EFFECTS OF SENTENCE-COMBINING INSTRUCTION FOR SPANISH-SPEAKING LANGUAGE-MINORITY STUDENTS: Evidence From Two Single-Case Experiments

Authors

J. Marc Goodrich, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Michael Hebert, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Mackenzie E. Savaiano, University of Nebraska–LincolnFollow
Tim Andress, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

Date of this Version

2020

Citation

the elementary school journal

Volume 120, Number 4. Published online June 1, 2020

0013-5984/2020/12004-0007

Comments

2020 by The University of Chicago

Abstract

Research indicates that sentence-combining instruction is effective for improving writing outcomes; however, no studies to date have examined the effects of sentence- combining instruction on the writing skills of Spanish- speaking language-minority (LM) students. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the effects of explicit sentence-combining instruction that focused on correct adjective use when used with Spanish-speaking LM students with poor sentence construction skills. Across two studies, seven Spanish-speaking LM children in third to fifth grade participated in sentence-combining inter- ventions designed to teach adjective placement. Results in- dicated that there was a functional relation between the in- troduction of sentence-combining instruction and student performance on sentence-writing probes. In addition, the intervention led to an improvement in number of correct writing sequences on the sentence-writing probe.