A CODING SYSTEM FOR EVALUATING STUDENTS' PRODUCTIVE ENGLISH

Gerald P. Berent, Ph.D. Department of Research

Paula M. Brown, Ph.D. Chairperson, Department of Speech and Language

Brenda H. Whitehead, M.A., CCC-SP Department of Speech and Language

National Technical Institute for the Deaf Rochester Institute of Technology Rochester, New York, U.S.A.

Copyright © 2002 Rochester Institute of Technology, All Rights Reserved G. P. Berent, P. M. Brown, & B. H. Whitehead 2

CODING SYSTEM CATEGORIES

PRODUCTION TYPE SYNTACTIC CATEGORY: COMPLEMENTIZER PHRASE INFLECTIONAL PHRASE VERB PHRASE DETERMINER PHRASE NOUN PHRASE ADJECTIVE PHRASE QUANTIFIER PHRASE PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE CONJUNCTION GRAMMATICAL RELATIONS MORPHOLOGICAL PROPERTIES SENTENCE AND VERB TYPES SEMANTIC RELATIONS INFORMATION STRUCTURE DISCOURSE PROCESSES: ORGANIZATION COHESION PERSPECTIVE RHETORICAL DEVICES MECHANICS AND PUNCTUATION

Copyright © 2002 Rochester Institute of Technology, All Rights Reserved G. P. Berent, P. M. Brown, & B. H. Whitehead 3

PRODUCTION TYPE

Symbol Description Form/Structure/Explanation

S(UCC) Success Successful production E Error Unsuccessful production A Addition Superfluous addition O Omission Erroneous omission REP Repair Repaired production REV Revision Revised production AMB Ambiguous Ambiguous formation VAG Vague Vague expression FRAG Fragment Sentence fragment UGR Ungrammatical Ungrammatical formation U Utterance Turn taken (spoken/signed) or sentence (written) W Word Lexical item PHR Phrase Syntactic phrase CLS Clause Finite or nonfinite clause WO Word order Order of words in a sentence INV Inversion Inversion of two constituents WC Word choice Appropriate lexical item MOR Morphology Morphological form STX Syntax Syntactic structure SEM Semantics Word meaning or sentence interpretation DISC Discourse Discourse function

Copyright © 2002 Rochester Institute of Technology, All Rights Reserved G. P. Berent, P. M. Brown, & B. H. Whitehead 4

SYNTACTIC CATEGORY: COMPLEMENTIZER PHRASE

Symbol Description Form/Structure/Explanation

CP Complementizer Clausal structure Phrase COMP Complementizer that, if, for + clause AUX Auxiliary verb be, have, do DO DO-support do in questions, negatives MOD Modal verb will, can, must, should YNQ Yes-no question Did you see me? WHQ WH-question Who did you see? WHP WH-phrase which book, whose friend WH WH-word who, which, whose, where EWH Embedded WH- (They told us) what they wanted clause RC Relative clause NP who I know RPRO Relative pronoun who, which, whose PPL Participle (clause) VERB-ing + clause (modifier) THAT THAT-clause that + finite clause

Copyright © 2002 Rochester Institute of Technology, All Rights Reserved G. P. Berent, P. M. Brown, & B. H. Whitehead 5

SYNTACTIC CATEGORY: INFLECTIONAL PHRASE

Symbol Description Form/Structure/Explanation

IP Inflectional Phrase Inflectional portion of the clause INF Infinitive to + VERB AGR Agreement 3rd person agreement: -s TNS Tense Characterizes finite verb phrase PRS Present tense (We) take (an English course) PST Past tense (We) took (an English course) ASP Aspect progressive or perfect PROG Progressive be + VERB-ing PERF Perfect have + VERB-en NEG Negative not

Copyright © 2002 Rochester Institute of Technology, All Rights Reserved G. P. Berent, P. M. Brown, & B. H. Whitehead 6

SYNTACTIC CATEGORY: VERB PHRASE

Symbol Description Form/Structure/Explanation

VP Verb Phrase Lexical portion of Inflectional Phrase V Verb Head of VP PHRV Phrasal verb put on, get away, put up with SEP Separable phrasal put (them) on, look (it) over verb NSEP Nonseparable go over (them), get on (it) phrasal verb VCP Verb complement that-, if-, infinitive clause SC Small clause (they saw) him steal the car

Copyright © 2002 Rochester Institute of Technology, All Rights Reserved G. P. Berent, P. M. Brown, & B. H. Whitehead 7

SYNTACTIC CATEGORY: DETERMINER PHRASE

Symbol Description Form/Structure/Explanation

DP Determiner Phrase The larger "noun phrase" D Determiner Demonstrative, article, pronoun DEM Demonstrative this, that pronoun ART Article the, a, an DEF Definite article the INDF Indefinite article a, an NUM Number agreement this book, these books, boys…they SG Singular book PL Plural books PRO Personal pronoun I, you, he, she, it, they RFLX Reflexive pronoun myself, herself, themselves RCPR Reciprocal pronoun each other, one another GND Gender agreement boy…his, girl…her PERS Person agreement we…our, I…mine CASE Subject/object case I/me, he/him, she/her, they/them POSS Possessive -'s, his, her, our IT Filler IT it (seems to be true) EXP Expletive THERE there (seems to be a problem) GER Gerund (Clause) VERB-ing + clause (argument)

