Abstract

SPINILLO, Alina Galvão  and  MARTINS, Raul Aragão. An analysis of children´s production of a coherent story . Psicol. Reflex. Crit. [online]. 1997, vol.10, n.2, pp. 219-248. ISSN 0102-7972.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0102-79721997000200004.

Textual coherence refers to a process that accounts for the formation of meaning in a text. Usually researches have focused on: (a) a linguistic approach without considering a developmental perspective; and (b) the individual who receives a text, neglecting the means by which the narrator achieves textual coherence when producing a text. On a developmental perspective, this study attempts to capture the narrator´s ability and difficulties to establish a coherent text when producing a story. An analysis of 6-and 7-year-old children´s stories was undertaken to explore specific features of textual coherence. This analysis led to a set of levels of textual coherence which suggests that the development of coherence is related to the acquisition of literacy. The discussion points out that little effort has been done to devise a system of analysis that contributes to the study of textual coherence in children, in spite of its importance.

Keywords : textual coherence; stories; development; system of analysis.