This study examined the relationship of holistic scoring with handwriting legibility, spelling accuracy and number of T-units within compositions written by children in grades 3 through 6 using path analysis. A sample of 223 compositions was rated for handwriting legibility and composition quality, and coded for number of T-units and percentage of accurately spelled words. Number of T-units was consistently the strongest predictor of holistic scoring across the four grade levels. Handwriting legibility and spelling accuracy yielded varying results in different grade levels.

Female students have long had a perceived advantage over male students in second language ac-quisition. In Swedish schools, the girls have outperformed the boys in the subject of English since the end of the Second World War, but the female students’ edge over the male students has diminished considerably over time. This essay aims to find out if there are any differences in lin-guistic ability between the two genders. The study uses a T-unit based syntax analysis in order to quantify the level of syntactic maturity that Swedish high school students possess, using data drawn from the Uppsala Learner English Corpus. Furthermore, the study aims to research gen-der-based stylistic differences and risk-taking behavior in the student’s writing. The results show that there are differences in syntactic maturity between the genders, as the female students in junior high school and the male students in senior high school outperform their respective counterparts, particularly in the indices based on error-free T-units. In addition, there are also stylistic disparities, as the female students have a greater focus on personalized ac-counts in their writing and the male students in junior high school have a very sparse and concise style of writing. The conclusion is drawn that while there are differences in syntactic maturity between boys and girls, the syntactic indices cannot accurately display the sophistication of the students’ writing and consequently should only be used in conjunction with more qualitative measures. Finally, while the study is not able to discern risk-taking in the students’ writing, the author concludes that risk-taking is an important factor in second language acquisition, especially considering the fact that the Swedish curricula in junior and senior high school English have a strong focus on communicative competence.

This study examined the relationship of holistic scoring with handwriting legibility, spelling accuracy and number of T-units within compositions written by children in grades 3 through 6 using path analysis. A sample of 223 compositions was rated for handwriting legibility and composition quality, and coded for number of T-units and percentage of accurately spelled words. Number of T-units was consistently the strongest predictor of holistic scoring across the four grade levels. Handwriting legibility and spelling accuracy yielded varying results in different grade levels.

This paper is a study of the noun phrase construction in L2 learner language and the base for the study are the tools for measuring syntactic maturity presented by Kellog W. Hunt (1966). Hunt and other scholars have used T-units, the smallest terminable unit in language, to analyze L2 learner language. This study however, analyzes the construction of the noun phrase instead of T-units. Although the focus differs there are many similarities between the method used in this study and in those analyzing T-units. This means that the study tries to create indexes which we can use as tools for measuring syntactic maturity and complexity among L2 learners, by measuring consolidation and postmodification. The outcome of the study shows that it is possible to measure consolidation of the noun phrase and that this figure may very well function as a tool for measuring language development. Furthermore this paper investigates opportunities for teachers to teach syntax and concludes that there are ways of improving L2 teaching by utilizing knowledge about L2 learner syntax.

<p>Skrivning är en biomekaniskt invecklad process som kräver en viss nivå av såväl motorisksom kognitiv förmåga. Forskning om Alzheimers sjukdom tyder på att nedsättningar i flerakognitiva domäner förekommer innan den kliniska diagnosen ställs. Det finns även forskningsom tyder på att ett innehållsrikt skriftspråk i unga år minskar risken för demensutveckling påäldre dagar. För att studera om mått från texter kunde predicera demens på ett tidigt stadiumanalyserades 141 skriftliga bildbeskrivningar insamlade inom ramen för rutinmässigaminnesutredningar vid Karolinska universitetssjukhuset, Huddinge. Deltagarna delades in itre grupper utifrån diagnos (minnesutredning, lindrig kognitiv svikt och demens).Utgångspunkt för studien var de fyra textmåtten: idétäthet, verbtäthet, läsbarhetsindex (LIX)och T-enheter. Då texterna i de flesta fall var skrivna av personer med kognitiv nedsättninghar måtten varit tvungna att modifieras och särskilda instruktioner för bedömning av texternahar utformats. Resultaten tyder på att skriftliga bildbeskrivningar utförda av individer meddemens innehåller färre totalt antal ord än de skrivna av individer diagnostiserade medlindrig kognitiv svikt eller mindre svårigheter än så. De innehåller även färre propositioner,verb, långa ord, T-enheter, ord per T-enhet, har en kortare meningslängd samt har i snitt ettlägre LIX-värde. En logistisk regressionsanalys visade att demens (kontra minnesutredningarmed subjektiva besvär) predicerades signifikant (p < 0.01) av antalet verb samt av LIXvärdet.Totalt 85 % av fallen klassificerades korrekt.</p> / <p>Writing is a biomechanically complex process which demands a certain level of motor aswell as cognitive ability. Research concerning Alzheimer’s disease shows that impairmentsin multiple cognitive domains are notable before a clinical diagnosis can be made. There isalso research which indicates that written language ability in early life predicts the risk ofdementia in old age. The purpose of this study was to analyze whether measures derivedfrom narrative writing could predict dementia cross-sectionally. The material was 141 writtenpicture descriptions collected during routine investigations of cognitive disorders at theMemory Clinic, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm. The participants were classifiedinto three groups based on their diagnosis (subjective memory complaints, mild cognitiveimpairment and dementia). This study was based essentially on the four text measures: ideadensity, verb density, index of readability (LIX) and T-unit. As most of the texts were writtenby participants with some degree of cognitive decline the measures had to be modified tosome extent and detailed scoring protocols were worked out. The results indicate that writtenpicture descriptions made by individuals with dementia contained fewer words than thosewritten by individuals diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment or subjective cognitivecomplaints. They also contained fewer propositions, verbs, long words, T-units, words per Tunit,had a shorter mean sentence length and had a lower average LIX-value. A logisticregression analysis showed that cases of dementia, as opposed to subjective cognitivecomplaints, were significally predicted (p < 0.01) by the number of verbs and also by theLIX-value. Overall, 85 % of the cases were correctly classified.</p>

