See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/248844829

Narrative Assessment: Coherence, Cohesion, and Captivation

Article  in  Perspectives on Language Learning and Education · October 2001

DOI: 10.1044/lle8.2.11

CITATIONS READS
5 745

1 author:

Teresa Ukrainetz
Utah State University
41 PUBLICATIONS   1,325 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

Phonological Awareness View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Teresa Ukrainetz on 07 March 2019.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 Language Learning and Education
Language Learning
b. results of standardized
tests are well-normed and
thus can be used to document
impairment.
c. allows for evaluation of
many aspects of language
competence.
d. a and c.
e. all of the above.
2. When eliciting narrative samples
from preschool age children,
which of the following methods
is more likely to yield useful oral
samples?
a. Asking the child to retell a
fictional story you just told her
or him
b. Requesting an account of
the child's recent vacation trip
c. Asking the child to tell
about a recently seen movie
Narrative Assessment: Coherence, Cohesion, and Captivation
Teresa A. Ukrainetz
University of Wyoming, Larammie
Narrative is a complex discourse
unit, not fully captured with any one
analysis approach. Story grammar,
cohesion, high point, and support
perspectiveswill be described. Utter-
ance length, vocabulary, and
morphosyntax can be evaluated in a
narrative context, but here they are
only considered in relation to how
they contribute to narrative structure
and quality.
Delimiting and Eliciting
Narrative
Narrative, unlike exposition, has
fairly clear limits. Narrative is the
verbal recapitulation of past experi-
ences, real or imaginary (Labov, 1972;
Lahey, 1988). Narrative has a tempo-
ral organization; an agentive, goal-
oriented focus (Longacre, 1983); and
the expression of the stance of the
teller to the event (Labov, 1972). Nar-
rative is a recount of a specific life
event (Once, Johnny and I were...). It is
neither an event script (Birthday par-
Downloaded From: http://sig1perspectives.pubs.asha.org/ by University of Wyoming - Libraries, Teresa Ukrainetz on 12/15/2015
Terms of Use: http://pubs.asha.org/ss/rights_and_permissions.aspx
11
11
d. Telling a brief personal
experience, then asking "Has
anything like that ever hap-
pened to you?"
3. Basic areas of analysis for any
narrative sample should include
a. a mean length of utterance
and subordination index.
b. length of narrative and
holistic judgment of overall
structural adequacy or quality.
c. storystructurelevel.
d.
high point analysis.
e. none of the above.
4. Narrative macrostructure
a. refers to an overall struc-
tural or organizational
framework that speakers
adhere to when forming a unit
of narrative discourse.
ties typically ...) nor a commentary on a
current event (He shoots, he scores!).
There are myriad narrative elici-
tation possibilities. A child's narra-
tive performance can be influenced
considerably by the context, so one
should obtain two narratives in dif-
ferent ways. In addition, using the
same elicitation methods across chil-
dren allows for a normative sense of
performance. Story starters (It was a
darkandgloomy night...), prompts (Tell
me about a scary time you had) and
intriguing pictures provide maximal
space for independent performance
and creativity. Story retelling immedi-
ately after hearing the novel narra-
tive,fairytale retelling, and storybook
picture narration provide structural
support, resulting in more uniform,
and oftenlonger, narratives. A testing
atmosphere can inhibit storytelling,
and personal inspiration can im-
prove it.
A note on genre: what one in-
tends to elicit is not necessarily what Peterson and McCabe (1983) and
October 2001
October 2001
b. can be ratedholistically.
c. can be
dynamically as-
sessed if needed.
d. all of the above.
5. Assessment of written narratives
allows the clinician to
a. note features at the literate-
style end of the oral-to-literate
continuum.
b. determine macrostructure
features and deficits.
c. analyze microstructure
features such as linguistic
complexity and cohesion.
d. follow-up with dynamic
assessment to determine adult
support needed for learning.
e. all of the above.
is obtained from the child. A child
may interpret a narrative task as a
description task. Pictures without
complications or picture sequence
cards can lead to this. Markers of nar-
rative genre such as story openings,
past tense, or story intonation may
cue the listener to the child's perceived
genre. The first frog story in Figure 1
is only a description, but there are two
genre cues that indicate the child in-
tended to tell a story: the setting-like
opener and the past tense verbs.
Story Grammar
Analysis
Story grammaranalysis provides
information about the episodic orga-
nization and causal relations of
propositions in a text (Mandler &
Johnson, 1977; Stein & Glenn, 1979). It
is oriented toward describing the
protagonist's goals, efforts to achieve
them, and the outcomes of such ef-
forts. This synopsis is based on
Lahey (1988).
 Language Learning and
Language
Education
Learning and Education
12
12 October 2001
October

