Comparing Narrative and Expository Text Construction across Adolescence: A Developmental Paradox

Autor/inn/en	Berman, Ruth A.; Nir-Sagiv, Bracha
Titel	Comparing Narrative and Expository Text Construction across Adolescence: A Developmental Paradox
Quelle	In: Discourse Processes: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 43 (2007) 2, S.79-120 (42 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0163-853X
DOI	10.1207/s15326950dp4302_1
Schlagwörter	Linguistics; Conflict; Elementary Secondary Education; Children; Adolescents; Adults; Discourse Analysis; Personal Narratives; Age Differences; Developmental Stages; Context Effect; Story Telling; Expository Writing; Essays; Language Processing; Cognitive Development; Interpersonal Relationship + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Linguistik; Konflikt; Child; Kind; Kinder; Adolescent; Adolescence; Adoleszenz; Jugend; Jugendalter; Jugendlicher; Diskursanalyse; Erlebniserzählung; Age; Difference; Age difference; Altersunterschied; Essay; Aufsatzunterricht; Sprachverarbeitung; Kognitive Entwicklung; Interpersonal relation; Interpersonal relations; Interpersonelle Beziehung; Zwischenmenschliche Beziehung
Abstract	In this study we argue that narrative storytelling and expository discussion, as 2 distinct discourse genres, differ both in linguistic expression and in their underlying principles of organization--schema-based in narratives and category-based in exposition. Innovative analyses applied to 160 personal-experience narratives and expository essays written by schoolchildren, adolescents, and adults on the shared topic of interpersonal conflict point to certain apparently contradictory facts about developing discourse abilities in the 2 genres. For example, genre differentiation is established early on (even the youngest children distinguish between the 2 types of discourse), but with age, participants tend to diverge from genre-typical content (by including expository-type generalizations in narratives and narrative-like incidents in expository texts). Also, across age groups, in local linguistic expression, participants use more advanced vocabulary and grammar in expository than in narrative texts, but in global-level discourse organization, they achieve command of expository text construction only in adolescence, whereas the principles governing narratives are established by middle childhood. We suggest that this apparent paradox can be accounted for by several interlocking factors: cognitive and linguistic development, increased experience with different varieties of discourse, and the communicative context in which a piece of discourse is produced. (Author).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10