Syntax and Communicative Strategies in Intermediate German Composition - Virginia M. Coombs - 1986 - The Modern Language Journal

Syntax and Communicative Strategies in Intermediate German Composition Author(s): Virginia M Coombs Source: The Modern Language Journal, Vol 70, No (Summer, 1986), pp 114-124 Published by: Wiley on behalf of the National Federation of Modern Language Teachers Associations Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/327316 Accessed: 28/06/2014 12:27 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org Wiley and National Federation of Modern Language Teachers Associations are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Modern Language Journal http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 46.243.173.175 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 12:27:11 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Syntax and CommunicativeStrategiesin IntermediateGerman Composition VIRGINIA M COOMBS WRITING IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE CONSTITUTES an important part of language proficiency.' Like speaking, writingshows that the individual can use the language to communicate, "to formulatesequences oflogical thoughtin intelligible and appropriate syntax."2Good writing requires choices on three separate levels: the word, the sentence, and the paragraph At the word level the lexical itemsare selectedfortheir suitability,clarity,and nuance At the sentence level these words are combined into syntactic patternsthatmove the message forward.At the paragraph level the sentences are sorted and organized into a particularsequence to present informationin a coherent manner.3 Writing proficiencyin a foreignlanguage involvesmasteryat each of these three levels When classroom foreignlanguage learnerswritetheyneed to demonstratetheirabilityto use a varietyof syntacticoptions, attendto the accuracy oflanguage forms, and communicate their ideas coherently.Frequentlythe firsttwo tasks compete withthe thirdratherthan complementit Although native language writers and their classroom foreign language counterparts employ the same writingprocess, i.e., planning, composing,and revising,thelattergroup focuses on sentence-levelconcerns for grammatical accuracy rather than on the function of the text as a part of the writingprocess REVIEW OF SCHOLARSHIP The studies in the past ten years which discuss how classroom learners of German as a foreignlanguage develop their proficiencyin writingGerman fallinto two major categories: 1) those which treat grammatical concerns on The ModernLanguageJournal, 70, ii (1986) 0026-7902/86/0002/114 $1.50/0 ?1986 The ModernLanguageJournal the sentence level; 2) those which assess the impact of the whole text Investigations of sentence-level grammar focus on: 1) the accuracy of linguistic forms, i.e., the typesof errorsstudentsmake; 2) syntactic proficiency,i.e., the ability to employ both simple and complex constructionsin written sentences LoCoco's analysis of errors in writtenGerman and Spanish attributesthetype of error to universals in language acquisition or to language-specific constraints.4Lalande presentsstrategiesforreducing the number of errorsin writtencompositions of intermediate level students.He advocates total correctionof errors by studentsand instructionalfeedback to make student writersaware of their recurring errors.5 Cooper's research assesses syntactic proficiencyat the sentence level identifyingwhen particularsyntacticpatternsare acquired.6 Cooper later presents instructional materials employingsentencecombiningexercises to help writersacquire complex syntactic structuresquickly.' Studies of the whole text explore how ideas are communicated withrespectto the purpose of the piece of writing.What the writerhas to say about a topic and what he assumes the backgroundknowledgeofhis readerto be characterizes the informationalstructureof a text Walker'sapproach to improvedwritingin German is to have his students analyze the texts of shortstoriesand other prose writingto discover the authors' syntacticand lexical strategies for presenting information.8 Kramsch demonstrateshow studentswritingin German fail to use the variety of syntacticstructures otherthan the grammaticalsubjectto build discourse topics She concludes that a "sensitization to the notion of discourse topic" needs to be integratedinto the presentationof German word orderrules.9Byrnesalso stressesthe need forwhole textapproaches in evaluatingwriting proficiency.10She advocates attentionto units This content downloaded from 46.243.173.175 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 12:27:11 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Syntaxand Communicative Strategies 115 oflanguage witha broader informationalrange than the sentence, to the purpose of different types of texts,and to the consequences of particular lexical and syntacticchoices Attention to the communicativefunctionofa textcreates an awareness of language beyond mere grammatical accuracy PURPOSE The purpose of this study is two-fold: 1) to identifythose syntacticstructureswhich effectively communicate ideas in writtenGerman compositions of fourth-semesterstudents and 2) to identifygrammatical structures which writers can control on a syntactic level, but which theydo not employ as a communicative strategy.The varietyof syntacticstructuresand their frequencyof occurrence in each of three textsis presentedin a syntacticprofileforeach student writer The informationstructurein selected sequences of sentences from three pieces of writing for each writer is analyzed within the frameworkof a discourse analysis approach Following the flowof informationin sentences within a paragraph allows one to identifywhich syntacticstructuressuccessfully establish and maintain coherence throughout the paragraph Because the subjects in this study are intermediate-levelstudents of German, the data also reveal to what extent particular syntactic choices fail to communicate effectively.The problem areas which emerge fromthe analysis of the informationstructures