Analyzes radio program in which host Garrison Keillor fabricates fictional community of Lake Wobegon, thus addressing another fabricated community, the baby boomers. Concludes Keillor's persona moves from nostalgia and bitterness to acceptance of conditions of community, reflecting and encouraging a passive, uncritical approach toward community…

Communication breakdowns occurring in the speech of seven language learning-disabled children (aged 9-11) were examined in conversation and narration and compared to normal peers. Length of communication unit and rate of communication breakdowns per communication unit were greater in narration than conversation compared to controls. No differences…

Notes that although fiction writing is a somewhat problematic part of upper elementary/middle school writing, it is important for children to be able to compose good fiction. Suggests two methods to benefit young writers: (1) expose them to a wide range of good fiction, and (2) preserve their right to create personal fictions. (NH)

Presents some of the general goals in story grammar research and examines its major issues. Then describes a study in which the effects of text content and order on narrative recall were investigated in intermediate and advanced readers of English as a foreign language. (SED)

Reports the results of a study showing that one stylistic feature, the inclusion of connectives other than "and/then" is a good predictor of explanation in five- to ten-year-olds, but a straightforward lack of linguistic resources is not necessarily what limits older children's achievement of explanatory narrative. (HTH)

Examines how students' difficulty in understanding Chaucer stems from differences between modern and medieval assumptions about the function and method of narrative. (CRH)

This book tells the story of Tunxis Community College (Connecticut), which exemplifies the changes seen in higher education across America since the 1960s. The College, created in 1970, is part of Connecticut's public college system. The author discusses Tunxis' factual history, and presents a collection of "voices" of the people who fashioned a…

This paper examines the impact of storytelling in educational venues. Specifically, the paper compares data and findings from four ethnographic, qualitative, arts-based studies that examined either students' or teachers' reactions to oral narration in classroom settings. It suggests that, through stories and storytelling, people are exposed to…

Describes a University of Idaho pilot program in communication skills (at McSorley School, Lewiston, Idaho) enabling first and second graders to dictate narrations about their experiences into cassette recorders. (SW)

Reveals that fourth-grade children were able to tell the differences between expository and narrative text but still needed guidance in how to read the two types of materials best. (FL)

Offers a supplementary approach to teaching literacy narratives that builds on the work of M. Soliday and others but is centered in student production. Outlines specific strategies for teaching the literacy narrative in the first-year composition classroom. Discusses possible benefits of teaching the student production of literacy narratives.…

This study used dependency analysis to document and describe the narrative discourse impairments of 10 children (mean age 12) and 10 adults (mean age 35) with traumatic brain injury (TBI), and matched controls. Individuals with TBI were significantly more disfluent than controls and their narrative performance required a significant listener…

Teaching strategies that overcome the brain's natural tendency to limit information can open students' minds to new ideas and creative mental habits. Seven strategies to provoke divergent thinking and deepen understanding are hypothetical thinking, reversal, application of different symbol systems, analogy, viewpoint analysis, completion, and web…

Investigates whether systematic links exist between young school-aged children's awareness of others' communicative intentions and early descriptive-expository and narrative writing proficiency. Young children were shown a directive speech act in a puppet-played scenario, and an interview determined the types of communicative intention attributed…