Supporting meaning-making through sentence structure and punctuation

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Sentence structure and punctuation are core to the effective communication of ideas in written text. When writers use sentence structure and punctuation that makes sense, the reader is able to focus their attention on the ideas being communicated. When sentence structure and punctuation do not make sense, the reader has to read around the text to cobble together the intended meaning. For example, readers might have to re-read the text, read back and forwards across phrases and clauses to decipher references and lexical chains, slow down their reading rate, sometimes consciously superimpose standard sentence structure and punctuation, or choose to overlook some chunks of text that don’t seem to fit. Successful middle years writers write with the reader in mind. This chapter begins by introducing a quick-write prepared by a thirteen year boy in response to a stimulus about homelessness. We consider the role of sentence structure and punctuation for this young writer as he moves beyond the quick-write phase. The next section discusses the term ‘standard’ in the phrase standard sentence structure and punctuation, and why we deliberately shun the term ‘correct’. We also consider the situation where a writer deliberately plays with language through the strategic use of highly controlled non-standard sentence structures and punctuation. Ironically, this instance of non-standard sentence structures and punctuation is highly effective at achieving its communicative purpose. The two forms of grammar used in the Australian Curriculum (AC): English (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA], 2018) and the metalanguage (technical terms) that students will use for talking about the structure of written text are overviewed. Specially, we introduce the appraisal framework to explain the difference between traditional and functional grammar, and transitivity analysis to describe the parts of a clause. Different clause and sentence types and the forms of punctuation that are commonly used in the middle years of schooling are outlined. The final part of the chapter overviews some principles for teaching writing in the middle years of schooling, finishing with a three-stage pedagogical orientation that explains the changing roles for students and teachers. Various sections of the chapter include opportunities for the reader to pause, ponder and take action.