2001~~~~~~~~~~~
Preschoolers' narratives are not re-ordered without significantly ments are exemplified in the two Frog
episodically organized. They may changing the text meaning. An ex- Where Are You? stories (Figure 1). The
only be a collection of labels, or state- ample of a descriptive sequence is firsthas: (S) setting, (C) complication,
ments about actions (He is running) found inthe first frogstory (Figure 1), (A) attempt, and (CO) consequence.
and states (Heishungry). Such collec- where the boy, the dog, and the frog The second has (S) setting, (C) compli-
tions are called descriptive sequences could have caught the fish in any cation, (A) two attempts, (P) plan, (R)
(Table 1). A test of a descriptive se- order. The next level of narrative com- reaction, and (CO) consequence. In
quence is that the statements can be plexity is an action sequence. Such both stories, the setting is barely there,
texts have a chronology, demonstrated with a single statement about the ha-
in the sec- bitual condition of a boy having a
Table 1. Non-episodic sequences ond frog frog. The complication in the second
sLioy trig- story is fairly well developed; it is
Structure Descrption ure 1) with three lines long, with details about
Descrptive Sequence boy
set of thematically united utterances the where the frog went and how fast he
Action Sequence chronological list of actions
finding a disappeared. The consequence inboth
frog, his stories is sparse, with no expression
Reaction Sequence automatic causal relations taking it of relief at finding the pet or warnings
home, it about leaving home again. Not all
Note: Based on Peterson and McCabe (1983) and Lahey (1988). multiply- statements in a story have an episodic
ing, and role, some are states or actions that
him keep- add descriptive elements to the story
Figure 1. Second grader stories collected for McFadden ing the all or move the action along.
(1998), based on the covers of Mercer Mayer books the frogs. Classifying a statement as a par-
(NY: Dial Books). Thehighest ticular episodic element requires
sequence is
a reaction analysis of the role of the statement in
the narrative. In the final Frog story
1) A Boy, A Dog, A Frog, and A Friend sequence,
One day a boy and a dog and a frog and a friend were fishing. which oc- (Figure 1), "very, very creepy" is a
The boy caught one fish. curs when
reaction. However, in another story it
The dog caught two. could be a motivating state to seek
and the frog caught none. causality is another route or a setting statement
2) One Frog Too Many. present but about the forest. Utterances can some-
Once there was a boy. there is no
times beviewed inmore thanone way,
He loved to play in the pond right across from his house. agent seek-
One day he was playing in the pond. ing to re- especially where there are two agents
And he found a frog. solve the operating in the story. In the Revenge
And he took it home and put it in his room and went to eat dinner. complica- story (Figure 2 on page 13), the ants'
He went back to his room. tion (The attempt to redress the dress insult by
And there were frogs jumping everywhere.
And he kept all the frogs. rock crushed biting is at the same time a complica-
tion for the people. Statements that
3) Frog Where Are You? thefrog. The look like complications may be only
Once there was a boy, a dog, and a frog. S frog died.) actions if the characters do not view
Once the frog left. C Epi - them as needing remedy, such as the
And he went into the forest.
And the boy kept looking for him. sodic orga- frog mysteriously multiplying in the
A nization is
And then finally the frog came out. CO second frog story. Finally, children
And they all went home. the central often lack explicitness, such as in the
4) Frog, Where Are You? aspect of third frog story, where the conse-
A boy had a frog.
The frog jumped off.
S story gram- quence would be more clearly linked
He went into some trees.
C mar analy- to the attempt if the narrator said,
sis. Table 2 "And so the boy found his frog."
In a minute he was no longer in sight. on page 13
The boy called and called for him. A There are several levels of epi-
And then he saw that his frog had took a scary path. shows the
So he decided to take the scary path. elements sodic elaboration (Table 3). An epi-
p sode is composed minimally of a com-
So he took the scary path. A that set up
And it was very, very creepy. R and com- plication and a goal-directed resolu-
Then he saw something jumping. CO pose epi- tion, such as losinga frog then finding
He grabbed it. it. Complete episodes require explicit
And it was his frog. s o d e s .

