Studied aspects of listening comprehension skills in 107 second, fourth, and sixth graders in Finland using the Sentence Verification technique. Findings, comparable with previous research, show age-related improvement in listening comprehension for narrative, but not expository, passages. Cluster analysis produced four comprehension strategies.…

Follows particular parallels between oralist and electronic mediation to explore narrative or storytelling as a rhetorical form that transcends mediation. Reviews how writing-based cognition may bind progress in rhetorical practice and theory. Examines how narrative is media-transcendent. Reflects on the nature of media shifts. (SR)

Compares undergraduates' preference for and performance with traditional and narrative text. Explores whether traditional expository text could be translated into the narrative mode without loss in student learning. Conducts a statistical analysis of students scores on quizzes, examinations, and a questionnaire. Finds that the narrative is more…

Performs a Burkean analysis of Russell H. Conwell's once famous speech, "Acres of Diamonds." Reveals that Conwell's success relied upon a masterful transformation of pentadic ratios, in the medium of the "true-life" success story. Illustrates this narrative's power in altering an audience's perception of its role in a greater…

This annotated bibliography represents a core collection of reference sources on American folklore. In addition to general references, genre specific reference sources are listed in the following areas: folk narrative; folk music; customary folklore; material culture; ethnic and regional bibliographies; and applied folklore. (39 references) (CLB)

Argues that Toni Morrison's fiction encourages the reexamination of the relationship between the narrative structures of oral storytelling and those of the modern novel. Demonstrates how Morrison creatively draws on oral and literate language and memory. (HB)

Studies the construction of coherent narrations of events in a picture storybook by children and adults. Applies a causal network discourse analysis. Analyzes the structure and content of the network representation of the main character. Reveals differences in content and structure of the narratives. (HB)

Studies the role of four rhetorical elements in generating shared meaning in two different samples of public relations writing. Finds that narratives were particularly important because they provided a comprehensive, compelling framework for belief and thus contributed greatly to the shared meaning created by writers and readers. (SR)

Investigates whether spatial situation models are constructed in naturalistic story comprehension. Claims that, during normal reading, readers are not very much engaged in constructing, maintaining, and updating a spatial situation model. (HB)

Explores four views of the role of interclausal connectives as a set of linguistic devices that help the reader interpret a narrative text. Finds that interclausal connectives carry meaning, connect textual meaning at both local and global levels, and mark discourse continuity and discontinuity both in the text and as inferred by the reader. (SR)

Comparison of the narratives of 16 children with word-finding problems and 16 normal children (grades 1-6) found that children with word-finding disorders did not differ in language productivity but manifested significantly more word-finding characteristics in their narratives. Implications for assessment and intervention are discussed. (Author/DB)

Stories were elicited from 20 closed-head-injured children (ages 100 to 194 months) and matched nonneurologically impaired accident victims. No significant differences were found between the groups on any of the measures of narrative ability (story grammar and intersentential cohesion). (Author/DB)

Narrative provides a lens for viewing both teacher thinking and teacher education. This article draws on teacher narratives from three separate studies. The emerging stories suggest that naturalistic inquiry provides insight into teacher-child interaction. The narratives reveal aspects of teachers' past and present lives and reflect the social and…

Describes the way one English teacher used a variety of stories to introduce students to the conventions of narrative fiction. Shows how students can be taught how great narrative artists manipulate the emotions of their audiences. (HB)

Describes how a writing teacher has his students write about one object in the four modes (description, narration, argumentation, and exposition) as a means of learning about writing and writing to learn. Suggests that students learn about their topics when they write about them in the four modes. (SR)