Connecting L1 and L2 acquisition: From the perspective of macro and micro narrative structure

Abstract The studies presented in this paper connect the story-related quality and the language-related quality of narrative discourse. The term “coherence” refers to whether or not a text makes sense at a global level, whereas “cohesion” describes the linguistic relationships among clauses in a narrative, such as how the surface linguistic elements of a text are linked to one another at a local level. Using a content-based narrative analysis, a trilogy – a set of three independent but interrelated studies – introduced in this paper quantitatively analyze oral personal narratives through three lenses. As examples of devices for cohesion, the paper qualitatively examines the use of two linguistic devices, tense (past and non-past) and voice (active and passive), and tries to show how narrators deploy organizational strategies in the use of these linguistic forms. The paper (1) examines varied topics in different narrative contexts (genre, topic, oral or written), (2) reveals how both coherence and cohesion serve as the twin engines of narrative, and (3) emphasizes the significance of paying attention not only to the narrative content/structure but also to the appropriate use of linguistic devices so that we can fully grasp language-specific ways of expressing affective elements in narrative.