Narrative Assessment Research Articles

Oral Discourse Coherence and Oral Fluency in English as a Foreign Language Preservice Teachers’ Oral Narratives

A large number of research studies have highlighted the relevance of oral narratives for describing children’s linguistic constraints, developmental stages of narrative discourse patterns, and sociocultural identities. Yet, little research has been found on the use of oral narratives as a means to longitudinally improve oral discourse coherence and fluency in English as a Foreign Language (EFL). This article reports a case study which was aimed at exploring and describing oral language enhancement in 26 Chilean preservice teachers of English through the implementation of oral narrative tasks over four months. Oral narrative samples were collected through audio recordings, then transcribed and analyzed through the Narrative Assessment Profile, and analytic rubrics elaborated in light of the literature review carried out for oral fluency. Findings suggest a relation between oral narrative tasks and oral discourse coherence and fluency improvement, with a large effect size (25% for social sciences) on oral discourse coherence. Also, a new measure and dysfluency indicator of L2 oral fluency was discovered and defined as false reformulation. It could be concluded that oral narrative tasks might constitute a valuable instrument for enhancing oral English as a foreign language over time.

The effects of virtual reality immersion on the content and structure of the narrative discourse of healthy adults.

Narrative discourse is central to effective participation in conversations. When discourse is assessed in people with communication disability, structured tasks (e.g., picture descriptions) provide experimental control, while unstructured tasks (e.g., personal narratives) represent more natural communication. Immersive virtual reality (VR) technology may provide a solution by creating standardized experiences for narrative retell, therefore balancing ecological validity and experimental control in discourse assessment. Research is needed to understand how VR immersion affects narrative retell, first for adults with no communication disability, before application with adults with aphasia or related communication disability. To assess (1) the effects of VR immersion on the linguistic content and structure of narrative retells in a healthy adult population; and (2) whether VR immersion can influence the way a narrative is retold so that the speaker conveys their own experience, rather than the experience of the characters they are watching. In this pilot cohort study, 13 healthy adult participants with no reported communication disability watched an animated short film and a comparable immersive VR short film in a randomized order. Participants were asked to retell the events of the story after each condition in as much detail as possible. Mean length of utterance (in morphemes) was significantly higher in the video condition compared with the VR condition. Significantly more first-person pronouns were used in the VR condition compared with the video condition. No other measures of linguistic content or structure were significantly different between the VR and video conditions. Increased morpho-syntactic length and complexity in the video condition may suggest effects of elicitation stimulus on the narrative produced. The larger number of first-person pronouns in the VR condition may reflect that participants experienced a sense of presence in the virtual environment, and therefore were able to retell their communication experience rather than narrating the experiences of characters from an external perspective. Given the increasing need for more functional assessment of discourse in people with communication disability, further research is needed to validate these findings. What is already known on this subject As an ecologically valid tool, discourse analysis is often used to assess daily communicative exchanges in adults with acquired communication disability. Clinicians and researchers using narrative discourse assessment must balance the experimental control and diagnostic reference sample capabilities of structured tasks with the ecological validity and real-life transferability of unstructured personal narratives. What this study adds to existing knowledge This study explores the use of immersive VR technologies to create standardized, replicable, immersive experiences as a foundation for narrative discourse assessment. It highlights how the 'sense of presence' in a virtual world can prompt healthy adult speakers to retell a narrative of a personal experience that can be replicated for many different participants. The results suggest that immersive VR narrative assessment for adults with communication disability may balance ecological validity with measurement reliability in discourse assessment. What are the potential or actual clinical observations of this work? Immersion in VR resulted in the production of narratives with morpho-syntactic features that aligned with typical narrative generation, rather than retell. Participants used more first-person pronouns, suggesting retelling of personal experience. Though further study is needed, these preliminary findings suggest clinicians can use immersive VR stimuli to generate structured story generations that balance experimental and diagnostic control with ecological validity in narrative discourse assessment for adults with communication disability.

Establishing Infodemic Management in Germany: A Framework for Social Listening and Integrated Analysis to Report Infodemic Insights at the National Public Health Institute.

