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Publication Date
2014
Description
With the move away from formal grammatical instruction in many US primary and secondary schools over the past thirty years, college writing teachers often find themselves dealing with student papers riddled with basic syntactic errors. Sentence diagramming, which requires students to parse a sentence into its most basic components, provides a method to assist students in mastering syntactic fundamentals. The following exercise adapts this old pedagogy of diagramming sentences to a new technology, Prezi presentation software, in the hopes of increasing student comprehension of writing basics. Diagramming sentences, whether one is familiar with the rocket, tree, or another diagramming process, is a proven pedagogy that helps students sharpen their analytical skills. Martha Kolln and Robert Funk provide a rich portrait of traditional sentence diagramming in their textbook Understanding English Grammar (9th edition). That text provided the initial inspiration to adapt this established pedagogy for our contemporary digital environment.
Disciplines
Other English Language and Literature
Keywords
Syntax, Sentence Diagramming, Composition
Description
With the move away from formal grammatical instruction in many US primary and secondary schools over the past thirty years, college writing teachers often find themselves dealing with student papers riddled with basic syntactic errors. Sentence diagramming, which requires students to parse a sentence into its most basic components, provides a method to assist students in mastering syntactic fundamentals. The following exercise adapts this old pedagogy of diagramming sentences to a new technology, Prezi presentation software, in the hopes of increasing student comprehension of writing basics. Diagramming sentences, whether one is familiar with the rocket, tree, or another diagramming process, is a proven pedagogy that helps students sharpen their analytical skills. Martha Kolln and Robert Funk provide a rich portrait of traditional sentence diagramming in their textbook Understanding English Grammar (9th edition). That text provided the initial inspiration to adapt this established pedagogy for our contemporary digital environment.