Why Teach Complex Sentence Structure?

Are you teaching complex sentence structure? How important is it really?!

One of the most essential language goals for children is to understand and express the form of language, especially complex sentence structure.  Conjunctions in complex sentences should be explicitly taught when a language deficit is evident.  Complex sentence activities that are thoughtfully formatted will help support this instruction.  One type of complex sentence structure involves the use of subordinating conjunctions.

 

As children grow and develop language, the demands on language proficiency increase exponentially. The requirement for understanding grade-level text and participating in academic conversations is critical.  Comprehending and expressing complex sentences both orally and in written form is also expected. “A child’s oral language and, specifically, listening comprehension abilities are a major determinant of reading comprehension” (Kamhi & Catts, 2012).

 

Conjunctions placed before or between two complete ideas help define the meaning of complex sentences.  Subordinating conjunctions can relay the following concepts, to name a few:

Time (after, since, before)

Reason (because, since, in order to)

Comparison (but, however, as well as)

 

Higher-level thought and logic require the brain to hold and sequence ideas.  Single ideas or sentences are combined and expressed through complex sentence forms for a cohesive flow of information.

 

Learning the form of language helps children increase both receptive and expressive language and reading and writing proficiency!

 

Take a look at a couple of my complex sentence exercises that can support teaching subordinating conjunctions.  They are interactive, dynamic, self-grading, and no prep/no print! 🙂

Subordinating Conjunctions in Complex Sentences- Time Relationships

Subordinating Conjunctions in Complex Sentences- Reasoning

 

Aside from the online digital versions, I have also created these resources in printable pdf forms  that take very little time to prep. Take a look at this video. You can find these in my TpT store.

 

Thanks for Reading