suggest the need for pedagogical strategies which coordinate the study of specific grammatical structureswithcommunicativegoals in writing instruction CONCEPTUAL BACKGROUND: DISCOURSE ANALYSIS Discourse analysisdescribeshow participants in spoken or writtenexchanges constructand presentinformation.The syntacticstructureof sentencesin discourse provides the mechanism to encode specificlexical choices and select appropriate word orders One can argue with Givon that an explanation of surfacesyntactic phenomena includes their relative ability to communicate information." Givon demonstratesthat syntacticcomplexitycorrelateswith presuppositional complexityand that the high frequency of the neutral (main, declarative, affirmative,active) clause type is related to the low degree of presuppositional complexity found in such clauses This suggests that successfulwrittenand oral discourseis not a matter of so-called "syntacticmaturity"but the ability to build logically on presupposed information while conveying new content.'2 Informationis commonly divided into that which is known or shared by the participants (topic/theme)and that informationwhich the speaker/writer presentsas new, i.e., whichsubsequently becomes part of the shared pool (comment/rheme).'3The topic/theme,generally stated at the beginning of utterances, establishes a frame; it states what the sentence is about The comment/rheme followsand conflow veys new content, creating a left-to-right of information.In his study of textual analysis, Werthexamines the motivationforthe leftto-rightflow of informationin discourse and the functionofanaphora as an indicatoroftext coherence.'4 Anaphora permits concepts to remain active throughoutthe discourse by reto informationin previous peating or referring utterances or by emphasizing one member of a set of semanticallyrelated concepts fromthe common pool of informationin order to provide contrast.Anaphoric material servesas the locus of accumulated informationup to a particular point in the discourse and as a point of departureto which new (non-anaphoric) information is added Kramsch uses the theme/rhemedistinction to demonstrate that students inappropriately use subject nouns and pronouns as themes.'5 This syntacticstrategypreventsthese inexperienced writers from effectivelyinterlocking themes and rhemes in textsentencesto sustain a topic of discourse over several utterances The accurate identificationof surface structures which carry new informationpresents a major difficultyin Werth'sand Kramsch's approaches Neither method provides adequate explanation fordeterminingthe scope/rangeof the elementsin the right-mostpositionin a text sentence,the positionoccupied by the non-anaphoric materialor rheme.16One can inferfrom Givon's discussion of the main declarative sentence that this type presents the bulk of new information in discourse The subject-verbobject word order, characteristicof this clause type, may suggestwhich surface grammatical categories functionas the locus of new information in text sentences." This content downloaded from 46.243.173.175 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 12:27:11 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 116 VirginiaM Coombs This studyexploresthe relationshipbetween surfacesyntacticstructuresand theircommunicative functions.My analysisproceedsfromthe assumption thatwritersemploy a communicative strategyin which new informationfollows the informationwhichthe participantsshare up to a particularpoint in the discourse Identifying those surface syntactic structureswhich make effectiveuse of anaphoric expressions as well as those instances in which a strategyis not selected by the writerreveals the extentto which informationhas been successfullycommunicated METHODOLOGY Data fromsix writingsamples are analyzed below to show: 1) variation and frequencyof surfacesyntacticstructures;2) the information structurein textsentences Relating these two types of evidence to each other demonstrates which syntacticstructurescan functionas effective communication strategiesin writtenGerman textsproduced by intermediate-levelstudents The surfacesyntacticstrucStructure Syntactic tures found in each of threecomplete pieces of writingfortwo studentsis presented in a syntactic profile The profileemerges froma descriptionof seven featuresand theirfrequency of occurrencerepresentedin percentages The simple sentence (1) refersto the neutral sentence type as defined by Givon, the main, declarative, affirmative, active clause All clause types which fit this description are counted separately; the writer'suse of coordinate conjunctionstojoin neutralsentencetypes is ignored The complex sentence (2) consists of a main clause plus subordinate clause, subclausal unit, or an infinitivephrase Because the clause order in complex sentences affects the informationstructureof textsentences,the sequence of clauses is also addressed (2 and 3) The descriptionof surfacesyntacticstructures also considersthe grammaticalpropertiesofthe initialelementin simple sentencesand in main clauses in complex sentences Since German word orderconstraintsadmit both subjectsand non-subjects in this position, the presence of either option is accounted for (4 and 5) The presence of the copula sein as main verb (6) limitsthe syntacticoptions in the remainderof the sentence and affectsthe transmissionof informationacross sentenceboundaries Because the passive voice constructionstands in a particularsemanticand syntacticrelationto active voice constructions,its discourse functionsare also considered(7) The percentagesexpressed forfeatures1-3 are determinedusing the ratio of clause types to total sentences in the compositions The numerical values for features 4-7 relate the specificgrammaticalcategoryas a percentageofthe totalnumberofoccurrences for the sentence/clausetype The contentof each indiStructure Information vidual sentencein the data is classifiedintothat informationwhich has been established up to a particular point in the discourse and that which is new Following the principle of