Skrivning är en biomekaniskt invecklad process som kräver en viss nivå av såväl motorisksom kognitiv förmåga. Forskning om Alzheimers sjukdom tyder på att nedsättningar i flerakognitiva domäner förekommer innan den kliniska diagnosen ställs. Det finns även forskningsom tyder på att ett innehållsrikt skriftspråk i unga år minskar risken för demensutveckling påäldre dagar. För att studera om mått från texter kunde predicera demens på ett tidigt stadiumanalyserades 141 skriftliga bildbeskrivningar insamlade inom ramen för rutinmässigaminnesutredningar vid Karolinska universitetssjukhuset, Huddinge. Deltagarna delades in itre grupper utifrån diagnos (minnesutredning, lindrig kognitiv svikt och demens).Utgångspunkt för studien var de fyra textmåtten: idétäthet, verbtäthet, läsbarhetsindex (LIX)och T-enheter. Då texterna i de flesta fall var skrivna av personer med kognitiv nedsättninghar måtten varit tvungna att modifieras och särskilda instruktioner för bedömning av texternahar utformats. Resultaten tyder på att skriftliga bildbeskrivningar utförda av individer meddemens innehåller färre totalt antal ord än de skrivna av individer diagnostiserade medlindrig kognitiv svikt eller mindre svårigheter än så. De innehåller även färre propositioner,verb, långa ord, T-enheter, ord per T-enhet, har en kortare meningslängd samt har i snitt ettlägre LIX-värde. En logistisk regressionsanalys visade att demens (kontra minnesutredningarmed subjektiva besvär) predicerades signifikant (p &lt; 0.01) av antalet verb samt av LIXvärdet.Totalt 85 % av fallen klassificerades korrekt. / Writing is a biomechanically complex process which demands a certain level of motor aswell as cognitive ability. Research concerning Alzheimer’s disease shows that impairmentsin multiple cognitive domains are notable before a clinical diagnosis can be made. There isalso research which indicates that written language ability in early life predicts the risk ofdementia in old age. The purpose of this study was to analyze whether measures derivedfrom narrative writing could predict dementia cross-sectionally. The material was 141 writtenpicture descriptions collected during routine investigations of cognitive disorders at theMemory Clinic, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm. The participants were classifiedinto three groups based on their diagnosis (subjective memory complaints, mild cognitiveimpairment and dementia). This study was based essentially on the four text measures: ideadensity, verb density, index of readability (LIX) and T-unit. As most of the texts were writtenby participants with some degree of cognitive decline the measures had to be modified tosome extent and detailed scoring protocols were worked out. The results indicate that writtenpicture descriptions made by individuals with dementia contained fewer words than thosewritten by individuals diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment or subjective cognitivecomplaints. They also contained fewer propositions, verbs, long words, T-units, words per Tunit,had a shorter mean sentence length and had a lower average LIX-value. A logisticregression analysis showed that cases of dementia, as opposed to subjective cognitivecomplaints, were significally predicted (p &lt; 0.01) by the number of verbs and also by theLIX-value. Overall, 85 % of the cases were correctly classified.