These ele- presence of a motivating state or at-

tempt, such as in the Frog Where are
Downloaded From: http://sig1perspectives.pubs.asha.org/ by University of Wyoming - Libraries, Teresa Ukrainetz on 12/15/2015
Terms of Use: http://pubs.asha.org/ss/rights_and_permissions.aspx
 Language Learning and Education
Language Learning and Education
13
13 October 2001
2001~~~
You? stories. Complex episodes in- judgments can be made. The critical spans of utterances together into a
volve multiple attempts to resolve a level of analysis for story grammar is unified text (Halliday & Hasan, 1976).
complication, demonstrated in the fi- determiningwhetherornotthenarra- It involves sentence structure and
nal frog story, or multiple complica- tive is episodic. To determine this, word choice, and their relationship to
tions, such as both losing your frog seek a complication. If there is poten- preceding and succeeding utterances.
and getting lost searching for the frog. tiallyone, look for a consequence with Cohesive devices include conjunction
Interactive episodes, where two char- some indication that it is a result of the cohesion, reference cohesion, lexical
acters operate in a goal-directed way, agent's actions. Indicators could in- cohesion, structural parallelism, and
perhaps in opposition (good guy-bad clude motivating states or attempts. If ellipsis. Cohesion is critical in mak-
guy) are the highest level of complex- there is no evidence of goal-directed- ing text comprehensible and identi-
ity. The Revenge story is an interac- ness, then the narrative is only a se- fies language impairment better than
tive episode with the second episode quence even though it may start with story grammar analysis (Liles, 1987).
missing a consequence. a good setting opener, such as in the
Story grammar analysis can be second frogstorywhere the boy loved Conjunction cohesion involves
to play in the pond. If the narrative is the same connectives that occur at the
difficult, but with practice, reliable an episodic story, then episodic elabo- syntactic level (and, but, therefore), but
ration can be examined. Story sophis- they link meaning across rather than
tication in- within sentences. There is little vari-
creasesasfeel- ety within the example stories, with
Table 2. Elements of episodic struc;ture ings, plans, "and" or "then" used frequently to
and attempts link utterances. There are two "so" in
Episodic Element Description are added the final frog story and the Revenge
and as details story provides "but" and "because."
Setting characters, surrounidings, & habitual actions are added to It should be noted that this indicates
settings, com- only that these children may need to
Complication event that agent se eksto resolve
plications, expand their use of conjunctions in
and conse- narratives; it does not reflect on their
Motivating State feeling, cognition, g oal, or plan resulting from
the complication leakding to an attempt uences ability to use such structures in con-
q
M uItipIe versation.
Attempts actions resulting froim motivating state
leading to conseque)nce complica- Reference cohesion includes pro-
Consequence result of successful or unsuccessful
tions can oc- nouns f$usan-she), articles (althe,.this/
attempts cur, one ap-
that), and comparators (better than).
Reaction state or action resultting from complication pearing be- Ambiguous pronoun use is undesir-
but do not motivate ffurther behavior
forethefirst
fr fefrtiis able but common-listen to many
solved or one adults tell personal narratives. There
Note: Based on Peterson and McCabe (1983) a nd Lahey (1988). occurring af- are no rules on how
many times a
ter another. pronoun can be used before the refer-
ent should be repeated, but the guide-
Figure 2. A written class assignment story (spelling Cohesion line is to judge when a reasonable
corrected) from Adam, a second grader. audience would become confused.
Analysis Dialogue is one place where context
Cohe- may separate identical pronouns
The Revenge sion is the without intervening referents ("She is
One day the ants had to wear dresses. glue of dis- going to the store" she said.) In the
But they didn't wear it. course, tying Frog stories (Figure 1), "boy-he" and
They wanted revenge anyway.
They bit Miss Mackie. Table 3. Story grammar episodes
They bit Sidney.
They bit Doug. Structure
They bit Harry. Description
And they bit Mrs. Foxworth. Incomplete Episode complication + motivating state or attempt
And they almost died. Abbreviated Episode
And almost the whole school got it. complication + consequence
The school doctor almost got sick. Complete Episode complication + motivating state or attempt +
Their moms and dads almost got sick from their kids. consequence
The whole school got sick. Complex Episode multiple attempts or multiple episodes
They almost died because the whole school was sick. Interactive Episode two or more agent perspectives
Everyone threw up because they were so sick.
Note: Based on Peterson and McCabe (1983) and Lahey (1988).
Downloaded From: http://sig1perspectives.pubs.asha.org/ by University of Wyoming - Libraries, Teresa Ukrainetz on 12/15/2015
Terms of Use: http://pubs.asha.org/ss/rights_and_permissions.aspx
 Language Learning and Education 14 October 2001
Language~~~
Lernn an dcto 4Otbr20

