In education, a sentence starter is a word or phrase used at the beginning of a sentence to help students structure their writing, connect ideas, and express thoughts clearly. Building on the general definition, a sentence starter is a quick word or phrase at the beginning of a sentence to help the reader transition.
Understanding Sentence Starters
Sentence starters serve as valuable tools in the educational setting, particularly for developing writers or those needing support in organizing their ideas. They act as prompts that guide students on how to begin a sentence, often indicating the relationship between that sentence and the ones before it.
Without these transitional elements, as highlighted in the reference, writing can become disorganized, disconnected, and difficult for the reader (or teacher) to follow.
Why Are Sentence Starters Used in Education?
Educators utilize sentence starters for several key reasons:
- Scaffolding Writing: They provide a framework, especially for students who struggle with starting sentences or organizing complex thoughts.
- Improving Cohesion: They help students create smooth transitions between sentences and paragraphs, making their writing flow better.
- Teaching Specific Skills: They can be used to teach students how to express comparison ("Similarly, ..."), contrast ("However, ..."), cause and effect ("Consequently, ..."), provide evidence ("According to...", "For example, ..."), or conclude ("In summary, ...").
- Enhancing Clarity: By guiding sentence structure, they help students articulate their ideas more precisely.
- Supporting Diverse Learners: They are particularly beneficial for English Language Learners (ELLs) and students with writing difficulties, providing concrete structures to follow.
Examples of Sentence Starters in Educational Contexts
The specific sentence starters used depend on the writing task or the skill being taught. Here are some common examples:
Table of Common Sentence Starter Types
| Purpose | Example Sentence Starters |
|---|---|
| Introducing Ideas | In my opinion,..., I believe that..., It seems that... |
| Adding Information | Furthermore,..., Moreover,..., In addition,... |
| Showing Contrast | However,..., On the other hand,..., Unlike... |
| Indicating Cause/Effect | Because of this,..., As a result,..., Therefore,... |
| Giving Examples | For example,..., For instance,..., Such as... |
| Summarizing | In conclusion,..., To summarize,..., Overall,... |
Practical Application
Educators might provide lists of sentence starters, use them on anchor charts, or integrate them into writing rubrics. Students learn which starters are appropriate for different purposes and develop the skill of selecting them effectively. While knowing which ones to add—and when—is not always obvious initially, practice with sentence starters helps students internalize these structures.
Sentence starters are essentially linguistic training wheels that support students as they learn to build more complex, coherent, and well-organized written arguments and explanations.