Copyright © 2002 Rochester Institute of Technology, All Rights Reserved G. P. Berent, P. M. Brown, & B. H. Whitehead 8

SYNTACTIC CATEGORY: NOUN PHRASE

Symbol Description Form/Structure/Explanation

NP Noun Phrase Nominal part of DP N Noun book, happiness CNT Count noun (two) chairs MASS Mass noun (some) furniture COLL Collective noun committee NCP Noun complement (fear) of heights, (news) that they were arrested, (confidence) in them

SYNTACTIC CATEGORY: ADJECTIVE PHRASE

Symbol Description Form/Structure/Explanation

AP Adjective Phrase Modifier of NP ADJ Adjective happy, blue, sarcastic INT Intensifier very, so ACP Adjective (fond) of apples, (confident) that they complement will pass, (likely) to fail

Copyright © 2002 Rochester Institute of Technology, All Rights Reserved G. P. Berent, P. M. Brown, & B. H. Whitehead 9

SYNTACTIC CATEGORY: ADVERB PHRASE

Symbol Description Form/Structure/Explanation

ADVB Adverb quickly, sometimes, soon PLC Placement Placement of adverbs or adverbial phrases

SYNTACTIC CATEGORY: QUANTIFIER PHRASE

Symbol Description Form/Structure/Explanation

QP Quantifier Phrase Expresses quantity Q Quantifier many, all, a few, three

SYNTACTIC CATEGORY: PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE

Symbol Description Form/Structure/Explanation

PP Prepositional Phrase Preposition + DP P Preposition in, above, in front of

Copyright © 2002 Rochester Institute of Technology, All Rights Reserved G. P. Berent, P. M. Brown, & B. H. Whitehead 10

SYNTACTIC CATEGORY: CONJUNCTION

Symbol Description Form/Structure/Explanation

CONJ Coordinating and, but, or, so conjunction SBRD Subordinating when, after, while, because, if, conjunction although CONN Connective however, nevertheless, on the other hand

GRAMMATICAL RELATIONS

Symbol Description Form/Structure/Explanation

SBJ Subject The student (bought a car) DO Direct object (The student bought) a car IO Indirect object (The company bought) John (a car) OPRP Object of (They took the book from) John preposition SCPL Subject complement (They left the room) happy OCPL Object complement (They left the room) a mess CPL Complement Object clause or phrase associated with a particular predicate ARG Argument Obligatory sentence constituent (subject, complement) AJCT Adjunct Optional sentence constituent (prepositional phrase of time/place)

Copyright © 2002 Rochester Institute of Technology, All Rights Reserved G. P. Berent, P. M. Brown, & B. H. Whitehead 11

MORPHOLOGICAL PROPERTIES

Symbol Description Form/Structure/Explanation

MRPH Morpheme Stem or affix NFL Inflectional Morphemes that serve grammatical functions (-s, -ed, -ing) DER Derivational Morphemes that derive new words (pre-, -ful, -able) PRE Prefix un-, re-, dis-, anti- SUF Suffix -ment, -tion, -ed, -ing CPD Compound bookshelf, air conditioner CPR Comparative -er, more + ADJ SPL Superlative -est, most + ADJ REG Regular verb play-played-played IRR Irregular verb see-saw-seen WCLS Word class Part of speech required by the syntax CNCR Concrete noun hand, table, ice ABST Abstract noun love, honor, success IDM Idiom Nonliteral expression (flipped his wig) MET Metaphor Metaphorical expression

Copyright © 2002 Rochester Institute of Technology, All Rights Reserved G. P. Berent, P. M. Brown, & B. H. Whitehead 12

SENTENCE AND VERB TYPES

Symbol Description Form/Structure/Explanation

SIM Simple sentence They passed the test CPD Compound sentence They studied but they failed the test CPLX Complex sentence They passed because they studied COND Conditional If you study, you will succeed sentence IND Indicative A sentence that makes a statement SBJN Subjunctive (I suggested that he) take (the course) INTG Interrogative A sentence that asks a question TRN Transitive (The student) bought a book INTR Intransitive (They) were sleeping COP Copular (They) are (students) DIT Ditransitive (I gave) the student a book ACT Active (They) took (the exam) PAS Passive (The exam) was taken GET GET passive (Our car) got stolen ERG Ergative (The ship) sank UNAC Unaccusative appear, fall, happen UNER Unergative walk, talk, sing MID Middle (These floors) wax (easily)

Copyright © 2002 Rochester Institute of Technology, All Rights Reserved G. P. Berent, P. M. Brown, & B. H. Whitehead 13

