Two speech perception experiments were conducted with 12 normally hearing adults using a modified speech tracking procedure to determine the effects of controlling connected discourse materials and the effects of specific prompting techniques on tracking rate and subjects' responses. Results showed higher tracking rates for controlled materials.…

Reviews network telecasts of the 1984 nominating conventions from the perspective of the narrative paradigm. Indicates that ABC, CBS, and NBC each provided a distinct narrative. (JK)

Presents an evaluation of the Houghton Mifflin and Scott Foresman Reading Programs which reveals that stories in both of these series satisfy the requirements of a conventional story grammar. Suggests that such stories help children comprehend and remember the stories they process and serve as excellent models of narrative. (ARH)

Offers perspectives on the environment as an expression of personal and cultural elements. Philosophically develops the concepts of home, place, and story. Also suggests that dimensions of historical interpretation, cultural ecology, and study of the future be included in environmental education programs. (ML)

Explores the surface structure observed in Japanese and English spontaneous oral narratives from the perspective of subject and theme. Although both the Japanese and the English narratives employ participant identification as a major cohesive ingredient, how referring forms are used and how they contribute to discourse organization differ. (SED)

Focuses on the narrative function to show how children can build on another speaker's turns in conversation and can build on their own utterances as they speak. Analyzes children's dialogs and narratives to highlight the primacy of the oral language arts as they are enacted in daily conversation and play. (HTH)

Based on the sources, this reconstruction of a conversation that might have been will give students a valuable insight into the causes of the American Revolution. Included are a student study guide and a suggested quiz. (Author)

Focuses on American Indian and Afro-American oral tradition to explore the substance and potential pedagogic value of American oral literature. Stresses the literary value of modern folk literature, including popular songs and rhetoric. (Author/JB)

Suggests that research on the structure of narrative promises to yield practical benefits for the literature curriculum. (JL)

Seminar participants discuss the novel "Ceremony" as a curing ceremony, the function of memory in the novel, and the distinctly American Indian aspects of the novel (role of animals, circular images, ritual, mythology, Laguna cultural traditions, and use of oral tradition). (CM)

David, a 12-year-old without arms or legs, integrated himself gradually into the author's primary class through his determination to do a science project. Together, David, his father, and his teacher solved the logistical problems and built the apparatus David needed for full-time regular class work. (SJL)

Examines a corpus of narratives produced by preschool children, and focuses on differences among the three age groups with respect to: (1) complexity, (2) the relationship between story elements and the discursive context, (3) relationship between story elements and extralinguistic context, and (4) shaping of the narrative as story and as part of…