communicativedynamism,the establishedinformation appears in the left-mostposition in an utterance, while the new informationfollows it in the right-mostslot.18 The information structureof discourse initial sentences varies slightly;the left-mostpositioncontains contextual informationwhich helps the writerestablish the discoursetopic The subject-verb-object word order of the neutral clause type offersa syntacticstrategyformatchingthe information structureto the surfacesyntaxof the discourse sentences.In simple sentencesthe shared information segment corresponds to the sentenceinitial unit Grammatical structures which carrythisinformationinclude subjects,objects, and adverbial phrases which establish spatial, temporal,or causal frames.Grammaticalstructures in the predicate including objects, adjectives,and spatial, temporal,or causal adverbial phrases conveythe new information.When the grammatical subject does not occupy the sentence initial position, it can also carrynew information Particular lexical strategiesare selected for their ability to maintain the flow of information in discourse Shared informationin the left-mostsegmentof the sentence is located by identifyinginstancesof repetition,pronominal reference, and paraphrase, and then traced backwards throughpreceding sentences to establish the antecedentlinks Clause sequences in complex sentences determine the informational structure.The procedure used to assess the informationalstructurein simple sentences is also applied to main clauses in sentenceinitial position New informationis frequentlylocated in the subordinate clause or infinitivephrase when either of these functionas the object of This content downloaded from 46.243.173.175 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 12:27:11 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Strategies Syntaxand Communicative the main clause verb When the subordinate clause or infinitivephrase introducesthe complex sentence,the informationalstructureis described in terms of its presuppositional complexity and/or functionin establishing a contextual frame for the utterance DATA PRESENTATION The writingsamples are drawn fromthree separate assignments completed between the second and eighth weeks in a fourth-semester college-levelGerman course Each writercompleted three draftsfor each assignment First and second draftsreceivedungraded writtenresponses frompeer editorsand fromthe instructor A lettergrade evaluation givingequal considerationto language accuracy and mattersof organization and content was assigned to the third draft Prior to each rewriteopportunity studentswere encouraged to rethinkthe presentation of theirideas as well as correcterrorsin grammar and vocabulary Due to limited space, only data fromthe graded draftsare presented here In the present analysis the data sentencesare numbered consecutivelyforeach writer The samples convey the writers'language complete withgrammaticalinaccuracies and incorrectvocabulary Essay topics relateto assigned materialin the 19All principaltextforthe courseZurDiskussion students wrote on the same topic for the first two assignmentsbut were offereda choice from two suggested topics for the third essay The topics were stated as questions, a formatwhich would ideally elicitwrittenresponses using the informationfrom the readings, class discussions, and personal knowledge.20 CASE 1: DOUG SyntacticProfile An even distribution of simple and complex sentences characterizes Doug's syntacticstyle(see Table I) The simple sentences are frequentlyjoined by coordinate conjunctionscreatingsentencesequal in length to many of the complex structures.When complex sentence structuresare selected, the main clause of that sentence occurs overwhelmingly in the sentence initial position Subordinate clauses and infinitivephrases preceding the main clause in complex sentences occur only five times in all three samples Just as a preferredorder of clauses in com- 117 plex sentencescharacterizesa writer'sstyle,so does the position of grammatical units within clauses and simple sentences.Althoughthe first writingsample shows a balance in the use of the grammatical subject as well as non-subject material in initial position in both simple and complex sentences, the initial syntacticslot in both simple and complex sentences is dominated by the grammaticalsubject in the second and thirdsamples The strongpresence of the copula sein in the firsttwo samples contrasts with minimal use in the third essay Passive voice structuresoccur predominantlyin simple sentences The firstparagraph in Structure Information a piece of writtendiscourse establishesthe discourse topic The structureof the shared or background informationis expressed by subject nouns in sentences 4, 5, and (see Appendix 1) New informationis introduced by the accusative object (2), a predicate nominative (4), predicate adjectives (4, 5), and a compound adverbial expression (6) The topic of pollution is introduced and set in a temporal frame in sentence one The second and third sentences carry this topic forward across sentence boundaries by means of the logical connectorsdarumand aus diesemGrund.Anaphoric expressionsin the leftmost position in sentences 4-7 forman interlockingchain of information.Examples ofrepetition include Gesetze (2 Gesetze) and LewisburgundBucknell(6 hierin Lewisburgundan Bucknell).The anaphoric material in the grammatical subject in (Ein TellvondieserAktionen) demonstrates the contrastive feature of anaphora, since the noun Teil singles out by example one member of the set referredto in (Aktionen vonLeutenundGesellschaften) The subject noun phrase in is a paraphrase ofthenew in dermenschinformationin (eine Veranderung lichen Mentalitiit) Simple sentencesin the active voice alternate with agentless passive voice constructionsto convey informationin sentences8-16 Subject nouns and pronouns occupy theleft-mostposition in sentences 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16 The presenceofthe copula as main verb in several of these sentenceslocates the new information in