Table 3.
Frequency of each of 11 coded written syntactic structures for level of language (text or sentence), transcription mode (pen or keyboard), and genre (essay or narrative) by grade level. N number of codable writing samples; fewer were available at first grade than other grades because some children did not capitalize or punctuate so that sentences could be differentiated. See “Appendix” for coding criteria with examples
| Essay text—cohort 1 |
Sentences—cohort 1 |
|||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gr 2 Pen (N = 24) |
Gr 2 Keys (N = 52) |
Gr 4 Pen (N = 116) |
Gr 4 Keys (N = 116) |
Gr 2 Pen (N = 116) |
Gr 2 Keys (N = 61) |
Gr 4 Pen (N = 118) |
Gr 4 Keys (N = 117) |
|
| Single independent main clause | 24 | 39 | 244 | 145 | 87 | 42 | 87 | 64 |
| Noncoordinate main clause | 2 | 1 | 23 | 12 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Coordinate main clause | 3 | 2 | 53 | 34 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 9 |
| Correlative clause | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| Relative clause | 8 | 12 | 149 | 69 | 7 | 2 | 6 | 11 |
| Complement clause | 1 | 4 | 28 | 24 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 1 |
| Subordinate clause | 2 | 9 | 60 | 37 | 9 | 6 | 16 | 30 |
| Adverbial clause | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Quotation | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Non-clausal independent units | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Fragment | 0 | 1 | 10 | 2 | 16 | 2 | 4 | 2 |
| Essay text—cohort 2 |
Sentences—cohort 2 |
|||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gr 4 Pen (N = 108) |
Gr 4 Keys (N = 101) |
Gr 6 Pen (N = 109) |
Gr 6 Keys (N = 106) |
Gr 4 Pen (N = 108) |
Gr 4 Keys (N = 103) |
Gr 6 Pen (N = 108) |
Gr 6 Keys (N = 108) |
|
| Single independent main clause | 186 | 137 | 275 | 162 | 67 | 52 | 82 | 56 |
| Noncoordinate main clause | 24 | 5 | 29 | 27 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Coordinate main clause | 47 | 28 | 32 | 49 | 4 | 7 | 2 | 4 |
| Correlative clause | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Relative clause | 167 | 76 | 197 | 137 | 15 | 10 | 11 | 23 |
| Complement clause | 15 | 25 | 33 | 27 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| Subordinate clause | 46 | 25 | 74 | 74 | 29 | 40 | 19 | 22 |
| Adverbial clause | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Quotation | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Non-clausal independent units | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Fragment | 8 | 2 | 8 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Narrative text—cohort 1 |
Sentence writing—cohort 1 |
|||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gr 3 Pen (N = 111) |
Gr 3 Keys (N = 106) |
Gr 5 Pen (N = 113) |
Gr 5 Keys (N = 113) |
Gr 3 Pen (N = 96) |
Gr 3 Keys (N = 92) |
Gr 5 Pen (N = 106) |
Gr 5 Keys (N = 97) |
|
| Single independent main clause | 191 | 114 | 206 | 119 | 28 | 54 | 30 | 31 |
| Noncoordinate main clause | 28 | 7 | 23 | 24 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| Coordinate main clause | 53 | 34 | 90 | 44 | 8 | 8 | 16 | 15 |
| Correlative clause | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Relative clause | 13 | 5 | 22 | 22 | 6 | 5 | 12 | 8 |
| Complement clause | 34 | 10 | 55 | 40 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 3 |
| Subordinate clause | 50 | 32 | 88 | 69 | 37 | 23 | 64 | 38 |
| Adverbial clause | 4 | 1 | 7 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Quotation | 20 | 11 | 30 | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Non-clausal independent units | 5 | 3 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Fragment | 12 | 8 | 4 | 7 | 17 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
| Narrative text—cohort 2 |
Sentence writing—cohort 2 |
|||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gr 5 Pen (N = 106) |
Gr 5 Keys (N = 106) |
Gr 7 Pen (N = 100) |
Gr 7 Keys (N = 97) |
Gr 5 Pen (N = 100) |
Gr 5 Keys (N = 98) |
Gr 7 Pen (N = 96) |
Gr 7 Keys (N = 89) |
|
| Single independent main clause | 192 | 157 | 220 | 128 | 31 | 34 | 27 | 27 |
| Noncoordinate main clause | 18 | 13 | 22 | 27 | 5 | 1 | 6 | 4 |
| Coordinate main clause | 101 | 77 | 77 | 79 | 14 | 10 | 14 | 13 |
| Correlative clause | 30 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| Relative clause | 29 | 20 | 42 | 32 | 16 | 15 | 8 | 10 |
| Complement clause | 70 | 53 | 89 | 73 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 7 |
| Subordinate clause | 86 | 65 | 102 | 122 | 50 | 43 | 44 | 38 |
| Adverbial clause | 8 | 2 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Quotation | 23 | 15 | 28 | 22 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Non-clausal independent units | 7 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Fragment | 4 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 10 | 2 | 3 | 1 |