Grammar for Sentence Combining:


Underpinning Knowledge for Adult Literacy Practitioners Maxine Burton


Leicester: NIACE (2012) 64 pages £9.95


ISBN 978-1-86201-514-2 Reviewed by Sue Grief


If I were still a Skills for Life manager, I would make sure that there were several copies of this small book available on the resources shelves. In


a few, brief and clearly presented chapters the book offers an accessible introduction to


grammar and provides a framework for thinking and talking about sentences that is aimed specifically at adult literacy teachers. Many teachers will find it invaluable, especially those who missed out on grammar teaching or who feel the need to brush up their knowledge from their schooldays. It will also be of interest to teacher educators.


As the first part of its title suggests, the book has a rather more specific aim. It has its origins in the training provided for the teachers who


took part in the NRDC project on Progress for Adult Literacy Learners (Burton et al 2010) and is intended to provide the underpinning knowledge required to teach sentence


accent and dialect, Standard English and


Received Pronunciation and discusses the status and use of regional dialects. Together these four chapters cover a surprising amount of ground in a concise but readable form. The information is presented with very few references to its application to teaching sentence combining and


for this reason could be used in a more general context. An understanding of the ways in which


sentences can be structured or the appreciation that Standard English is only one dialect among many, albeit the one that has the greatest prestige, is valuable underpinning knowledge for all aspects of literacy teaching.


The presentation of the book helps to make the information accessible. Linguistic concepts and terminology are introduced clearly and simply with good use made of tables to summarise the main features and provide examples. The font is large and clear and the text is broken up into manageable sections. Colour is used for side headings as well as for tables and examples.


'Tasks', clearly identified by a broad band of colour, provide opportunity for the conscientious reader to engage actively with the subject matter and strengthen their understanding of new concepts.


In the section, “How to use this book”, the author states that, “in the apparent absence of any other easily available information on using


combining. This is an approach to the teaching of sentence combining with adults, the book will writing that involves bringing together simple sentences to create compound or complex sentences and provides opportunity to teach aspects of grammar in an informal way. The first chapter draws on evidence from research undertaken in the USA, and a recent NRDC project which indicates that sentence combining can lead to an increase in the quality of learners' writing. This is in contrast with the formal teaching of grammar for which there is no equivalent evidence.


The author argues, in her introduction that, whatever the merits of formal grammar teaching


for learners, for literacy teachers, grammar provides, “essential underpinning knowledge for confident and effective classroom practice – and for avoiding some of the pitfalls for the


unprepared”. Chapter 2 addresses the question, “What is grammar?” Chapter 3 asks, “What is a sentence?” and Chapter 4, “What is a conjunction?” A further aspect of written language, language variation, is the focus of Chapter 7. This covers the distinctions between


32


also aim to equip teachers with guidelines for using this strategy in the classroom” (p.2). Chapter 5 offers some useful pointers, including ideas for generating sentences to combine, and suggests a number of sources for relevant teaching materials, while Chapter 6 discusses how sentence combining can support the Adult Literacy Core Curriculum. What the book does not provide is a detailed picture of how a session on sentence combining can work in practice. It


could have benefited from the addition of session plans, examples of the resources used or the actual sentences that learners produced to help to bring the strategy to life.


If we are to believe that sentence combining can have a significant effect on the quality of


learners' writing, the first need is for a book that sets out this strategy for teachers and


demonstrates its uses. Such a book could, not only make a strong case for an underpinning knowledge of grammar, on the part of literacy teachers, but could also include the relevant chapters outlined above. However, I would argue


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44