Performance of preschool and schoolchildren on the ProNOH protocol: macrostructure aspects

To investigate if the narrative score of the ProNOH protocol allows for discriminating age groups, as well as its relation with the global coherence level of the story. The performance of preschool and schoolchildren on the macrostructure aspects.

Participants were 97 preschoolers and schoolchildren with typical language development, aged between five and 12 years old, and both sexes who attended public schools. The "Protocolo de Avaliação da Narrativa Oral de História (ProNOH)" (Protocol for the Evaluation of Oral Storytelling) was applied and the narrative score in the macrostructure dimension was calculated with story grammar elements. These same story elements were used to obtain the global coherence level of the story, as proposed by Spinillo and Martins (1997).

A statistically significant difference was found between age groups, mainly between the borderline ages of 5-6 years, 7-8 years, 9-10 years, and 11-12 years. Positive and statistically significant correlations were found between the narrative score and global coherence and age, as well as between the narrative score and global coherence.

The protocol proved to be useful for identifying the repertoire of typical story grammar elements as an objective measure that differs in oral narrative across age groups. The results also indicate that the narrative score can provide an idea about the global coherence of the story, although this value does not replace a specific analysis.