the predicatenominative(11), predicate adjectives (10, 16), and adverb (8) The informational content expressed by these surfacelevel grammatical categories cannot be easily This content downloaded from 46.243.173.175 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 12:27:11 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 118 VirginiaM Coombs TABLE I SyntacticProfile:Doug TABLE II SyntacticProfile:David Essay Simple sentence Complex sentence Main clause + : Complex sentence + Main clause Subject-initiated a) Simple sentence b) Main clause (complexS) Non-subjectinitiated a) Simple sentence b) Main clause (complexS) Essay Essay (%) (%) (%) 37 49 53 57 48 45 77 82 35 79 88 62 18 45 21 6 Sein a) Simple sentence b) Main clause (complexS) Passive voice a) Simple sentence b) Main clause (complexS) 54 39 15 30 33 18 23 18 20 18 reintroducedin subsequent anaphoric expressions Sentence 18 advances the topic, sexual explicitnesson television,by referringto particular programs to support the claim made in the finalsentenceofthe precedingparagraph, sentence 17 The informationin sentences 17-20 is conveyedpredominantlythroughsimple sentence structures,all beginning with the grammatical subject Since the left-mostposition in a simple sentence should form the locus of known or shared informationrelevant to the topic of discourse, these subjects ought to provide the coherentlinks which sustain information throughoutthe paragraph As such they should all be characterizedby some sortof anaphoricfeature.Such connectionsare completely missing between the object clause in 18 (da?f jeder springt)and the subject nouns in 19 and 20 (Erwachsene,Kinder) CASE 2: DAVID Profile.David employs both simple Syntactic and complex sentences in equal numbers in each of the three samples (see Table II) The main clause introduces complex sentences in all but one instance in the firsttwo samples Essay Simple sentence Complex sentence Main clause + : Complex sentence Essay 2(%) 3(%) 43 40 53 54 60 28 - 19 50 50 82 60 73 44 50 50 18 13 22 30 12 20 33 - 10 11 - - - + Main clause Subject-initiated a) Simplesentence b) Main clause (complexS) Non-subjectinitiated a) Simple sentence b) Main clause (complexS) Essay 1(%) Sein a) Simple sentence b) Main clause (complexS) Passive voice a) Simple sentence b) Main clause (complex S) In the third sample subordinate clauses or infinitivephrases precede the main clause about as often as they follow The grammaticalsubject in simple sentences appears equally as oftenin non-initialposition in the firsttwo samples as it does in initialposition The thirdsample shows a clear preference forthe grammatical subject in sentence initial position In complex sentencesthe grammatical subject in initial position is preferredin all threesamples The copula as main verb is used sparinglythroughout.The passive voice constructionappears only twice Structure.David uses different Information types of contrastto shape the presentation of information(see Appendix 2) The repository of shared informationis expressed by a subject pronoun (3), by spatial adverbial phrases (2, 5), and in one instance by the grammatical object ofthe esgibtconstruction(4) New information is packaged in the direct object (5), prepositional objects (2, 3, 4), and a predicative nominative (1) Anaphoric material in the spatial reference foundin (Hier an Bucknell)qualifiesmore narrowlythe genitivemodificationin (desAlltags) Withinthisestablishedspatial framethe reader This content downloaded from 46.243.173.175 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 12:27:11 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Syntaxand Communicative Strategies is presentedwithtwo contrastingpieces of new informationin (nichtaufdieUmwelt)and (nur an sichselbst).The contrastiveanaphoric expression in (mehrere Leute) can be traced back to the pronoun referencein (sie) and its antecedent in (mancheStudenten.) Contrast is also the inclusion of the lexical item signaled by in (an die The jedoch prepositional object new offers because cominformation, Umwelt) municativelyit differsfromthat already introduced in (nuran sichselbst).The spatial frame established in (hier) is maintained by repetition in the left-mostpositionof (in Lewisburg) The new informationin is not found in the object (die Umwelt),which has been established as part of the context already in the firstsentence, but in the verbal activity(pflegen) Of the five sentences (6-10) which David groups togetheras a paragraph, only the first two illustraterelevant discourse The opinion marker in (ich bin derMeinung)establishes a context for the presentation of the topic- the threat of (nuclear) war The content of the opinion is sustained in the followingsentence by new informationwhich substantiates the claim (Rohstoffe, Raum, Geld,fir die kdmpfen werden).Each of the remainingsentencesintroduces a new subtopic (8 dieseDrohung,9 Schutzand 10 Frieden),but thereare no coherent mittel, elements,because the left-mostpositionof each sentence contains neither anaphoric material nor intersententiallogical connectors The use of doch in 13, normally a lexical signal for contrast, is unjustified The parallel syntacticstructuresin 11 and 12 establish conditional frames in which the new informationis to be understood Both conditions presuppose that the reader associates positiveresultswiththe conditionin 11 and less favorable resultsas a resultof the condition in 12 The informationin sentence 13 contributes nothingnew to the topic, because it merelyrepeats what the presupposition in 11 has established If the reader accepts the presupposition in 14, that unhealthy food and medications exist (ungesunden Lebensmitteln undMedikamenten) and that one must protect oneself fromthem (uns schiitzen)then this infinitivephrase refersto the same context established in the conditional clause in 12 Pillenschlucken (12) is the antecedent forungesunden Medikamenten (14) and nichtrichtigessen(12) the antecedent for Lebensmitteln ungesunden (14) 119 RESULTS Case 1: Doug AlthoughDoug's syntacticprofile shows that he