To respond to the need to establish infodemic management functions at the national public health institute in Germany (Robert Koch Institute, RKI), we explored and assessed available data sources, developed a social listening and integrated analysis framework, and defined when infodemic management functions should be activated during emergencies. We aimed to establish a framework for social listening and integrated analysis for public health in the German context using international examples and technical guidance documents for infodemic management. This study completed the following objectives: identified (potentially) available data sources for social listening and integrated analysis; assessed these data sources for their suitability and usefulness for integrated analysis in addition to an assessment of their risk using the RKI's standardized data protection requirements; developed a framework and workflow to combine social listening and integrated analysis to report back actionable infodemic insights for public health communications by the RKI and stakeholders; and defined criteria for activating integrated analysis structures in the context of a specific health event or health emergency. We included and classified 38% (16/42) of the identified and assessed data sources for social listening and integrated analysis at the RKI into 3 categories: social media and web-based listening data, RKI-specific data, and infodemic insights. Most data sources can be analyzed weekly to detect current trends and narratives and to inform a timely response by reporting insights that include a risk assessment and scalar judgments of different narratives and themes. This study identified, assessed, and prioritized a wide range of data sources for social listening and integrated analysis to report actionable infodemic insights, ensuring a valuable first step in establishing and operationalizing infodemic management at the RKI. This case study also serves as a roadmap for others. Ultimately, once operational, these activities will inform better and targeted public health communication at the RKI and beyond.

An update of additive manufacturing (3D printing) technology in dentistry

Background: The development of procedures known as additive manufacturing, which aim to produce more complex items with a lower overall material consumption compared to processes known as subtractive manufacturing. In addition, in recent years there has been a significant rise in the quantity of dental materials that are produced via the use of these techniques. As a consequence of this, scientific research has been concentrating more and more on such technologies, particularly in order to shed light on the methodology, indicators, and boundaries of the emerging technology. Methods: The purpose of this paper is to provide a narrative assessment of the state-of-the-art in the area of these popular additive manufacturing methods, as well as the appropriate dental applications, by using scientific literature analysis and references to the authors’ clinical experience. In addition, the purpose of this study is to evaluate the appropriate dental applications. Results: The end result was a tremendous amount of data, most of it is conflicting, is now available for viewing. In tests conducted both in vitro and in vivo, the following additive manufacturing procedures were shown to be effective: Milling results in a number of negative side effects, including the loss of material, increased costs associated with equipment maintenance, and wasted production time. Additive manufacturing, often known as 3D printing, allows for the production of prostheses and models at a quicker rate and with less waste material. Conclusions: In order to successfully manufacture complex component geometries, CAM configuration and process design must be carefully considered. As a consequence of this, the speed at which the process is carried out is of equal importance to the interaction between the individual components. When dealing with geometry that is more complicated, 3D printing beats CAM.

Ongoing Strategies to Improve Antimicrobial Utilization in Hospitals across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA): Findings and Implications.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is an increasing global concern, increasing costs, morbidity, and mortality. National action plans (NAPs) to minimize AMR are one of several global and national initiatives to slow down rising AMR rates. NAPs are also helping key stakeholders understand current antimicrobial utilization patterns and resistance rates. The Middle East is no exception, with high AMR rates. Antibiotic point prevalence surveys (PPS) provide a better understanding of existing antimicrobial consumption trends in hospitals and assist with the subsequent implementation of antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASPs). These are important NAP activities. We examined current hospital consumption trends across the Middle East along with documented ASPs. A narrative assessment of 24 PPS studies in the region found that, on average, more than 50% of in-patients received antibiotics, with Jordan having the highest rate of 98.1%. Published studies ranged in size from a single to 18 hospitals. The most prescribed antibiotics were ceftriaxone, metronidazole, and penicillin. In addition, significant postoperative antibiotic prescribing lasting up to five days or longer was common to avoid surgical site infections. These findings have resulted in a variety of suggested short-, medium-, and long-term actions among key stakeholders, including governments and healthcare workers, to improve and sustain future antibiotic prescribing in order to decrease AMR throughout the Middle East.

