Patterns of Discourse Coherence: Variations in Genre Performance in Children with Language Impairment

Abstract

Background: The purpose of this investigation was to compare the discourse coherence of 36 children with language impairment (LI) who produced 3 types of genres: scripts, personal narratives, and procedural discourse. Method: The children described in random order a routine activity, personal experience, and a favorite game. The genres were analyzed for length, syntactic complexity, topic maintenance, informativeness, and fluency. Results: Scripts resulted in short, simple, and fluent utterances. Personal narratives and procedural discourse were similar in their length, informativeness, and fluency. Procedures were more syntactically complex and on topic than personal narratives. Conclusions: Children with LI are influenced by discourse genre. Clinical Implications: Different discourse genres should be compared in clinical assessments. Intervention should include different discourse genres in order to maximize a child's social, communicative, and classroom discourse.