Narrative Production in Arabic-speaking Adolescents with and without Hearing Loss

The present study investigated oral personal narratives elicited from Arabic speaking adolescents with and without hearing loss. Analyses focused on macrostructure, microstructure, and Modern Standard Arabic (MSA). For macrostructure, narratives were examined for structural components (abstract, orientation, complication, evaluation, resolution, and coda) and narrative patterns: classic (a high point followed by a resolution), high point ending, chronological, and leap frogging (jumps from one event to another). Microstructure included morpho-syntactic errors and complex sentences. MSA features were lexis and syntax. The narratives of adolescents with hearing loss tended to lack an evaluation component (expressing the narrator's perspective), contained more morpho-syntactic errors, fewer complex sentences, and fewer expressions of MSA than narratives of their hearing peers. Findings are discussed in terms of dissociation between macrostructure and microstructure in an attempt to shed light on those features of narrative which might benefit clinicians and educators working with Arabic speaking adolescents with hearing loss.