Narratives have a unique capacity to hold attention, challenge assumptions, and create transformative experiences. In this paper, I will draw upon narrative homiletics to show how educators who teach theology or scriptural texts can create learning experiences that follow narrative structure. First, I will discuss the advantages of teaching in a…

The present study investigated oral personal narratives elicited from Arabic speaking adolescents with and without hearing loss. Analyses focused on macrostructure, microstructure, and Modern Standard Arabic (MSA). For macrostructure, narratives were examined for structural components (abstract, orientation, complication, evaluation, resolution,…

Labovian narrative theory is used to explore the personal narrative performance of five-year-old urban aboriginal children. Fifty-two participants with the same socioeconomic status (half aboriginal, half non-aboriginal) were recruited from 11 preschools in metropolitan Taipei, Taiwan. Narratives were collected by interviewing individual children…

Purpose: This study extends the research on narrative intervention by evaluating the effect of a standard treatment protocol, "Story Champs" (Petersen & Spencer, 2012), on personal narrative generations of school-age children with specific language impairment (SLI). Method: Four second-grade, 8- to 9-year-old boys with SLI…

The current research investigated the effectiveness of a narrative intervention method aiming to improve oral narrative ability in 8- to 10-year-old children with developmental language disorder (DLD) (n = 6). Oral narrative ability was assessed through a narrative retelling and a narrative generation task of which both the narrative…

The purpose of this pilot study was to examine and refine an oral narrative intervention addressing personal narratives of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and severe language impairment. A multiple baseline across participants design investigated the effect of the intervention on the macrostructure of personal narratives. Three…

Several studies have revealed the cognitive and linguistic benefits of balanced bilingualism, but the research on balanced biliteracy is still in its initial stages (Marinis et al. submitted. "Biliteracy Education Impacts on Cognition Selectively"). This study investigates the positive effects of balanced biliteracy on the development of…

In Western cultures, life narratives are typically expected to recount the narrator's life from birth to the present. Disparate autobiographical memories need to be integrated into a more or less coherent story, which is facilitated by an overarching temporal macrostructure. The temporal macrostructure consists of elaborated beginnings that…

In this paper I analyze the role of hindsight in narrative configuration. Configuration means the grasping together of disparate elements into a coherent whole. I argue that hindsight, importantly, brings the temporal constraints on what we can know to the fore, but is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, hindsight is an indispensable tool both…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of an individualized, systematic language intervention on the personal narratives of children with autism. Method: A single-subject, multiple-baseline design across participants and behaviors was used to examine the effect of the intervention on language features of personal…

This pilot study investigated the impact of an oral narrative intervention program implemented with 24 children who attended a College of Education on campus laboratory school for children with specific language learning difficulties. Oral narratives were elicited before and after treatment and underwent T-unit and story grammar component…

In contemporary contexts, young people are accustomed to life story; indeed, their lives are saturated with constructions of their stories and those of others, whether created by themselves or their "friends" on social networks. Multimedia outlets convey often detailed stories of more-famous others, whether celebrities or those experiencing…

The purpose of this multiple baseline study across participants was to examine a narrative retell intervention with guided self-monitoring on narrative macrostructure skills in low-income African American young children at risk for language disorders. Three target 4-year-old children in a mixed-age kindergarten class of nine students participated…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to analyze and interpret the stories told by one teacher, Ms. M, in a fifth grade science classroom. In this study, stories are defined as teacher utterances that are used in first person or third person narrative view, and are related to an experience that occurred outside the classroom. This research…

The purpose of this investigation was to determine the effect of props on children's narrative retells. Forty-two children in two comparable K/1 classrooms heard and practiced the same stories over eight weeks. This study found that the props had a positive effect on the children's use of descriptive language, but there was no effect on the number…