Sentence Structure Program

Sentence Structure Program: The program is designed to enable students, with some scaffolding and guidance, to write effective and legible complex sentences with a growing confidence.

Many students with language and literacy difficulties find it difficult to write sentences with any confidence or even begin to write complex sentences. Often the art of sentence writing needs to be explicitly taught, which is the ultimate goal of this FREE program.

Sentence Structure Program - Sentence Types

Part of the problem is that students often have poor understanding of sentence construction. Students also fail to recognize or have an appreciation for the different sentence types - simple, compound and complex sentences -  and how to structure sentences in a creative way. Any linguist or literacy/language teacher can affirm that sentences are the building blocks of language, both spoken and written. When we communicate our ideas we structure them into sentences, which are a meaningful unit of language. Sentences are an essential part of the linguistic study of syntax.

Spoken and Written Sentences

It's important to add that how we use sentences in spoken language differs quite a bit from how we use sentences in written language. In spoken language we use our voice and a rapid rising and falling intonation. We also use pause between sentences to communicate ideas. We use body language such as gesture, facial expression and eye contact to support our words.

In written communication the process is somewhat different. Written language uses more formal processes such as capital letters at the start of sentences and full stops at the end. Commas are used to indicate pause or separation of connected ideas. All dialogue is contained within speech marks, etc.

Once students have difficulty writing effectively their ability to learn and integrate new concepts and key information, or struggle to create written retells, narratives, and stories then they may never fully realize their academic abilities and hence may always struggle in school. This may limit students potential to transform their thoughts and creative expression into the written form.

 Shuffling Clauses

Throughout the program students  are guided and prompted to recognise the very specific structure of various sentences types. Students are then guided to have a play at shuffling and manipulating clauses with the over-arching goal of students being able to eventually  create their own original simple sentences.

Once students have a solid understanding of simple sentence structure the structure of the program inevitably guides and  facilitates students' understanding of more complex sentence types: compound and complex sentence constructions. The sentence structure program comes complete with a number of techniques and scaffolding items that are designed to provide a visual aid to shape students' comprehension and understanding of sentence structures. A complete answer key is also provided. 

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