T-unit
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In linguistics,
the term T-unit was coined by Hunt in 1965.[1]
It is defined as the "shortest grammatically allowable sentences
into which (writing can be split) or minimally terminable
unit", and thus is often but not always a sentence.
More technically, a T-unit is a dominant clause
and its dependent clauses, as Hunt said "one main clause
with all subordinate clauses attached to it" (Hunt 1965:20).
T-units are often used in the analysis of written and spoken
discourse, for example in studies on errors in second language
writing. The number of error free T-units may be counted,
as in Robb et al. (1986),[2]
or changes in accuracy per T-unit over drafts of compositions
may be measured (Sachs and Polio, 2007).[3]
Young (1995)[4]
gives some examples of what a T-unit is and is not:
"The following elements were counted as one T-unit: a
single clause, a matrix plus subordinate clause, two or
more phrases in apposition, and fragments of clauses produced
by ellipsis. Co-ordinate clauses were counted as two t-units.
Elements not counted as t-units include back channel cues
such as mhm and yeah, and discourse boundary markers such
as okay, thanks or good. False starts were integrated
into the following t-unit." (Young 1995:38)
References
- ^
Hunt, K. (1965). Grammatical
structures written at three grade levels. NCTE Research
report No. 3. Champaign, IL, USA: NCTE.
- ^
Robb, T., Ross, S., & Shortreed, I. (1986). Salience
of feedback on error and its effect on EFL writing quality.
TESOL Quarterly, 20, 83–93.
- ^
Sachs, R. and Polio, C. (2007).Learners'
uses of two types of written feedback on a L2 writing
revision task. Studies in Second Language Acquisition,
29:67-100.
- ^
Young, R. (1995). Conversational
Styles in Language Proficiency Interviews. Language
Learning 45/1:3–42.
See also
External links
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-unit
Published - December 2008
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