Can Grammar Graphics Impact Grammar Knowledge and Collegiate Writing?
Mark Zablocki
Department of Special Education • Illinois State University
Department of Special Education • Illinois State University

Dr. Mark Zablocki is an assistant professor in the Department of Special Education and a Chicago native. He obtained his Ph.D. in special education from the University of Maryland in 2009 where he was also a research associate for the National Center for Education, Disability and Juvenile Justice (EDJJ). Prior to that he spent 10 years as a special educator in K-12 public schools. His research interests include literacy instruction for at-risk youth, urban education, the school-to-prison pipeline, and teacher preparation.
Christy Borders
Department of Special Education • Illinois State University
Department of Special Education • Illinois State University

Dr. Christy Borders received her Ed.D. in Special Education from the University of Cincinnati in 2009. Christy has spent considerable time identifying gaps in literature and potential interventions for use with the population of students who are deaf/hard of hearing (D/HH) with additional disabilities, particularly autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Her research stems from personal classroom and clinical experiences that involved this particular population. Christy has extensive academic and clinical experience and training with over 10 years of clinical, classroom, and administrative experience working with D/HH students with disabilities.
Carrie Anna Courtad
Department of Special Education • Illinois State University
Department of Special Education • Illinois State University

Dr. Carrie Anna Courtad is an Associate Professor in the Department of Special Education at Illinois State University. Prior to pursuing a career in academia, she was a classroom teacher for 10 years, six of those years in Austin Independent School District, working with middle school students with disabilities in a high poverty, inner-city school. Carrie Anna completed her PhD at Michigan State University where she was a Special Education Technology Scholar (SETS). Her areas of interest include preservice teacher preparation, assistive technology, literacy and policy.
Stacey Jones Bock
Department of Special Education • Illinois State University
Department of Special Education • Illinois State University

Dr. Stacey Jones Bock has spent the past 20 years researching the area of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and supporting children and youth and their families. Her formal training in ASD came from the University of Kansas where upon completion of her dissertation, she coauthored the Asperger Syndrome Diagnostic Scale in 2000. In the past five years she has spent a great deal of time expanding her research to children and youth with a comorbid diagnosis of ASD and hearing loss. Her passion for the area came from supporting children with a dual diagnosis, their teachers, and their families.
Grammar Graphics is a visual system for teaching English syntax. It has the potential to influence ways in which teacher candidates may teach grammar to their K-12 students in the future as well impact their own syntactic knowledge. This system teaches visual symbols for each part of speech with rationale for the symbol itself. We investigated the impact of explicit instruction in grammar with Grammar Graphics on teacher candidate knowledge of syntax as well as their confidence to instruct their future K-12 students in grammar. We further assessed the impact of explicit instruction in grammar with Grammar Graphics on collegiate writing.
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