Posted: September 13th, 2017

LING1110 – FOUNDATIONS OF LANGUAGE

LING1110 – FOUNDATIONS OF LANGUAGE

Instructions for Case Study:
Analysis of Readers in graded reading schemes

Percentage of Overall Marks: 25%                        Due Date: 11:00pm Friday, 29 May

Assignment Overview
The purpose of this assignment is for you to demonstrate the skills that you have developed for analysing English grammatical structure. You will do this by applying your skills to show your understanding of how books are assigned to different reading levels in a structured reading scheme. You will analyse sentences from two books which are part of a structured reading scheme.

Format of Case Study
The Case Study is divided into three main parts and we expect you to adhere strictly to the guidelines below, which specify what should be included in each part.

Before Part 1 you need to write a very short Introduction in which you simply state:
•    the titles of the books that you are analysing;
•    which series each book is from;
•    what level each book is; and
•    the ‘set number’ for your set of Stage 2 sentences.

Please do not include any further discussion in this introduction.

Part 1: Analysis of lower level book (5 marks)

It is very important that you choose a lower level book which has the following type of repetitive structure. Apart from possibly the first and last sentences, all sentences should have the same basic single clause sentence structure, with a minor variation of the same type in each sentence. For example, the full text of the book could be something like:
•    The black cat is sleeping. The brown cat is sleeping. The white cat is sleeping. The tabby cat is sleeping. The blue cat is sleeping!

Other examples of what we mean by this repetitive structure are given on pp.67-72 of the Course Readings, and we will analyse samples together in tutorials. The book would usually have a single sentence on each page and an illustration associated with each sentence. You are required to type out the entire text of the lower level Reader and present it in an Appendix at the end of your Case Study. Don’t scan the book and paste it in; just type up the text. We will need this to check your analysis.

The University of Newcastle libraries have full sets of books from a number of series. For the purposes of this assessment item, the series that have the most appropriate books are:
•    Springboard published by Macmillan (Level 1, 2004 and 2007 series)
•    Sunshine Books (Emergent)
•    The Story Box (A ready-set-go book)
•    Nelson Focus (Set 1A)
(This is not an exhaustive list. You may choose similar readers from other sources if you have access to them, as long as they meet the stated criteria.)

Choose one sentence to exemplify the basic sentence structure and present the bracketed phrase structure analysis, following the method that we have taught you in the course (2 marks):
•    identify the Subject and Predicate of the clause, and adverbial(s) if present;
•    indicate all phrase boundaries and types; and
•    indicate the part of speech of every word in the sentence.

In a short paragraph (approximately 150 words) below the analysis you must (3 marks):
•    explain in what ways the sentences in the book are similar in sentence structure;
•    summarise the way in which the structure varies from one sentence to the next;
•    use the terminology we have taught you in the course. e.g. Subject, Object, Copula, Complement, Verb, Preposition, etc…;
•    indicate the verb type of the main verb in the clause and state the tense and aspect.

Part 2: Analysis of higher level book (9 marks = 3 marks for each sentence)

In the Case Study folder on Blackboard there is a document that contains a number of sets of sentences. Each of the sets contains three sentences, and each of the sentences in a set comes from the same book. You are given the reference for the book, which indicates the series. All of these books are from recognised reading schemes and are aimed at children in Stage 2 at school (years 3-4) with a reading age of approximately 8 to 10. Each student will be assigned a set number. You will be notified of your set number through My Grades in Blackboard. All of the sets have been carefully put together so that they are of a similar level of difficulty, with a range of features to analyse. As the books are aimed at more advanced readers, there are more challenging features of the sentence structure compared to the lower lever book, both for the child as a developing reader, and for you to analyse.

For each of the three sentences, you must:
•    first present the phrase structure analysis for the sentence as we have taught you in the course, indicating clause boundaries and types, Subject, Predicate and adverbials for each clause, all phrase boundaries and types, and part of speech of each word (1.5 marks);
•    below your presentation of the example sentence, give a 100-150 word written summary of the sentence structure, highlighting some of the features of the sentence. With this short word limit, you will NOT be able to explain every feature of each sentence you choose, so we expect you to focus on some of the points that make the sentence more challenging in terms of the grammatical structure (1.5 marks).

