Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Effect of Sentence Combining Instruction with Second- to Fourth-Grade Children: a Replication Study in Turkey

  • REPLICATION
  • Published:
Educational Psychology Review Aims and scope Submit manuscript

This article has been updated

Abstract

Translating ideas into acceptable sentence is an essential writing production process. Limited sentence construction skills can hinder young writers from expressing ideas as intended or creating sentences that are comprehensible to their audiences. This may also limit other writing production processes, as young writers must devote considerable attention to this skill until it becomes more facile. This investigation replicated an earlier sentence combining study conducted in the USA by Saddler and Graham (Journal of Educational Psychology, 97:43–54, 2005). In the current study, 88 Grade 2 to 4 Turkish students who received sentence combining instruction that included peer-assisted learning were compared to 83 students in the same grades and school who continued to receive their regular classroom writing instruction. Students receiving sentence combining instruction had statistically higher scores on measures of sentence fluency, writing quality, and length of essays than students in the business-as-usual comparison. The study provided evidence that the peer-assisted learning model of sentence combining instruction tested here and in Saddler and Graham (Journal of Educational Psychology, 97:43–54, 2005) was effective. These findings also provided support for the importance of sentence construction skills, as teaching such skills resulted in more general improvements in writing, including an improvement of overall quality of text. Implications for practice, theory, and research are discussed.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Change history

  • 20 September 2023

    The original version of this paper was updated. The citation is suppose to be “Tavşanlı, 2018”, not “(Tavşanlı, 201)”.

References

  • Andrews, R., Torgerson, C., Beverton, S., Freeman, A., Locke, T., Low, G., Robinson, A., & Zhu, D. (2006). The effects of grammar teaching on writing development. British Educational Research Journal, 32, 39–55. https://doi.org/10.1080/01411920500401997

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aşıkcan, M., & Pilten, G. (2016). The evaluation of classroom teachers’ written expression implementations in terms of process based writing model. Turkish Studies, 11(3), 255–276.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Babayiğit, S., & Stainthorp, R. (2010). Component processes of early reading, spelling, and narrative writing skills in Turkish: A longitudinal study. Reading and Writing, 23, 539–568. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-009-9173-y

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bellamy, P. C. (2000). Research on writing with the 6 + 1 traits. Portland, OR: Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory.

  • Borenstein, M., Hedges, L. V., Higgins, J. P. T., & Rothstein, H. R. (2009). Introduction to meta-analysis. John Wiley & Sons.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Gein, J. van de (1991). The sense of sentences. A study into the effects of grammar instructionupon junior writing. Doctoral dissertation. Utrecht: Utrecht University.

  • Graham, S. (2006). Writing. In P. Alexander & P. Winne (Eds.), Handbook of Educational Psychology (pp. 457–478). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Graham, S. (2018). A revised writer (s)-within-community model of writing. Educational Psychologist, 53(4), 258–279. https://doi.org/10.1080/00461520.2018.1481406

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Graham, S. (2021). Executive Control and the Writer(s)-Within-Community Model. In T. Limpo & T. Olive (Eds.), Executive functions and writing (pp. 38–76). Oxford, UK: Oxford Press.

  • Graham, S., & Harris, K. R. (2014). Conducting high quality writing intervention research: Twelve recommendations. Journal of Writing Research, 6, 89–123.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Graham, S., & Perin, D. (2007). A meta-analysis of writing instruction for adolescent students. Journal of Educational Psychology, 99, 445–476. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-066399.3.445

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Graham, S., Kiuhara, S., McKeown, D., & Harris, K. R. (2012). A meta-analysis of writing instruction for students in the elementary grades. Journal of Educational Psychology, 104, 879–896.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hayes, J. R. (1996). A new framework for understanding cognition and affect in writing. In C. M. Levy & S. Ransdell (Eds.), The science of writing: Theories, methods, individual differences, and applications (pp. 1–27). Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hillocks, G. (1986). Research on written composition. Urbana, IL: ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading and Communication Skills. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED265552)

  • Hox, J. J. (2010). Multilevel analysis: Techniques and applications (2nd ed.). Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group.

  • Hsiang, T., & Graham, S. (2016). Teaching writing in grades 4 to 6 in urban schools in the Greater China region. Reading & Writing: An International Journal, 29, 869–902. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-015-9597-5

  • Hsiang, T., Graham, S., & Wong, P. (2018). Teaching writing in grades 7–9 in urban schools in the Greater China Region. Reading Research Quarterly, 53, 473–507.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kamal, K. (2017). Middle East: Education in Turkey. World Education News and Reviews. https://wenr.wes.org/2017/04/education-in-turkey

  • Koster, M., Tribushinina, E., de Jong, P. F., & van den Bergh, H. (2015). Teaching children to write: A meta-analysis of writing intervention research. Journal of Writing Research, 7(2), 249–274.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Limpo, T., & Alves, R. A. (2013). Teaching planning or sentence-combining strategies: Effective SRSD interventions at different levels of written composition. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 38(4), 328–341. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2013.07.004

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maxwell, S. E. (1998). Longitudinal designs in randomized group comparisons: When will intermediate observations increase statistical power? Psychological Methods, 3(3), 275–290.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Özkara, Y. (2007). 6 + 1 analytic writing and evaluative model on enhancing 5th grade students narrative writing skills [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Gazi University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Saddler, B. (2012). Teacher’s guide to effective sentence writing. Guilford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Saddler, B., & Graham, S. (2005). The effects of peer-assisted sentence-combining instruction on the writing performance of more and less skilled young writers. Journal of Educational Psychology, 97(1), 43–54. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.97.1.43

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seban, D. (2016). The role of gender and grade level on topic selection in writing. Mediterranean Journal of Humanities, 6(1), 275–285.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Snijders, T. A. B., & Bosker, R. J. (2011). Multilevel analysis: An introduction to basic and advanced multilevel modeling. SAGE.

    Google Scholar 

  • StataCorp. (2015). Stata Statistical Software: Release 14. College Station, TX: StataCorp LP.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tavşanlı, Ö. F. (2017). Evaluation of the Instructional Program in Turkey Based on the Process-Based Writing Approach. International Journal of Language Academy, 5(2), 79–97.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tavşanlı, Ö. F. (2018). What do primary school students write about? Investigation of text types, subjects and content preferences in the written works of primary school students. Journal of Mother Tongue Education, 6(1), 32–47.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tavşanlı, Ö. F., & Kara, Ü. E. (2022). Developing the draft papers of primary school fourth-grade students. Through Review and Feedback-Based Editorial Study. HAYEF: Journal.

  • Türkben, T. (2021). Examination of classroom writing practices in the context of process-based approaches to teaching writing. Journal of Language & Linguistic Studies, 17, 619–644.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walters, K., Dockrell, J., & Connelly, V. (2021). A sentence-combining intervention for struggling writers: Response to intervention. Reading & Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 34(7), 1825–1850.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Istanbul Aydin University, Istanbul, Turkey

    Omer Faruk Tavsanli

  2. Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA

    Steve Graham

  3. Kutahya Dumlupinar University, Kutahya, Turkey

    Abdullah Kaldirim

  4. Texas State University, San Marcos, TX, USA

    Alyson Collins

Authors
  1. Omer Faruk Tavsanli
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Steve Graham
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Abdullah Kaldirim
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Alyson Collins
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Steve Graham.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Tavsanli, O.F., Graham, S., Kaldirim, A. et al. The Effect of Sentence Combining Instruction with Second- to Fourth-Grade Children: a Replication Study in Turkey. Educ Psychol Rev 35, 93 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-023-09806-5

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-023-09806-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation