Reference Cohesion in the Oral Narratives of Students with Learning Disabilities and Normally Achieving Students

Abstract

The present study compared the use of reference cohesion in oral narratives produced by 93 students with learning disabilities (LD) and normally achieving (NA) students, 14–16 each at the 8:0–9:11, 10:0–11:11, and 12:0–13:11 age levels. Narrative stories were collected from each subject under two elicitation conditions: spontaneous story production and story production to a picture. The stories were analyzed for types of reference, distance, and direction of referential link. The results indicated significant group, age, and task effects. The LD students used reference ties less accurately than NA peers, produced fewer correct ties per T-unit, and demonstrated a lower rate of correct Article usage than the NA group. Further, the LD students relied most heavily on nonimmediate reference ties, while the NA students made greater use of immediate reference ties. The primary age-related finding was an increase in overall correct use of reference cohesion as a function of increased age. With regard to task differences, both the LD and the NA group used a higher proportion of correct reference ties on the spontaneous than on the structured task. Findings are discussed with regard to the development of reference cohesion abilities. Consideration is given to the effects of reference cohesion on text unity and text coherence. Implications for classroom performance are suggested.