Sustainable halal food supply chain management in a small rentier halal market

PurposeThere is limited knowledge of the sustainable halal food supply management in Brunei Darussalam (Brunei), although it is reputable in the halal economy and advocates the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Therefore, this paper highlights issues faced in a small, rentier halal market and proposes sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) initiatives for halal-certified food companies in Brunei.Design/methodology/approachThis paper draws data from published academic research and employs a normative and narrative assessment of SSCM and halal supply chain literature.FindingsFour normative SSCM initiatives and propositions that could be implemented by Brunei halal-certified food businesses in achieving the SDGs are highlighted: responsible sourcing, environmental purchasing, sustainable packaging and green transportation.Practical implicationsThis viewpoint paper provides a basis for achieving the “Brunei Vision 2035” through a sustainable supply chain lens that may increase well-being and develop a productive and sustainable economy. It also lays a foundation for realising the SDGs, specifically Goal 12 of Sustainable Consumption and Production.Originality/valueThe dedicated attention to smaller halal markets, such as Brunei, would enrich the literature, reveal unforeseen issues or address gaps in the domains of SSCM and halal food supply chains.

Assessing Diversity and Inclusivity is the Next Frontier in Mental Health Recovery Narrative Research and Practice.

Demand for digital health interventions is increasing in many countries. The use of recorded mental health recovery narratives in digital health interventions is becoming more widespread in clinical practice. Mental health recovery narratives are first-person lived experience accounts of recovery from mental health problems, including struggles and successes over time. Helpful impacts of recorded mental health recovery narratives include connectedness with the narrative and validation of experiences. Possible harms include feeling disconnected and excluded from others. Diverse narrative collections from many types of narrators and describing multiple ways to recover are important to maximize the opportunity for service users to benefit through connection and to minimize the likelihood of harm. Mental health clinicians need to know whether narrative collections are sufficiently diverse to recommend to service users. However, no method exists for assessing the diversity and inclusivity of existing or new narrative collections. We argue that assessing diversity and inclusivity is the next frontier in mental health recovery narrative research and practice. This is important, but methodologically and ethically complex. In this viewpoint, we propose and evaluate one diversity and two inclusivity assessment methods. The diversity assessment method involves use of the Simpson Diversity Index. The two inclusivity assessment methods are based on comparator demographic rates and arbitrary thresholds, respectively. These methods were applied to four narrative collections as a case study. Refinements are needed regarding a narrative assessment tool in terms of its practicality and cultural adaptation.

Creation of an asynchronous faculty development curriculum on well-written narrative assessments that avoid bias

BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic in parallel with concerns about bias in grading resulted in many medical schools adopting pass/fail clinical grading and relying solely on narrative assessments. However, narratives often contain bias and lack specificity. The purpose of this project was to develop asynchronous faculty development to rapidly educate/re-educate > 2000 clinical faculty spread across geographic sites and clinical disciplines on components of a well-written narrative and methods to minimize bias in the assessment of students.MethodsWe describe creation, implementation, and pilot data outcomes for an asynchronous faculty development curriculum created by a committee of volunteer learners and faculty. After reviewing the literature on the presence and impact of bias in clinical rotations and ways to mitigate bias in written narrative assessments, the committee developed a web-based curriculum using multimedia learning theory and principles of adult learning. Just-in-time supplemental materials accompanied the curriculum. The Dean added completion of the module by 90% of clinical faculty to the department chairperson’s annual education metric.Module completion was tracked in a learning management system, including time spent in the module and the answer to a single text entry question about intended changes in behavior. Thematic analysis of the text entry question with grounded theory and inductive processing was used to define themes of how faculty anticipate future teaching and assessment as a result of this curricula.OutcomesBetween January 1, 2021, and December 1, 2021, 2166 individuals completed the online module; 1820 spent between 5 and 90 min on the module, with a median time of 17 min and an average time of 20.2 min. 15/16 clinical departments achieved completion by 90% or more faculty. Major themes included: changing the wording of future narratives, changing content in future narratives, and focusing on efforts to change how faculty teach and lead teams, including efforts to minimize bias.ConclusionsWe developed a faculty development curriculum on mitigating bias in written narratives with high rates of faculty participation. Inclusion of this module as part of the chair’s education performance metric likely impacted participation. Nevertheless, time spent in the module suggests that faculty engaged with the material. Other institutions could easily adapt this curriculum with provided materials.

Ngā Akoranga pai o te Tuhinga Pūrākau. Lessons from the heart of Learning Stories

ABSTRACT This study investigated how New Zealand teachers in Early Childhood Education (ECE) gathered, documented and utilised assessment information about children’s learning. It utilised phenomenological inquiry, with data being gathered through semi-structured interviews with five experienced ECE teachers. The findings highlight the complexity of the predominant narrative assessment format used by the teachers: Learning Stories. The strong reliance on teachers’ fundamental competencies and understanding of the writing process was central to narrative assessment. On the other hand, findings emphasised the benefits of well-written Learning Stories and highlighted interesting ways they can be utilised. This article focuses on two important aspects of ECE assessment. Firstly, the teacher who is the heart of the Learning Story-writing process, and who possesses a complex skill set to connect with people, collect information and articulate an important message about the child as a learner. Secondly, on the Learning Story itself, its benefits and the ways that assessment information can be utilised from them.

