This early-stage feasibility study investigated the effects of a multitiered oral narrative language intervention on oral language, reading comprehension, and writing. Twenty-eight second-grade students participated in this quasi-experimental control group study with assignment at the classroom level. The independent variable was large- and…

The article examines the social-academic nature of storytelling, reviews studies of narrative ability of learning disabled students, and offers suggestions for developing narratives in the classroom setting. (CL)

Using an anthropological approach to folklore, the article views children's development of fictional narratives as performances that accentuate prosody. When viewed as performance, the meaning of stories is seen to be not just in the underlying structures, but also in the social and cultural contexts of the story. (Author/DB)

The article explores the development of children's understanding of causality, its effect on narrative development and organization; and the development of intentional, goal directed behavior. (Author/DB)

The literature on oral narrative comprehension, memory, and production abilities of language-learning-disabled students is reviewed. The relationship of these abilities to academic success is noted. (Author/DB)

An Athabaskan narrative, told by a village storyteller to two native students (one with language-learning disability and mild hearing loss) was studied. Analysis of prosodic and structural patterns revealed a spatially rather than temporally organized narrative. The assessment method was felt to be sensitive to interfaces between cultural…

The difficulties hearing impaired students experience in acquiring the conceptual information underlying narratives is discussed in terms of schemata development and the role of incidental learning. Principles for teaching concepts and labels, elaborating the schema, using questions to fill in conceptual gaps, and using imaginary play and…

The literature on how children begin understanding subjectivity and point of view in fictional stories is considered. Examination of the oral stories of a five-year-old child indicated the ability to depict the beliefs, intentions, feelings, and perceptions of the story characters. Implications for assessment and interventions to help children…

After describing the principles of culturally compatible education, the characteristics of Native American and mainstream narrative discourse are compared, and teaching the structure, content, and style of mainstream narratives is advocated. A program designed to facilitate Native American elementary school children's abilities to comprehend and…