SEMANTIC RELATIONS

Symbol Description Form/Structure/Explanation

AG Agent The "doer" of an action PAT Patient The "undergoer" of an action THM Theme The nonhuman entity that undergoes an action or changes state EXPR Experiencer The experiencer of a mental activity or psychological state INST Instrument The thing with which an action is carried out SRC Source The location from which an action originates GOAL Goal The location to which an action is directed BEN Benefactive The entity for whose benefit an action is carried out TIME Time The time or duration of an action LOC Location The location of an action

Copyright © 2002 Rochester Institute of Technology, All Rights Reserved G. P. Berent, P. M. Brown, & B. H. Whitehead 14

INFORMATION STRUCTURE

Symbol Description Form/Structure/Explanation

TOP Topic What the sentence is about CMT Comment Information asserted about the topic OLD Old information Expression of old or given information (e.g., with a definite noun phrase) NEW New information Expression of new information (e.g., with an indefinite noun phrase) CLFT Cleft sentence It was the butler that did it WHCL WH-cleft sentence What he wanted was a new car EXT Existential THERE There appeared a strange man PRE Preposed structure As far as we were concerned, …

Copyright © 2002 Rochester Institute of Technology, All Rights Reserved G. P. Berent, P. M. Brown, & B. H. Whitehead 15

DISCOURSE PROCESSES: ORGANIZATION

Symbol Description Form/Structure/Explanation

CTXT Context Establishing a clear context DTOP Discourse topic Expression of the topic of a discourse SUP Support Supporting evidence or detail RLV Relevant The inclusion of relevant information information in a discourse LOG Logical The logical connectedness among connectedness items in a discourse SEQ Sequence The logical ordering of information in a discourse CLR Clarity Clarity of information included in a discourse SHFT Topic shift Signaling a shift in discourse topic STNS Sequence of tense (He) said (that he) knew (me) CNST Consistency Consistency of tense, mood, perspective, etc. VAR Variety Employment of a variety of lexical, syntactic, and discourse structures

Copyright © 2002 Rochester Institute of Technology, All Rights Reserved G. P. Berent, P. M. Brown, & B. H. Whitehead 16

DISCOURSE PROCESSES: COHESION

Symbol Description Form/Structure/Explanation

CT Cohesive tie Connection among discourse elements REF Reference Use of reference as a cohesive tie ANT Antecedent The item to which a referring expression (e.g., pronoun) refers LEX Lexical cohesion Use of related words as a cohesive tie REP Repetition Repetition of a word SYN Synonym A synonym SUP Superordinate A superordinate term GEN General A general term (thing, people, idea) CON Conjunction Use of conjunction as a cohesive tie ADD Additive Extension of information (and) ADV Adversative Adversative information (but) CAUS Causative Causal information (because) TEMP Temporal Temporal information (then) SUB Substitution Substitution with one, so, do, etc. ELL Ellipsis Use of omitted elements as a cohesive tie NOM Nominal (ellipsis) Ellipsis of a nominal element VERB Verbal (ellipsis) Ellipsis of a verbal element CL Clausal (ellipsis) Ellipsis of a clausal element

Copyright © 2002 Rochester Institute of Technology, All Rights Reserved G. P. Berent, P. M. Brown, & B. H. Whitehead 17

DISCOURSE PROCESSES: PERSPECTIVE

Symbol Description Form/Structure/Explanation

PRSP Perspective Orientation or point of view of the communicator FOR Forward pronominal Referring pronoun follows its reference antecedent BACK Backward Referring pronoun precedes its pronominal antecedent reference OUT Outward reference Reference to shared knowledge or an item outside the discourse FRGR Foregrounding Giving prominence to current discourse information BKGR Backgrounding Referring back to background information TIME Time Using time markers for orientation PLAC Place Using place markers for orientation QUOT Quotation Use of direct quotation RPSP Reported speech Use of reported speech QUER Contingent query Use of a question to repair communication RGTR Register Use of the appropriate discourse register

Copyright © 2002 Rochester Institute of Technology, All Rights Reserved G. P. Berent, P. M. Brown, & B. H. Whitehead 18

RHETORICAL DEVICES

Symbol Description Form/Structure/Explanation

NTRO Introduction Providing an introduction to a text BODY Body Providing a body to a text CNCL Conclusion Providing a conclusion to a text DEV Development Sufficient development of ideas TOPS Topic sentence Including a topic sentence for a paragraph TRNS Transition Using transitional devices NAR Narrative Developing a narrative DESC Description Developing a description EXPL Explanation Developing an explanation CAUS Cause-effect Expressing cause-effect relations PROC Process Describing a process ARGT Argument Developing an argument CPSN Comparison Comparing and contrasting

MECHANICS AND PUNCTUATION

Symbol Description Form/Structure/Explanation

SP Spelling Conventional spelling usage PUNC Punctuation Correct use of punctuation PAR Paragraphing Appropriate paragraphing

Copyright © 2002 Rochester Institute of Technology, All Rights Reserved