uses a variety of syntactic structureschoosing between simple sentences and complex sentences,perhaps the most striking featurein his writingis the frequencywith which the grammaticalsubject occurs in initial positionin both simple and complex sentences Although the grammaticalsubject can serve as the locus of shared informationto advance the information chain forward, problems arise when new informationin the predicateposition is not integratedinto the pool of shared knowledge throughreiterationin the followingsubject This subject-initialword order excludes the effectiveuse of logical markersto connect the semantic content of two propositions To illustrate the reduced communicative effectiveness which overuse ofthe grammatical in left-mostpositioncauses, one can the subject consider how effectivelyinformationis transmitted in the sentences 1-4 without the presence of the grammaticalsubject in theleft-most position The effectiveuse of logical markers darumand aus diesemGrundconnects ideas between sentences and sustains the topic of discourse over three sentences In contrastto these examples, the sequence of sentences 8-16 lacks the connective devices or spatial and temporalreferencesto maintaina contextforproductivediscourse Failing to use sententialconnectorsand subordinationin the appropriate contexts creates communicative roadblocksforthe reader Furthermore,monotonous sentence structurecaused by loyaltyto the grammatical subject in initial position results in missed opportunitiesto use the nonsubject elements to cement semantic relationships in sentences 17-20 If the demonstrative das in 19 were frontedto sentence initial position, it would provide the link to the information in the object clause in 18 Frontingthe dacompound in 20 would establish a similar link with the object clause in 18 An additional problem which surfaces in relation to the syntacticstructurein sentences 8-16 is caused by the alternationof copula sein as main verb in 8, 10, 11, and 16 with passive voice constructionsin and 14 In the subjectinitiated sentences containing the copula, the new informationis packaged as predicatenoun (11), adjective (16), or adverb (8) The new in- This content downloaded from 46.243.173.175 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 12:27:11 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions VirginiaM Coombs 120 formationin the subject-initiatedpassive voice sentences appears in the past participle which functions as a predicate adjective Subject nouns and pronouns in subsequent sentences not referto the informationfromthe antecedent adjectiveor past participle.Two or more of these types of syntactic constructions in sequence hinder the flowof informationacross sentence boundaries Case2: David David's syntacticprofilereveals his ability to constructboth simple and complex sentences correctlyand to vary syntactic structurewithin sentences When these facts are scrutinizedin termsof effectivecommunicative strategies at least three problem areas appear The firstrelates to the position of the thematic or shared material Examples from David's firstsample illustratewhat typesof informationprocessingdifficulties arise when the thematicmaterial does not appear in sentence initial position The surface accusative object of the es gibt(4) constructioncan functionin information structure as either the locus of shared informationor new information.In the formercase the syntacticconstructionis clumsy, oftenrequiringa relativeclause to statethe new information.Alternatively,a straightforward simple sentence in which the accusative object of es gibt becomes the grammatical subject streamlines the information process by not pushing the thematic anaphoric information any furtherto the right than necessary The contrastin failsto achieve its fullimpact due to the intrusionof the esgibtconstruction.The lexical jedochwould carry more informationif repositioned furtherleft in the sentence The second problem area can be illustrated in sentences 6-10 Communication problems arise when the reader does not have access to the same pool of shared or presupposed information as the writer.The adverbs allerdings (8) and doch(10) in sentence initialposition might be regarded as examples of what Kramsch has termedthe"randomuse ofunjustifiedelements" in sentence initial position.21An explanation forthe surfaceappearance of these"unjustified" adverbs emerges fromthe bits of information available to the reader in the noun phrase diese Drohung(8) The demonstrativemodifierseems to indicate that the writerconsiders this concept partofthe sharedinformationon thetopic Possible antecedent expressions include the three accusative objects in Rohstoffe, Raum, and Geldand the relative clause modification What is missing that would justifysentence in its presentformis a clear connection establishingthe items listed in as the components of the referenceto a threatin That informational link is not immediatelyaccessible to the reader even though it seems to exist for the writer.A similar link is missing in the surface structurebetween and 10, so that the use of doch appears equally out of place Linda Flower's workon writers'composing strategies refersto this kind of phenomenon as "writerbased prose."22 The reader is excluded from participationbecause all parts of the information structureare not fullyspecified The complex nature ofpresuppositionlevels associated withdifferent surfacesyntacticstructures presents a third problem area The sequence of sentences11-13 illustratesthatDavid fails to understand how presupposition functions communicatively.The less complex presuppositional structurein sentence 13 presents the problem The reader comes to thisstraightforwarddeclarative assertion afterprocessing the presupposition involved with the two preceding conditions What should be processed as new informationin 13 has already contributed to the presuppositional structurein sentences 11 and 12 Reordering the sequence so that 13 introducesthe paragraph would establish a context for the conditional in 11 DISCUSSION This