The syntactic complexity of primary grade children's oral language and primary grade reading materials: A comparative analysis

The purpose of this research was to assess and compare the syntax in the oral language of six-, seven-, and eight-year-olds with the syntax found in the written language of reading instruction materials prepared for children of the same age. Ninety students, presumed to speak standard English, were selected through restricted random sampling from a middle class community. These students were the subjects for the oral language sample. Four reading series whose approaches to instruction differed, were selected for the comparative analysis. The Botel, Dawkins, and Granowsky Syntactic Complexity formula, based on transformational grammar, was used to analyze all language samples. The results of the study showed that the reading series were more complex syntactically than the oral language of the children.