by student teachers for 30 lessons –the teacher first explained and modelled the new writing procedure –then the teachers provided guidance as pupils practised the techniques –finally pupil peers acted as coaches to support one another’s learning

Teacher-guided practice  With guidance from their teacher: –pupils worked in pairs and practised the new work orally –this was followed by writing down their sentences individually –grammar pupils discussed the best words to complete a sentence in which target parts of speech were missing –pupils in the sentence-combining group applied their new procedure for combining sentences in writing

Pupils supported peers learning by taking on a coaching role  Pupils worked in pairs and took it in turns to coach each other  Coaches were provided with cards bearing the following instructions: –read the sentence(s) aloud –decide either the best word to fit in the gap in the sentence, or the best way to combine the sentences –write down the answer –read the new sentence  Coaches offered ideas if the sentence was not grammatically correct  The pupils swapped roles once the sentence was written correctly

How teachers taught sentence- combining  Example - Pupils were initially told to combine two sentences with a cue (but) at the end of the sentence for them to place before the marked text: They tried to put the worm in their bag. The worm did not fit in their bag. (but)  Answer: “They tried to put the worm in their bag, but the worm did not fit.”  Another example from later lessons: “The students all cheered” and “The movie stopped” combined to “They all cheered when the movie stopped”creating complex sentences by embedding an adverbial clause in a sentence)  Another example from later lessons: “The students all cheered” and “The movie stopped” combined to “They all cheered when the movie stopped” (creating complex sentences by embedding an adverbial clause in a sentence)

How teachers taught grammar  Grammar teaching covered how to use parts of speech (e.g. descriptive nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, subjects and predicates)  Writing and revising in pairs a short story using the various parts of speech - with support for planning in the form of options for characters, settings, topics and concluding sentences  Independent story-writing inspired by a picture, including making revisions using the parts of speech they had been taught

Who were the children in the study?  Forty-four eleven year-olds from nine classrooms in three schools were divided into more skilled and less writers  Pupils were randomly assigned to two groups: sentence combining or grammar instruction, with an equal number of more and less skilled writers in each group  Reading, oral language skills and pupil ability between pupils in the two groups were similar

How was the information gathered?  Pupils completed a five-item progress monitoring test during the fifth lesson of each unit  Writing quality assessed by scoring the first and second drafts of a story  Pupils' writing skills measured in relation to: –sentence combining –quality and length of writing –number and type of revisions made to improve work

How can teachers use the evidence in this study?  Explicit teaching and teacher and then pupil supported practice of sentence combining helped pupils improve their story writing – could you try out these techniques with your own pupils and evaluate the effects?  Peer tutoring seemed to be effective in helping pupils to master new skills – could you extend your pupils’ use of similar paired problem solving to increase their independence and self reliance as learners?

How can school leaders use the evidence in this study?  The teaching programme on sentence combining was effective, but lasted for thirty lessons – in view of teachers’ natural anxiety to cover National Curriculum requirements: – what revisions or collaboration between teachers might be necessary to implement useful aspects of the study efficiently in your school? –How might sentence combining be integrated with other lesson content?

Follow-up reading  Study reference: What is the impact of peer-assisted sentence-combining teaching on primary pupils’ writing performance? Saddler, B. and Graham, S. (2005) Journal of Educational Psychology, 97 (1), 2005, pp [Original title: The effects of peer-assisted sentence- combining instruction on the writing performance of more and less skilled young writers]  Summary available at: erassisted/ erassisted/ erassisted/

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