Exploring the future career autobiography with young Australian undergraduate students: autobiographical opportunities for career storytelling and narrative change

ABSTRACT This study examined the Future Career Autobiography (FCA) with six Australian undergraduate students. The study aimed to explore: (1) the FCA as a qualitative career assessment instrument that facilitates career storytelling and reflexivity on future career plans and (2) the implications of narrative career assessment procedures that reflexively and systemically engage young students in career research. The findings confirmed some narrative changes in the participants’ FCA paragraphs. These changes were more substantial for participants with less certain career plans. The findings extended the evidence base for the FCA beyond its role in qualitatively measuring narrative change, as an instrument that promotes autobiographicity and facilitates reflexivity. By introducing the exit interview questions, this research substantiated FCA’s applications in practice and research.

수학교육에서 수학 쓰기에 대한 문헌연구

In the future, mathematical thinking will occur in an extremely digitalized environment, and mathematics writing (MW), a basic competency that students must acquire through brain activity, will still be important. In this study, 26 papers in Korea were classified into evaluation, intervention program, and survey, focusing on the registered or candidate journals of the Korea Research Foundations. Regarding the results, first, most studies that measured the evaluation used descriptive, essay, or process-oriented MW types, and the majority of them evaluated core competences, such as problem-solving ability, communication ability, or affective ability, rather than students’ MW ability itself. Second, the studies using the intervention program revealed that most students’ cognitive or affective domains improved through journal writing. Third, in the surveys, it was difficult to grasp the perception of teachers and students regarding MW itself, as most of the said surveys pertained to narrative and essay-type assessments.

Signaling Resilience: A Computational Assessment of Narratives in Local Government Budgets

Abstract Local governments consider a wide range of policies to increase resilience in the face of myriad risks and employ a variety of tactics to communicate about these policies to external actors. An important platform to signal resilience as a policy priority is through the budget process wherein local communities decide “who gets what, when, and how.” Using computational text mining techniques, we assess how county governments in California signal efforts toward resilience in their budgets during the 2012–2017 fiscal years, as well as whether and how those signals are received by the capital market. Comparable budget documents are available for 38 counties across the state for a total of 161 county-year observations. To test the relationship between local government resilience signals and capital market outcomes, we focus on county underlying credit ratings issued by counties. Empirical results show that county underlying credit ratings are insensitive to resilience signals in local government budgets. By examining the efficacy of resilience signals and their effects on the capital market, we offer evidence on the link between policy signaling and financial outcomes at the local government level.

Curriculum-Based Dynamic Assessment of Narratives for Bilingual Filipino Children.

Speech-language pathologists need tools that can accurately estimate bilingual children's language abilities and thus help avoid misdiagnoses. This study addresses this need by investigating the accuracy of a novel curriculum-based dynamic assessment of narratives in distinguishing bilingual children with language difficulties (LDs) from children with typically developing (TD) language. Participants comprised 34 Filipino-English bilingual children attending elementary school in English: seven with LDs and 27 with TD language. All children were assessed on narrative skills relevant to their school curriculum during a dynamic assessment involving a test-teach-test sequence. We then examined how accurately the children's scores on narrative tasks completed during the test phases, and on a modifiability rating scale completed during the teaching phase, discriminated the LD and TD groups. According to discriminant analyses, logistic regressions, and receiver operating characteristic curve analyses, the modifiability rating classified the children with 97.1% accuracy. Children's scores on the narrative measures following the teaching phase were also better at predicting language group than their initial scores, with the Test of Narrative Language-Second Edition (TNL-2) Narrative Language Ability Index score reaching 100% accuracy at posttest. The curriculum-based dynamic assessment of narratives shows promise at distinguishing TD language from LD in a group of understudied bilingual children that is rapidly growing in both Canada and the United States. The findings compare favorably to past studies of dynamic assessment and extend this work by integrating curricular goals to the narrative assessment process.

Reviewing Internal Medicine Clerkship Grading Through a Proequity Lens: Results of a National Survey.

