The influence of genre on adolescent discourse skills: Do narratives tell the whole story?

Purpose: Narrative is the dominant focus of traditional standardised discourse assessment, yet the complex discourse needs of adolescence has led to increased interest in profiling skills in other monologic genres for this age group. This interest is not commensurate with a robust understanding of t...

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Main Authors: Hill, Lizz, Whitworth, Anne, Boyes, Mark, Ziegelaar, Monique, Claessen, Mary
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD 2021
Subjects:
Online Access:http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/1173043
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/93712
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author Hill, Lizz
Whitworth, Anne
Boyes, Mark
Ziegelaar, Monique
Claessen, Mary
author_facet Hill, Lizz
Whitworth, Anne
Boyes, Mark
Ziegelaar, Monique
Claessen, Mary
author_sort Hill, Lizz
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Purpose: Narrative is the dominant focus of traditional standardised discourse assessment, yet the complex discourse needs of adolescence has led to increased interest in profiling skills in other monologic genres for this age group. This interest is not commensurate with a robust understanding of the influence of genre on adolescent discourse across word to whole-text language features. This knowledge is important to inform context(s) for assessment to profile strengths and weaknesses in discourse-level language. Method: One hundred and sixty adolescents between 12 and 15 years (M= 13;1, SD= 1;1, 55% female, 45% male) completed the Curtin University Discourse Protocol–Adolescent. Samples of recount, narrative, expository and persuasive discourse were coded using a multi-level analysis procedure. Result: Genre had a significant influence on language variables regardless of age. Narrative tasks citied the longest, most lexically diverse, cohesive, coherent and well-structured output. Results were consistent with the oral to literate continuum and the order in which genres are introduced in the academic curriculum. Conclusion: Structure, content and domain-specific knowledge likely influenced the genre-related differences seen in this study. It would be advantageous to sample a range of monologic genres when assessing adolescent discourse. Declarative knowledge may be an important consideration in topic selection.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-937122023-11-21T08:22:17Z The influence of genre on adolescent discourse skills: Do narratives tell the whole story? Hill, Lizz Whitworth, Anne Boyes, Mark Ziegelaar, Monique Claessen, Mary Science & Technology Social Sciences Life Sciences & Biomedicine Audiology & Speech-Language Pathology Linguistics Rehabilitation discourse narrative expository language assessment adolescent adolescent assessment discourse expository language narrative Academic Success Adolescent Dyslexia Female Humans Language Literacy Male Narration Humans Dyslexia Narration Language Adolescent Female Male Literacy Academic Success Purpose: Narrative is the dominant focus of traditional standardised discourse assessment, yet the complex discourse needs of adolescence has led to increased interest in profiling skills in other monologic genres for this age group. This interest is not commensurate with a robust understanding of the influence of genre on adolescent discourse across word to whole-text language features. This knowledge is important to inform context(s) for assessment to profile strengths and weaknesses in discourse-level language. Method: One hundred and sixty adolescents between 12 and 15 years (M= 13;1, SD= 1;1, 55% female, 45% male) completed the Curtin University Discourse Protocol–Adolescent. Samples of recount, narrative, expository and persuasive discourse were coded using a multi-level analysis procedure. Result: Genre had a significant influence on language variables regardless of age. Narrative tasks citied the longest, most lexically diverse, cohesive, coherent and well-structured output. Results were consistent with the oral to literate continuum and the order in which genres are introduced in the academic curriculum. Conclusion: Structure, content and domain-specific knowledge likely influenced the genre-related differences seen in this study. It would be advantageous to sample a range of monologic genres when assessing adolescent discourse. Declarative knowledge may be an important consideration in topic selection. 2021 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/93712 10.1080/17549507.2020.1864016 English http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/1173043 TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD fulltext
spellingShingle Science & Technology
Social Sciences
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Audiology & Speech-Language Pathology
Linguistics
Rehabilitation
discourse
narrative
expository
language
assessment
adolescent
adolescent
assessment
discourse
expository
language
narrative
Academic Success
Adolescent
Dyslexia
Female
Humans
Language
Literacy
Male
Narration
Humans
Dyslexia
Narration
Language
Adolescent
Female
Male
Literacy
Academic Success
Hill, Lizz
Whitworth, Anne
Boyes, Mark
Ziegelaar, Monique
Claessen, Mary
The influence of genre on adolescent discourse skills: Do narratives tell the whole story?
title The influence of genre on adolescent discourse skills: Do narratives tell the whole story?
title_full The influence of genre on adolescent discourse skills: Do narratives tell the whole story?
title_fullStr The influence of genre on adolescent discourse skills: Do narratives tell the whole story?
title_full_unstemmed The influence of genre on adolescent discourse skills: Do narratives tell the whole story?
title_short The influence of genre on adolescent discourse skills: Do narratives tell the whole story?
title_sort influence of genre on adolescent discourse skills: do narratives tell the whole story?
topic Science & Technology
Social Sciences
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Audiology & Speech-Language Pathology
Linguistics
Rehabilitation
discourse
narrative
expository
language
assessment
adolescent
adolescent
assessment
discourse
expository
language
narrative
Academic Success
Adolescent
Dyslexia
Female
Humans
Language
Literacy
Male
Narration
Humans
Dyslexia
Narration
Language
Adolescent
Female
Male
Literacy
Academic Success
url http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/1173043
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/93712