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A COMPARISON OF SYNTAX IN SELECTED BASAL READERS AND COMMERCIAL TELEVISION PROGRAMS THAT ARE POPULAR WITH CHILDREN
Abstract
This study compares the syntax of language samples from basal readers and commercial television programs. The basal readers of five influential publishing companies were selected to represent reading materials for grades two, four, and six. Commercial television programs with the greatest audience among children 12 years old and under were used. Language samples were taken from each source. The two samples were compared to determine differences in the complexity and diversity of syntax. Comparisons were made on statement length, types of statements, number of clauses per statement, and clause length. Each statement was also rated with the Syntactic Complexity Formula and analyzed using a syntax analysis technique devised by Strickland and others. The complexity and diversity in the syntax of the two language samples were found to have significant and important differences. The syntax of the basal reader sample was much more complex and more diverse than the sample from television programs. In many respects, syntax of the television language sample was less complex than the sample from the second grade basal readers. In comparing both language samples to the oral language of children reported in an earlier study by Strickland, it was found that the basal reader syntax was more like the oral language patterns of children than the sample of language taken from commercial television programs was. Findings imply that language in commercial television programs like those used in the study do not supply models of syntax which are complex enough to prepare children for the reading materials used in fourth and sixth grade basal readers.
Subject Area
Language arts
Recommended Citation
MEYER, RONALD EUGENE, "A COMPARISON OF SYNTAX IN SELECTED BASAL READERS AND COMMERCIAL TELEVISION PROGRAMS THAT ARE POPULAR WITH CHILDREN" (1982). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI8217545.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI8217545