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Competence with oral narrative discourse is associated with both reading comprehension and academic achievement in general. However, most research on narratives has been conducted with monolingual English speaking children and the theoretical frameworks used to measure narrative skills are predominantly based on what is known about the narrative skills of this population. There has been much less research examining the narrative skills of English language learners (ELLs) and how to best assess these skills. This exploratory study examined the characteristics of the English oral narratives of Spanish-speaking ELLs (SS-ELLs). The narrative data are a subset of data collected as part of a model demonstration project conducted by faculty from The University of Texas in partnership with a central Texas school district. The student sample included 42 SS-ELLs enrolled in a bilingual second grade classroom. Transcripts of stories told in response to a picture prompt were coded and analyzed according to three narrative scoring systems: story grammar analysis, Narrative Assessment Profile, and Narrative Scoring Scheme. Results of these analyses were used to: 1) describe the qualities of the English oral stories of Spanish-speaking ELLs in terms of their organization and production; 2) examine how each scoring system characterizes the sample in terms of expected performance according to its criteria; 3) identify the stable features of narratives whose performance is rated consistently across measures and aspects of scoring systems that are well matched and mismatched to evaluate those features; and 4) identify characteristics of scoring systems that produce information that is useful to instructional planning for SS-ELLs in ESL settings. Recommendations for analyzing the oral narratives of SS-ELLs in ways that are reliable and useful to instructional planning are offered. / text

This study investigates the concurrent and predictive validity of Power Management (PM), a newly developed online integrative therapeutic assessment. PM consists of a self-report personality inventory, the Relational Modality Evaluation Scale (RMES), a series of self-guided narrative prompts, and a detailed follow-up score-report. The study had three aims: (1) to evaluate the convergent validity of the RMES in relation to the Big Five Inventory-10 (BFI-10) and the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems Short-Circumplex (IIP-SC), (2) to investigate the test re-test reliability of the RMES, and (3) to investigate the therapeutic benefits of PM by comparing it with narrative and mindfulness self-guided interventions over time, on outcome measures evaluating affect, insight, psychopathology, well-being, self-esteem, ability to change, and personal relevance. Aim 3 was investigated using a short-term longitudinal design, in which outcome measures were administered at baseline (before interventions), immediately following interventions (post), and two weeks later (follow-up). The sample was recruited online through Mechanical Turk and at baseline included 82 men and 101 women, mean age = 35.82 years (SD = 9.61). Participants were randomly assigned to one of three interventions: PM (42 men, 56 women), narrative writing (26 men, 25 women), and mindfulness (14 men, 20 women). For Aim 1, partial correlations, controlling for demographics, identified statistically significant relationships between RMES, BFI-10, and IIP-SC subscales predicting personality constructs with high agency and high affiliation, high agency and low affiliation, low agency and high affiliation, low agency and low affiliation, as well as psychopathology. For Aim 2, The RMES showed strong test re-test reliability over a two-week period (r = .84, p < .000). For Aim 3, mixed-model repeated-measures ANOVAs indicated that the PM group had statistically significantly higher scores on outcome measures reflecting increased psychological well-being, insight, and motivation for change compared to the other groups. Scores improved between baseline and post for most psychotherapy outcome constructs across interventions. Gender mostly did not moderate results. Results suggest that PM is a promising therapeutic assessment worthy of further investigation. Mindfulness and narrative writing also showed evidence of effectiveness as delivered in an online format.