studyshows thatclassroom foreignlanguage learners are able to control the grammatical aspects of syntactic structures, i.e., word order and agreement,beforetheycan use these structureseffectivelyin discourse situations The writingsamples contain a varietyof clause structuresand infinitivephrases in addition to simple sentences which contain relativelyfewgrammaticalinaccuracies The data also suggestthatwriters'skillin using language structuresto communicate effectively develops independentlyof theirknowledge and control of grammarrules For example, one mightexpect the successfulstrategiesthat both writers employed in the firstassignment to be used again in subsequent assignments,but the data not supportthisin spiteofregularclassroom instructionin writing Students not only received writing instructionin class and individual feedback fromthe instructoron drafts, This content downloaded from 46.243.173.175 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 12:27:11 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Syntaxand Communicative Strategies but they also acted as readers foreach other's intermediatedrafts.The students,workingin pairs, completed a set of editorial tasks which focused on topic organization at the paragraph level and on the syntacticstructureof sentences within the paragraph The syntacticstructuresin writtenGerman at the intermediatelevel stillappear to remain closely tied to memorized patterns fromtextbook grammar explanations The frequentuse of subject-initiated sentences to illustrate a variety of grammatical points maycontribute to the frequency with which this pattern appears in studentcompositions.23Intermediatelevel texts present the topic of subordination relativeto word orderrules and the clause-final position of the finiteverb ratherthan as a communicative strategy.Subordinate conjunctions appear primarily as vocabulary items Since logical markers and text structuringphrases belong to no single grammaticalcategory,they not receive systematictreatmentin grammar texts.24 At least three examples illustrate that the writers' ability to select particular syntactic variants fortheircommunicative functionlags farbehind theirabilityto manipulate language forms.First, syntacticstrategiesforemploying eithercoordinate or subordinate structuresare not used consistentlyor effectively The coordinate conjunctions undand aberfrequentlyjoin simple sentences,not to establish a logical connection between the informationalcontent of the two clauses, but to create the effectof a "longer" sentence Appropriate subordinate structureswhich show relationships between the ideas in adjacent sentences are missing despite the presence of several examples of subordination in each sample Second, the infrequent use of logical markersand text structuring devices forthe readers' benefitreduces, if not totallyobscures, the communicativeintent in many of the data sentences Third, the syntactic structurein simple sentences and main clauses of complex sentencesreveals the dominant presence of the grammatical subject in sentence initial position This text feature, which is described in detail in Kramsch's study on topic construction,restrictsthe transmission of informationto one or two sentences PEDAGOGICAL IMPLICATIONS Language instruction at the intermediate 121 level must take discourse level into account Teachers oftenperceive poorly writtenessays as resultingfromstudents'failureto use thelanguage in a communicative manner, although sentence grammar is essentially correct To remedythisproblem the grammar component at the intermediatelevel must emphasize language structuresas a means to communicate and not simplyas a collectionof rule-governed patterns Data in this studypoint to three specificinstances in which grammar topics can be integrated with writingassignments First, a new perspectiveon the functionofword order rules in German emerges from an approach that stressescommunicative effectrather than the mechanical manipulation of sentence components The simple sentence remains a powerfultool forcommunicationwhen syntacticpatternsare utilized withregard forinformational content Kramsch describes a variety of oral and writtenexercises designed to focus on the communicative function of non-subject elementsin sentenceinitialposition.25Second, the review of subordinating conjunctions progresses beyond the introductorylevel that stressesthe manipulation of the finiteverb and the memorization of lexical definitions.Exercises that focus on the semantic contentof the subordinatestructureand itslogical connection to the main clause emphasize the importance of the intendedmessage ratherthan the clausefinalposition ofthe finiteverb The lattertype of exercisesincludes the traditionaldehydrated sentence exercise which requires students to construct clauses from elements provided in order to test conjunctions as vocabulary items and to reinforcethe word order rules in subordinate clauses Exercises which develop an awareness of the logical relationshipsbetween ideas are constructedfromsequences of topically related sentences When some ofthe sentential connections are removed, but not the finiteverb form,the exercisechallengesthe student to reconstructa message ratherthan move formsaround withina clause The reconstructed message emerges fromthe student'sinterpretation of the logical relationships which the addition of a particularconjunctionestablishes The point of such exercisesis thatdifferent conjunctions create differentlogical relationships which resultin different messages, even though all subordinate conjunctions are governed by This content downloaded from 46.243.173.175 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 12:27:11 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 122 VirginiaM Coombs the same word order constraint.Third, logical markersand textstructuringphrases are functional propertiesof texts.Contextualized exercises based on model texts increase students' awareness of the communicativevalue of such language forms Composition assignmentsmustclarifyforthe students