Samples of how to set out part 1 and part 2 are available in the Case Study folder on Blackboard.

Part 3: Discussion of how the language of the two books relates to literacy development (8 marks)

This discussion section should be around 400 words. The purpose of the discussion is to relate features of language structure that are evident in the two books that you analyse to children’s language and literacy development and the teaching of literacy skills through the NSW English K-10 Syllabus (2012). You should easily be able to identify that the language used in the sentences in the higher level book is more ‘difficult’ than the ‘easy’ language of the lower level book. But what is it that makes the language ‘easier’ or ‘harder’? We want you to explicitly state what some of the features are that make the lower level book appropriate to Early Stage 1 readers, and the higher level book appropriate to Stage 2 readers. To do this you will need to refer to both the NSW English K-10 Syllabus (http://syllabus.bos.nsw.edu.au/download/) and to the support materials, ‘Scope and sequence of grammar and punctuation for K-6’ and ‘Scope and sequence of phonological and graphological processing skills’ (provided in your Course Readings and also available here: http://syllabus.bos.nsw.edu.au/support-materials/additional-support-materials/). The points that you should make will vary depending on the structure of your chosen books. Some of the points that you might refer to are (you need to refer to some, but not all):
•    phonological awareness;
•    letter-sound awareness;
•    sight words;
•    the alphabetic principle;
•    sentence structure;
•    use of adverbials;
•    word building;
•    punctuation as it relates to sentence structure.

You must also make reference to two other sources, in addition to the English K-10 Syllabus. A list of suggested articles and books is provided in the Case Study folder. You may choose alternative references if you prefer. These references must not be about English grammar. Use of the terminology and analysis of English grammar that we have presented in the course is assumed and we do not want you to reference any comments about your sentence analysis. We do want you to reference observations about the age and level appropriateness of the books that you have analysed.

Presentation (3 marks)

For presentation you will be assessed on the following factors:
•    overall structure and format of your Case Study, which should confirm to guidelines and be reader-friendly;
•    written style, grammar and spelling;
•    Referencing, including reference list which should be in APA style.

**Don’t forget to include your Appendix with the full text for the lower level Reader. You don’t need to give the sentences for the higher level Reader in an appendix as your part 2 should be clearly set out with each analysed sentence immediately followed by the summary that relates to it.

LING Case Study Grading form

Analysis of lower level reader
0-5 marks
For full marks on this criterion you must:
a) correctly identify the subject and predicate of the basic sentence that you have chosen;
b) indicate what type of predicate the clause has;
c) correctly identify part of speech for each word in the sentence;
d) explain in what ways the sentences in the book are similar in structure;
e) explain in what way(s) each of the sentences in the book differs from the basic sentence that you have analysed.

Analysis of higher level reader: Sentence 1
0-3 marks
Sentence 1: For full marks on this criterion you must:
a) present your analysis of the sentence following the guidelines you have been given, identifying clause boundaries, subject and predicate, phrase boundaries and part of speech of each word. (1.5 marks)
b) present a written summary of the sentence which highlights features which make the sentence more grammatically complex. (1.5 marks)

Analysis of higher level reader: Sentence 2
0-3 marks
Sentence 2: For full marks on this criterion you must:
a) present your analysis of the sentence following the guidelines you have been given, identifying clause boundaries, subject and predicate, phrase boundaries and part of speech of each word. (1.5 marks)
b) present a written summary of the sentence which highlights features which make the sentence more grammatically complex. (1.5 marks)

Analysis of higher level reader: Sentence 3
0-3 marks
Sentence 3: For full marks on this criterion you must:
a) present your analysis of the sentence following the guidelines you have been given, identifying clause boundaries, subject and predicate, phrase boundaries and part of speech of each word. (1.5 marks)
b) present a written summary of the sentence which highlights features which make the sentence more grammatically complex. (1.5 marks)

Discussion
0-8 marks
The distribution of marks for the discussion is:
0-4 marks for lower level reader: discussion of relevant features, as per instructions, with reference to sources which support statements made.
0-4 marks for higher level reader: discussion of relevant features, as per instructions, with reference to sources which support statements made.

Presentation and references
0-3 marks
1 mark awarded for each of the following:
a) overall structure, conforming to guidelines;
b) written style, grammar and spelling;
c) correct referencing.