A meta‐analytic review of the effect of sentence‐combining on reading comprehension

Abstract

Abstract This study extended an earlier exploratory study (Searls & Neville, 1988) of the effects of sentence‐combining on reading achievement by updating the pool of studies and using meta‐analysis as a vehicle for integration. The original pool of 34 studies was reduced to 24 by applying criteria for germaneness, methodology, independence, and effect size anomalies. The 24 studies, 19 of which were dissertations, were examined as to control of internal and external validity threats. Effect sizes were used to compare the results of the studies on types of criterion measures, grade levels, control of validity threats, length of treatment, and recency of publication. Only grade levels produced significant differences in that sentence‐combining had a greater effect at the elementary level than at the high school or college levels. Conclusions related to sentence combining as an instructional technique and implications for further research using meta‐analysis are discussed.