"frog-it" are used appropriately. In describing this aspect of storytelling. is leaving us hanging at the exciting
the Revenge story (Figure 2), "they" is High point analysis involves examin- part of the story. Working together to
confusingly applied. ing how the narrator uses the evalua- create a great ending is what makes
Lexicalcohesion involves repeat- tion techniques of intonation, gesture, storytelling such a powerful interven-
ing a word across sentences, such as vocabulary, sentence structure, rep- tion context.
"frog" in the frogstories. Substitution etition, character dialogue, and story
cohesion involves providing syn- and organization
achieve
to transmit
narrative
perspective
art.
Supported Storytelling
onyms (frog-toad) and taxonomic rela- Finally, young children's narra-
tions (frog-amphibian) which none of Typically, the high point of a tives can be examined for the degree of
the example stories show. Parallel narrative is transmitted by a concen- support needed to achieve a coherent
structures involve repeating the syn- tration of evaluations. The final Frog product. Acceptingonly independent
tactic structure of a sentence, such as story says "called and called," re- narratives may result in a corpus of
thebitingpattem in the Revenge story, peats "scary" three times, and uses unsuccessful elicitations. Ninio and
or the use of past tense in all the sto- the adjective "creepy," effectively Snow (1988) found thatonly one-third
ries. Substitution and parallel struc- transmittingthe boy's determined and of 61 5-year- olds were able to tell a
tures are more a matter of narrative frightening search as the important scary personal narrative with mini-
quality than clarity. The frog stories part of the story for this child (finding mal mother support and 9 were un-
were clear with the repeated use of the frog was almost anticlimactic). able to compose a story at all. Provid-
"frog" but might have been more in- The repetition of the biting statements ing prompting and then noting the
teresting if "amphibians" or "pets" in the Revenge story prolongs this frequency and nature of the prompt-
were substituted. Parallel structures action building. This is followed by ing provides an altemative assess-
can be effective narrative art, as in the the climax, which is also prolonged ment avenue that leads directly into
Revenge story, but may also be con- by listing everyone who got sick or intervention.
sidered monotonous or unsophisti- almost sick, even people of power and
cated. responsibility, such as the doctor and Ninio and Snow (1988) suggest
parents. We are left at the high point three sources of support: conversa-
Finally, ellipsis, or zero substitu- tional, historical, and psychological.
tion, involves the omission of an item with everyone almost dying, and our
hearts pounding. Conversational support involves help
retrievable from elsewhere in the text in selecting the incident, organizing
(e.g., "May I go to the store? You Narrative art can occur anywhere the telling, providingneeded details,
may.") Ellipsis can be seen in first frog in the narrative. High point questions and elaborating on the details. His-
story (e.g., "The boy caught one fish could include: torical support involves helping the
and the dog caught two.") Ellipsis * Is the setting sufficient to ori- child sort out what happened in the
occurs frequently in conversation. ent the listener? original event and which aspects of
However, it lends a colloquial tone to * Were the characters named so the event should be recounted for the
written composition. Consequently, story-a definite need for retelling
it may be better to discourage ellipsis, we would care about them
more? children's movies. Finally, the best
teaching students to expand their sen- stories are told with a narrator per-
tences for a more literate style of com- * Did the motivating state con-
munication. sist of powerful vocabulary spective. A narrator is not trying to
such as "horrified" or re- report information about scary dogs
so much as trying to have the listener
High Point Analysis peated adjectives such as understand his fear. The adult may
"very, verycreepy"? helpwithpromptsabouthow the child
Story grammar and cohesion
analysis provide a way of describing High pointconsiderations might felt during theevent.
narrative structure. However, the Re- also include noting that the confusing
venge narrative has incomplete epi- pronoun use made the listener get Conclusion
sodic structure and problematic pro- lost, that an emphatic 'but" and a This article presented several
noun reference, but it is still a capti- pause halted the action momentarily, approaches to narrative analysis.
vating story. Why? Structural analy- or that structural parallelism helped Story grammar is the most common
ses do not capture the charm, interest, build suspense. approach, but can be challenging to
power, or subtlety of narrative A high point orientation is help- evaluate. Cohesion is a critical aspect
(McFadden &Gillam, 1996). They are ful not only for considering quality, of all discourse. High point analysis
not what cause us to chuckle, smile, but also for explaining to children provides a way to examine the art of
shudder, or shiver. High point analy- why all this matters. Telling a child storytelling. Finally, the degree and
sis, developed primarily for personal that he uses incomplete episodes will nature of the adult support needed
.narratives (Labov, 1972), is usefuil for not be as convincing as saying that he can provide insights into young