that text purpose is as important as linguisticaccuracy Since studentsat the intermediate level are stillgrapplingwithlanguage formsas well as theirfunctions,theyshould be encouraged to rewriteand revise their work They rarely get everything"right"in the first draft.Most studentsunderstand"rewrite"and "revise"to mean correctinggrammar mistakes and vocabulary inaccuracies They need some practical strategiesforreviewingthe information structurein textsso thattheycan see where the informationalconnectionshave not yetbeen made One such strategyfocuses on the structureofinformationat theparagraphlevel Each paragraph is reconstructedas a list of the sentences it contains In this formatit is easier to identifyvisually grammatical structuressuch as subjectsand objects The studentthentraces the path of the paragraph topic fromone sen- tenceto thenext,notingwhichstructuresmaintain the topic and which introducethe new information.The ideal patternfollowsthe principle of communicativedynamismwithleft-torightmovementin each sentence At the point thatthe informationchain failsto move forward the studenthas identifieda problem sentence Each paragraphcan be analyzed in thisfashion Not only will thisproceduremake the information structuremore visible, but it also justifies paragraph divisions as new topics are introduced in the text Since most compositions rarelyexceed 250 words in length,this strategy can be applied quickly and effectively Successful writing exercises at the intermediate level address the functionalnature of language structuresto emphasize yet another way that language learning involves learning to communicate effectively.For those students who continuetheirlanguage studythisemphasis provides a foundationfordeveloping writing proficiency in traditional composition courses and provides a more realisticbasis for the kindsofwritingrequiredin advanced literature and culture courses APPENDIX Information Structure: Case 1 In den letzten Jahren wird viel fiber die Verpestung und die Verschmutzung, die unsere Welt bedrohen, gesprochen Darum gibtes fiirdie Industrienund fiirAutos Gesetze, die gegen das Problem kiimpfensollen Aus diesem Grund sind unsere Landschaft und unsere Luft jetzt sauberer und sicherer als friiher, aber Gesetze sind selbst keine Ldsung des Problems, dag eine Veriinderungin der menschlichen Mentalitdit braucht Aktionen von Leuten und Gesellschaften sind sehr wichtig, um die Natur unaufh6rlich zu beschfitzen Ein Teil von dieser Aktionen ist hier in Lewisburg und an Bucknell, und obwohl Lewisburg und Bucknell eine kleinenNachbarschaft in der Weltgemeinde sind, hier findetman einige kleinen, aber wichtigeBeispiele von dem Schutz der Umwelt Die Einflufite der Drohung auf unser Leben sind fiberall, aber sie werden nicht immer gesehen 10 Ffir die Wirtschaftsind die Kosten sehr hoch 11 Waffenim allgemein sind nichtwie andere Wirtschaftwaren 12 Unsere Wirtschafthandelt sich um das Verhiltnis der Firmen und der Verbraucher; 13 aber die Waffensproduktiongibt nichts dazu 14 Arbeitsplitze werden durch diese Produktion geschaffen, 15 aber diese Waren haben in der Wirtschaftkeine richtige Benutzung; 16 sie sind endlich nicht verbraucht (Gottseidank) 17 Diese Leute und ihre Aktionen scheinen Kindern, typisch von unserer Gesellschaft zu sein 18 Programme wie "Dallas" und "Dynasty" zeigen, dag jeder mit irgendjemand auger seiner Frau oder ihrem Mann ins Bett springt 19 Erwachsene verstehen das als Unterhaltung, 20 aber Kinder k6nnen davon verwechselt werden This content downloaded from 46.243.173.175 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 12:27:11 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Strategies Syntaxand Communicative 123 APPENDIX Structure:Case Information Die Umwelt, in der die Menschen leben, ist ein bedeutender Teil des Alltags Hier an Bucknell achten manche Studenten nicht auf die Umwelt; sie denken nur an sich selbst Es gibtjedoch mehrere Leute, die hier an die Umwelt denken, und in Lewisburg pflegen die meisten Leute die Umwelt Ich bin der Meinung, dab ein Krieg wieder passieren wird, weil Menschen nattirlichselbstsiichtigsind Leute verlangen immer mehr Rohstoffe, Raum und Geld, fuirdie sie kiimpfenwerden Allerdings beeinflust diese Drohung unser tdigliches Leben NOTES 1I wish to thank my colleagues Professor Lois Huffines and Catherine Blair who read earlier draftsof the manuscript and made helpful suggestions 2See Claire Gaudiani, TeachingWritingin theFL Curriculum (Washington: Center for Applied Linguistics, 1981), p 43 3Gaudiani (note above), p 4See Veronica Gonzales-Mena LoCoco, "An Analysis of Spanish and German Learners' Errors," Working Papersin Bilingualism,7 (1975), pp 96-124 5See John Lalande, "Reducing Composition Errors: An Experiment," ModernLanguageJournal,66 (1982), p 147 6See Thomas C Cooper, "Measuring WrittenSyntactic Patternsof Second Language Learners of German,"Journal of EducationalResearch,69 (1976), pp 176-83 7See Thomas C Cooper, "Sentence Combining: An Experiment in Teaching Writing,"ModernLanguageJournal, 65 (1981), pp 158-65 8See Ronald Walker, "Text Manipulation Techniques and 15 Foreign Language Composition," Unterrichtspraxis, (1982), pp 232-39 9See Claire J Kramsch, "Discourse Function of Grammar Rules: Topic Construction in German," ModernLanguageJournal,67 (1983), p 18 1oSee Heidi Byrnes, "Discourse Analysis and the Teaching of Writing," ADFL Bulletin,15, ii (1983), pp 30-36 "See Talmy Givon, On Understanding Grammar(New York: Academic Press, 1979), p 49 12Earlierstudiesof syntacticcomplexityequate the greater number of syntacticallycomplex sentences with syntactic maturity, i.e., a signal of greater facilitywith language Wir brauchen Schutzmittel, um sicher zu sein 10 Doch denken wir immer an Frieden - Frieden, den die Welt noch nicht gesehen hat 11 Wennjemand genug Schlaf und kbrperlichBewegung bekommt, dann wird er gesund 12 Aber wenn wir Pillen schluckenund nichtrichtigessen, dann wird unser K6rper zerfallen 13 Schlaf und Bewegung sind fiir unsere Gesundheit wichtig wie richtiges Essen 14 Um uns vor ungesunden