EFFECTS OF PREPARATION TIME FOR 2 QUANTITATIVE MEASURES OF NARRATIVE PRODUCTION

Narratives are important for language assessment at the level of disco urse. To investigate the effect of preparation time narratives were co llected from 19 third graders, 19 eighth graders, and 19 college stude nts. In one condition, all subjects saw a picture and told a story; in a second one they saw a picture and were instructed to wait for 1 min . before telling a story. Students also generated a story without a pi cture and with no instructions to wait. Measures of narrative length a nd mean length of communication unit were analyzed to assess the effec ts of preparation time. Narratives produced under the Instructions to Wait condition were longer and their mean length of communication unit was longer than narratives produced under the No Instructions to Wait condition, for all 3 age groups. Narratives generated without picture stimuli, however, were longer than those produced under either pictur e condition. Clinical implications for those who work with children wi th language and learning disabilities are discussed.