Downloaded From: http://sig1perspectives.pubs.asha.org/ by University of Wyoming - Libraries, Teresa Ukrainetz on 12/15/2015

Terms of Use: http://pubs.asha.org/ss/rights_and_permissions.aspx
 Language Learning
Languag
and Education
LerigadEuaio
children's performance. Each of these
approaches provides an important
perspective onnarrative performance
and a valuable guide to language in-
tervention.
References
Halliday, M. A. K., & Hasan, R. (1976).
Cohesion in English. London:
Longman.
Labov, W. (1972). Language in the inner
city. Philadelphia, PA: University
of Pennsylvania Press.
Lahey, M. (1988). Language disorders and
language development. NY:
Macnillan.
Liles, B. Z. (1987). Episode organization
and cohesive conjunctives in nar-
ratives of children with and with-
out language disorder. Journal of
Speech and Hearing Research, 30,
185-196.
Longacre, R. (1983). The grammar of dis-
course. NY: Plenum Press.
Mandler, J. M., & Johnson, N. S. (1977).
Remembrance of things parsed:
Story structure and recall. Cogni-
tive Psychology, 9, 111-151.
McFadden, T. U. (1998). The immediate
effects of pictographic drafting on
children's narratives. Child Lan-
guage Teaching and Therapy, 14, 51-
67.
McFadden, T. U., & Gillam, R. (1996). An
examination of the quality of nar-
ratives produced by children with
language disorders. Language,
Speech, and Hearing Services in
Schools, 27,48-57.
Ninio, A., & Snow, C. E. (1996). Pragmatic
development. Boulder, CO: West-
view.
Peterson, C., & McCabe, A., (1983). Devel-
opmental psycholinguistics: Three
ways of looking at a child's narrative.
New York: Plenum.
Stein, N. L., & Glenn, C. G. (1979). An
analysis of story comprehension
in elementary school children. In
R. 0. Freedle (Ed.), New directions
in discourse processing (Vol. 2, pp.
53-120). NJ: Ablex.
Downloaded From: http://sig1perspectives.pubs.asha.org/ by University of Wyoming - Libraries, Teresa Ukrainetz on 12/15/2015
Terms of Use: http://pubs.asha.org/ss/rights_and_permissions.aspx
View publication stats
15 5Otbr20
October 2001
Continuing Education Questions
Frog and a Friend
There was a boy So he went outside.
And he had a frog. He did not find him.
Then he lost his frog. So he looked by a pond.
He looked downstairs. Then he heard a sound.
But he was not there. So he went to a hollow log.
So he looked in his room. He found two frogs.
The window was opened.
1. What information does story a. Action Sequence
grammar analysis provide? b. Abbreviated Episode
a. How a protagonist strives c. Complete Episode
to overcome a complication d. Complex
Episode
b. How utterances are tied
together to form unified text 4. What aspect of cohesion is
c. How narrator perspective confusing in the Frog and
and narrative
art is achieved Friend story?
d. How much support is a. Conjunction
needed to achieve a coherent b. Pronoun reference
narrative c. Lexical
substitution
2. What story grammar elements d. Parallel structures
are present in the Frog and 5. The repeated use of "so"
Friend story above? contributes to this story in all
a. Setting, motivating condi- the following ways except:
tion, consequence, reaction a. Explains the causal
b. Setting, complication, relationship between attempt
motivating condition, conse- outcome and next attempt
quence b. Unifies the search elements
c. Setting, complication, c. Shows the reactive se-
attempts, consequence quence organization of the
d. Setting, multiple complica- story
tions, consequence d. Emphasizes the search as
3. What episodic structure is the important part of the
present in the Frog and Friend story
story?
We've Moved!!!
The Web site of Division 1, Language Learning and Education
has moved. The new address is http://www.ws1ha.org/div1/. Visit the
new page for information about continuing education, journal
discussion, the Steering Committee, and other news. You can also
join the Division 1 e-mail list on the Web site.
We also invite you to visit Division 1's page on ASHA's Web
site: http://professional.asha.org/resources/divs/div_l.cfm.