Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

8-1981

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education

Major

Curriculum and Instruction

Major Professor

J Estill Alexander

Committee Members

Bethany Dumas, John Lovell, Lester Knight

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to describe the semantic-syntactic relationships found in selections from the thirteen basal first-grade reading textbooks adopted in the State of Tennessee. The first narrative-in-prose after the mid-point in the publisher's final book for first grade was analyzed using case grammar. The data were presented in tables with a sentence-by-sentence description placed in appendices. The semantic elements within each table were rank-ordered. Verbs were categorized as either dynamic or stative. Case grammar was used to describe nominals as objective, agentive, stative/objective, experiencer, or locative. The syntax of clauses was described as fitting a pattern from: SVO, SVOC, SVC, SVA, SVGA, SVOO, or SV. Deitic elements of anaphora and cataphora were identified and counted. The modalities of negation, tense, mood, and aspect were identified and counted. The total number of sentences in each narrative was given along with the number of direct quotations. Arranged alphabetically according to publishers, the summaries of the semantic elements were presented in tables with the bibliographic entry given as the source. A rank-ordered table, a summary of the summary tables, followed the tabulation of the semantic elements from the thirteenth reader.

Each of the semantic elements was presented in a separate table and discussed. The major findings were that dynamic verbs outnumbered stative verbs. Nominals as agentives predominated followed by objectives, locatives, stative/objectives, experiencers, and benefactives. The SVO clause type was counted in more instances followed consecutively by SVA, SVC, SV, SVGA, SVOO, and SVOC. Anaphoric deixis was used more often than cataphoric. Seventy-six negative modalities were identified. Of the verbal modalities, past indicative simple was the most used with present indicative simple the next most used. Eighty-one direct quotations were found in the 463 sentences in the selected narratives-in-prose.

This study should be followed by a study of the spontaneous, natural language of first grade students to examine students' oral semantic elements in comparison with the semantic elements found in basal reading texts. This study was believed to be the first of its kind to examine instructional materials for descriptions of meaning inherent in the stylistic choices of the authors.

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