LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY, TEXT CONTENT AND ORDER EFFECTS IN NARRATIVE RECALL

Abstract

An analysis of the major goals of the story grammar paradigm and some of the controversy surrounding them has led to a challenge of the robustness of this paradigm's findings. The effects of text content and order of presentation on narrative recall were investigated in groups of intermediate and advanced readers of English as a foreign language. Subjects were asked to recall three narratives presented either in a standard, partially‐mixed or fully‐mixed order as well as a set of unrelated sentences. Data analysis in terms of story grammar categories revealed replication of category effects in six of the 18 conditions investigated. These effects were stronger than differences between standard and partially‐mixed orders while they were most salient in one specific text content. This picture was not similar for the two proficiency groups. It was concluded that different text‐based parameters may constrain the robustness of story grammar category effects.