QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH PLAN

The Impact of KSCT on the seventh grade Students' Reading comprehension

The Impact of a KSCT on the seventh grade Students' Reading comprehension

Introduction

Opening statement

Teaching English as a second language in Puerto Rico is not an easy task. Educators are constantly searching for better techniques and methods for making the teaching-learning process not only enjoyable but at the same time rewarding. And rewarding means that the students learn and acquire the language in all of the four language arts: listening, speaking, reading and writing, also that they learn how to appreciate and value the importance and need of learning a second language. The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001 emphasizes on reading as a vehicle for the language to be acquired. The NCLB ACT states that all students must reach proficiency or better levels of achievement by school year 2013-2014 (Public Law 107-110).

Background of the study

Sentence-Combining has its roots in the generative transformational theory of grammar as developed by Chomsky (Cook & Newson, 1996). Two particular aspects of generative-transformational theory led to the initial research in sentence-combining: Chomsky's hypothesis of two levels of language, surface structure and deep structure, and his description of the ways in which these two structures were related through transformations. One of these transformations is the rule, of joining two propositions so as to embed one in the other. This is what is called sentence-combining. It is indeed stated in literature that the best method used in sentence-combining, which enhances reading comprehension is the open method (Strong, 1973). In this method students are asked to combine the Kernel Sentences into complex sentences, generating a paragraph or short essay.

Sentence-combining has its genesis in psycholinguistic theory, which according to Goodman (1971), holds that reading is an interactive process, whereby the reader reconstructs the writer's meaning by making use, to varying extents of three sources of information: graphophonic, syntactic, and semantic. This is why sentence combining is related to gains in reading comprehension levels.

Many researchers, including Bundrick (1988), have successfully used the technique with students. The integration of traditional and transformational sentence-combining instructional strategies seems to help high school students make significant gains in syntactic structures found in reading comprehension (Bundrick, Evans, & McWilliams, 1988, p.55). Bundrick and his colleagues wrote an article titled: The Effects of Sentence-Combining Instructions on Writing and on Standardized Test Scores (Bundrick, Evans, & McWilliams, 1988). The purpose of this article was to present the findings of three studies carried out over a period of five (5) years at the University of West Florida. Two (2) groups of college juniors were compared fifteen (15) students each group. One (1) group received intensive sentence combining instruction, whereas the other group received traditional handbook exercises in a composition course. Both groups were pre and post tested with standardized tests on reading comprehension and sentence structure. The results indicated that strong gains had been registered by the experimental group. The findings include that sentence-combining instruction most influences the reading and writing development ...