Lebensmitteln und Medikamenten zu schiitzen, sollen wir die Etikette auf den Lebensmitteln und Medikamenten lesen structure See Kellogg W Hunt, GrammaticalStructures Written at ThreeGradeLevels, Research Report (Urbana: NCTE, 1965) Recent criticismof this approach is found in StephenJ Gaies, "T-UnitAnalysisand Second Language Research: Applications,Problems and Limitations,"TESOL 14 (1980), pp 53-60, and Stephen P Witte, "The Quarterly, Reliability of Mean T-Unit Length: Some Questions for Research in WrittenComposition," Learningto Write:First Language/Second Language,ed Aviva Freedman, Ian Pringle &Janice Yalden (New York: Longman, 1983), pp 171-77 13The terms "topic-comment" are used by Charles Hockett, A Coursein ModernLinguistics(New York: Macmillan, 1958), p 201 The "theme-rheme"distinctionoriginates with the Prague School's Functional Sentence Perspective approach to informationstructure See Paperson FunctionalSentencePerspective, ed F Danes (Prague: Academia/The Hague: Mouton, 1974) and Emphasis(London: 14See Paul Werth,Focus, Coherence Croom Held, 1984) Werth qualifies anaphoric material with respect to discourse initial sentences Since this sentence introduces the discourse topic, it representsthe one exception to the principle of the anaphoric-non-anaphoric sequence of information 15Kramsch (note above), p 16 16Both approaches segment the information structure according to intonationcontourscharacteristicof spoken discourse Neither approach establishes appropriate signals for the onset of new information in written discourse 17Wordorderconstraintsin German declarativesentences not require the grammatical subject to appear in sentence position When it does occupy this position and is notthelocus of new information,the new informationoccurs in the right-mostposition in the sentence Accusative and dative objects, prepositional objects, adverbial phrases as well as predicate nominatives, adjectives, and adverbs can occupy this right-mostslot This content downloaded from 46.243.173.175 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 12:27:11 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 124 VirginiaM Coombs 18SeeJan Firbas,"Some Aspectsof the Czechoslovak ApproachtoProblemsofFunctionalSentencePerspective," in Danes (note 13 above) 19SeeDieterSevin& IngridSevin,ZurDiskussion (New York: Harper & Row, 1979) 20Theexacttitlesoftheassignedessaytopicswere1) Sind undBucknell inderGestaltung und Lewisburg fortschrittlich genug derUmwelt? eines Verschiinerung 2) WiewahristdieDrohung im Atomkrieges? 3) Welchen EinflufhabenSex undBrutalitiit Fernsehen orSchlucken wirzu vielePillen aufunsere Gesellschaft? undessenwirzuvielFarbeundanderes Gift? 21Kramsch(note above), p 16 22SeeLinda Flower,"Writer-Based Prose: A Cognitive Basis forProblemsin Writing," 41 (1979), College English, pp 19-37 23See the syntacticstructureof sentencesin the grammar explanations and accompanying exercises in intermediatelevel texts, e.g., Robert Helbling & Franz Kempf, Deutsche Gegenwart (New York: Holt, Rinehart, 1985); Jack Moeller, Helmut Liedloff & Helen S Lepke, Kaleidoskop(Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1983); Charles Barrack & Horst M Rabura, Mosaik DeutscheGrammatik (New York: Random House, 1982) 24This study makes no attempt to account for other factors which may have an impact on writing proficiencyin German such as writingstrategiesused in English, personal interestin the topic, or motivationto improve writingskills 25Kramsch (note above), p 21 Conference on Language Development THE BOSTON UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF EDUCATION invitespapers forthe eleventhAnnual Conference on Language Development, to be held on 17-19 October 1986 Papers on the topics of firstand second language acquisition, bilingualism, language disorders,writing,literacy, narratives,ASL and sign language, neurolinguistics, sociolinguistics,theoreticallanguage acquisition, and universal grammar will be considered forpresentationat the conference This year'skeynotespeakeris Noam Chomsky, Massachusetts Institute of Technology For more informationwrite: Language Development Conference,School of Education, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215 Conference: Second Language Acquisition and Foreign Language Learning A CONFERENCE ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN second language acquisition and foreignlanguage learning will be held on the campus of the Universityof Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 3-4 April 1987 Papers are solicited that deal with the relationship between SLA and FLL vis-a-vispsycholinguistictheoryand research, with special emphasis on: 1) input and interaction; 2) interlanguage data and developmental patternsin the acquisition of grammatical structureand general communicativecom- petence; 3) processingstrategiesin comprehension and production; 4) the relationship between informationprocessingand language acquisition; 5) fossilization; 6) research design and methods; 7) research agenda for the next ten years Send inquiries or three copies of a one-page abstractto the conferenceorganizers by October: William VanPatten & James F Lee/SLA-FLL/Spanish, Italian & Portuguese/ 4080 Foreign Languages Building/707 S Mathews/Urbana, IL 61801 This content downloaded from 46.243.173.175 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 12:27:11 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions .. .Syntax and CommunicativeStrategiesin IntermediateGerman Composition VIRGINIA M COOMBS WRITING IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE CONSTITUTES an important part of language proficiency.' Like speaking,... subjectsand objects The studentthentraces the path of the paragraph topic fromone sen- tenceto thenext,notingwhichstructuresmaintain the topic and which introducethe new information .The ideal... creating a left-to-right of information .In his study of textual analysis, Werthexamines the motivationforthe leftto-rightflow of informationin discourse and the functionofanaphora as an indicatoroftext