Equity in assessment and grading has become imperative across medical education. Although strategies to promote equity exist, there may be variable penetrance across institutions. The objectives of this study were to identify strategies internal medicine (IM) clerkship directors (CDs) use to reduce inequities in assessment and grading and explore IM CDs' perceptions of factors that impede or facilitate the implementation of these strategies. From October to December 2021, the Clerkship Directors in Internal Medicine of the Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine conducted its annual survey of IM core CDs at 137 U.S. and U.S. territory-based medical schools. This study is based on 23 questions from the survey about equity in IM clerkship assessment and grading. The survey response rate was 73.0% (100 of 137 medical school CDs). Use of recommended evidence-based strategies to promote equity in clerkship assessment and grading varied among IM clerkships. Only 30 respondents (30.0%) reported that their clerkships had incorporated faculty development on implicit bias for clinical supervisors of students; 31 (31.0%) provided education to faculty on how to write narrative assessments that minimize bias. Forty respondents (40.0%) provided guidance to clerkship graders on how to minimize bias when writing final IM clerkship summaries, and 41 (41.0%) used grading committees to determine IM clerkship grades. Twenty-three CDs (23.0%) received formal education by their institution on how to generate clerkship grades and summaries in a way that minimized bias. This national survey found variability among medical schools in the application of evidence-based strategies to promote equity in assessment and grading within their IM clerkships. Opportunities exist to adopt and optimize proequity grading strategies, including development of programs that address bias in clerkship assessment and grading, reevaluation of the weight of standardized knowledge exam scores on grades, and implementation of grading committees.

Novel In-Training Evaluation Report in an Internal Medicine Residency Program: Improving the Quality of the Narrative Assessment.

To determine whether incorporating our novel in-training evaluation report (ITER), which prompts each resident to list at least three self-identified learning goals, improved the quality of narrative assessments as measured by the Narrative Evaluation Quality Instrument (NEQI). A total of 1468 narrative assessments from a single institution from 2017 to 2021 were deidentified, compiled, and sorted into the pre-intervention form arm and post-intervention form arm. Due to limitations in our residency management suite, incorporating learning goals required switching from an electronic form to a hand-deliver form. Comments were graded by two research personnel utilizing the NEQI's scale of 0-12, with 12 representing the maximum quality for a comment. The outcome of the study was the mean difference in NEQI score between the electronic pre-intervention period and paper post-intervention period. The mean NEQI score for the pre-intervention period was 2.43 ± 3.34, and the mean NEQI score for the post-intervention period was 3.31 ± 1.71, with a mean difference of 0.88 (p < 0.001). In the pre-intervention period, 46% of evaluations were submitted without a narrative assessment (scored as a zero) while 1% of post-intervention period evaluations had no narrative assessment. Internal consistency reliability, as measured by Ebel's intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), showed high agreement between the two raters (ICC = 0.92). Our findings suggest that implementing a timely, hand-delivered paper ITER that incorporates resident learning goals can lead to overall higher-quality narrative assessments.

Alexandre Benois and Denis Diderot

The article is the first to consider the influence of the views of Denis Diderot (“Salons”) on the works of Alexandre Benois — as an art historian, first of all — on his “The History of painting of all times and peoples”. As a result of a comparative analysis of the texts by two authors, it was established that both Benois and Diderot paid the greatest attention to the works of J. B. S. Chardin, F. Boucher, C. (Sh. A.) Vanloo, J.-B. Greuze, J.Robert. It has also been established that Benois described the art of Chardin and Boucher practically in the words of Diderot. The source study analysis of Benois’s article “The Collection of Drawings by Stepan Yaremich”, as well as Benois’s “Art letters” of different years, made it possible to find out his own attitude to Busher. The source study analysis of Benois’s memoirs “My Memories” and the work of R. Muther “The History of Painting in the 19th Century” made it possible to find out the source of Benois’s negative assessment of narrative and edifying in the art of Dreams — precisely those qualities that Diderot especially appreciated in the works of this artist. Comparative analysis of the text of Benois’s article “On Narrative in Painting”, his work “History of Russian Painting in the 19th Century” with the text of “Salons” by Diderot made it possible to find out that Benois used at the beginning of his activity the Diderot’s method of an expanded description.

