Abstract
In 1969, the grammar curriculum in grades one through eight throughout the state of Texas changed from traditional to linguistic by mandate of the Texas Education Agency. The purpose of this longitudinal study was to determine the effect of the first two years of instruction in linguistic grammar on the writing of students who were in grades four, five, and six in 1969. A secondary purpose was to contribute toward development and validation of instruments for measuring writing maturity. The subjects, who bad previously had instruction only in traditional English grammar, attended average classes in elementary schools in six districts in South Central Texas. Samples were taken at the first of school in 1969 from students in grades four through eight before the new curriculum could affect their writing behavior. Samples were collected again at the first of school in 1970 from students in grades five, six, and seven who had been in average classes in 1969; the process was repeated in 1971 from students in grades six, seven, and eight. By pre-arrangement, the classes in the sample population were taught by the same teachers throughout the study. At each identified grade-level, 25 compositions were randomly drawn from those written by nine average classes, six from larger communities and three from smaller. The first 50 words of each sample were evaluated by application of 18 variables which were thought to indicate writing maturity. Special indices used were the T-unit, ratio of subordination, mazes, gerunds, and enumeration of grammatical errors. The means of variables tabulated from grades four through eight, 1969, provided the base lines against which subsequent data collected in 1970 and 1971 were compared. The means of the data tabulated for each class of samples were subjected to statistical testing and observed for unusual distributional frequencies..
Edwards, Lela L'Amour Haines (1973). The effect of linguistic grammar on composition in the middle grades. Texas A&M University. Texas A&M University. Libraries. Available electronically from
https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /DISSERTATIONS -188857.