The influence of genre on adolescent discourse skills: Do narratives tell the whole story?

Purpose: Narrative is the dominant focus of traditional standardised discourse assessment, yet the complex discourse needs of adolescence has led to increased interest in profiling skills in other monologic genres for this age group. This interest is not commensurate with a robust understanding of the influence of genre on adolescent discourse across word to whole-text language features. This knowledge is important to inform context(s) for assessment to profile strengths and weaknesses in discourse-level language. Method: One hundred and sixty adolescents between 12 and 15 years (M= 13;1, SD= 1;1, 55% female, 45% male) completed the Curtin University Discourse Protocol – Adolescent. Samples of recount, narrative, expository and persuasive discourse were coded using a multi-level analysis procedure. Result: Genre had a significant influence on language variables regardless of age. Narrative tasks citied the longest, most lexically diverse, cohesive, coherent and well-structured output. Results were consistent with the oral to literate continuum and the order in which genres are introduced in the academic curriculum. Conclusion: Structure, content and domain-specific knowledge likely influenced the genre-related differences seen in this study. It would be advantageous to sample a range of monologic genres when assessing adolescent discourse. Declarative knowledge may be an important consideration in topic selection.研究背景：传统标准化话语评估以叙事文体为核心聚焦对象，但青少年群体所面临的复杂话语需求，使得学界对该年龄段其他独白类文体的话语技能画像研究兴趣日渐攀升。然而，当前学界对文体如何影响青少年话语（从词汇特征到整体文本语言特征）的深入认知，并未与这类研究兴趣相匹配。此类认知对于确定评估语境、进而刻画话语层面语言能力的优势与不足具有重要指导价值。 研究方法：招募160名12至15岁青少年（平均年龄M=13;1，即13岁1个月，标准差SD=1;1，即1岁1个月；女性占比55%，男性占比45%）完成科廷大学青少年话语测评范式（Curtin University Discourse Protocol – Adolescent）。对复述、叙事、说明性及说服性话语样本采用多层级编码分析流程进行编码。 研究结果：无论年龄如何，文体对语言变量均存在显著影响。叙事任务产出的话语在长度、词汇多样性、衔接性、连贯性及结构完整性上均表现最优。该结果与口语-书面语连续体（oral to literate continuum）以及学术课程中各类文体的引入顺序相一致。 研究结论：结构、内容及领域特定知识或为本研究中观察到的文体相关差异的影响因素。在评估青少年话语能力时，采样覆盖多种独白类文体将具有显著优势。陈述性知识（declarative knowledge）或许是话题选择时的重要考量因素。