Influence of a Tripartite Framework of Guidance and Counseling on Student Outcomes in Selected Public Secondary Schools in Kenya

Public secondary schools in Kenya are expected to implement guidance and counseling policy as directed by the Ministry of Education. However, guidance and counselling policy is not supported by a framework for implementation that takes into account the contextual realities of basic education in Kenya. This study sought to contribute to knowledge by originating and testing a tripartite framework of guidance and counseling for application in secondary schools in Kenya. The main objective of the study was to investigate the influence of tripartite framework of guidance and counseling in the outcomes of students of selected public secondary schools in Nairobi County, Kenya. The study was anchored on Person-Centered Theory and Social Learning Theory. Phenomenology was the selected research design. Data were collected using Narrative Assessment Interviews. This was undertaken with a purposive sample of 27 students drawn from three public secondary schools who successfully completed an eight-week long guidance and counselling program based on the tripartite framework. The data were transcribed and assigned codes before grouping the codes into themes. The study established that positive behavior change was the single overarching theme throughout the findings. This was reflected in parental involvement, trust enhancement, self-awareness and appreciation, self-discipline and parent-child bonding. The study concluded that the tripartite framework of guidance and counseling had a positive and compelling influence on student outcomes in the selected public secondary Schools in Kenya. Implementation of the framework resulted in immediate transformative behavior change that potentially set the students up not just for long-run future academic success but potentially holistic life outcomes. Incorporation of the tripartite framework of guidance and counseling into the school curriculum was endorsed by the study participants, and this should be adapted in public secondary schools in Kenya. In order to ascertain the suitability of the model across all public schools, replication of the study in other public secondary schools especially within a rural setting is recommended.

FDA’s new pharmaceutical quality initiative: Knowledge-aided assessment &amp; structured applications

This review paper is about FDA’s new pharmaceutical quality initiative: Knowledge-aided assessment &amp; structured applications (KASA). The aim of USFDA is Timely development, assessment, and approval of safe and effective drugs is pivotal for assuring the American public has access to quality medicines. At present, the new drug and generic quality assessment is performed using a written narrative. To modernize the assessment of drug applications, a KASA system has been initiated. KASA could become a system that captures and manages information about a drug product including risk identification, mitigation and communication, and control strategy. It does this through a structured IT framework that could completely replace the current unstructured text-based, narrative assessment.

Introducing Geotourism to Diversify the Visitor Experience in Protected Areas and Reduce Impacts on Overused Attractions

Sri Lankan National Parks are highly popular among international and local visitors, as they offer close-up encounters with large animal species. Yala National Park is one of the top five parks in the country attracting larger crowds than any other parks especially during the holiday season. Most visitors flock to the park to observe the highly sought-after Asian Elephant and Asian Leopard. This has led to safari operators pursuing these animals aggressively to satisfy visitor expectations, thereby threatening wildlife populations. In this article, we present a straightforward methodology to identify high-potential geotourism sites in order to diversify visitor experiences as a means to alleviate pressure from wildlife tourism. To identify sites, firstly this study has evaluated various place characteristics important for the development of geotourism, including scientific, tourism and ‘additional’ value indicators. As a result, three sites out of four were selected to promote geotourism in Yala National Park. Secondly, a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis was performed, which builds on the results from the numerical evaluation but provides a more in-depth narrative assessment. Ultimately, this study serves as an example of how to seize the opportunities that geotourism offers for diversifying tourism offers in protected areas.

French Decolonisation and Civil War: The Dynamics of Violence in the Early Phases of Anti-colonial War in Vietnam and Algeria, 1940–1956

This article draws together historical sources and political science insights to test the emergence of civil war at the end of empire. It focuses on civil conflict in two French colonial territories, Vietnam and Algeria, during and immediately after 1945. It investigates the civil war dynamics of local, often intra-ethnic contests among anticolonial oppositionists. Concentrating on the early, formative years of insurgent violence, we aim to demonstrate that elements of civil war pre-existed the supposed outbreak of decolonisation conflicts – 1946 in Vietnam and 1954 in Algeria. Our approach combines narrative assessments of the early phases of these conflicts with analysis of their civil war dynamics. As we seek to demonstrate, cycles of internecine killing, massacre and counter-massacre, normalized summary killing, maltreatment of detainees, and loss of distinction between civilians, seditionists, and ‘traitors’. Our argument is that decolonisation violence in both Vietnam and Algeria may be usefully rethought in civil war terms.