Coda

The present study was an attempt to investigate the probable differences between narratives as rehearsed by EFL language learners of two different English proficiencies. It aimed to find out how narrative elements ( abstract , orientation , main action , results , and coda ) are recounted differently by EFL language learners of different English proficiencies. To this end, 250 personal oral narratives were recorded through classroom discussions and interviews. Two hundred participants were asked to narrate a personal story in the classroom, and the other 50 were interviewed. The analysis focused on narratives structure to discover how knowledge of target language might affect the way language learners construct English narratives. The collected data were interpreted according to Labov and Waletzky’s (1967) and Labov’s (1972) analytical models. The results revealed that upper-intermediate language learners reported more organized, chronological, logical, and to the point stories than pre-intermediate ones. The difference was in orientation , main action , and result parts. Neither group of language learners expressed the abstract and coda sections.

In Persian, the only syllable type with consonant clusters is cvcc, where its coda can be filled with two consonants. The present article attempts to find whether these two consonant conform the sonority sequencing principle or not. For this reason, the Persian words with cvcc syllable type are gathered from Persian dictionaries and are classified based on the vowel filling the nucleus of the syllables and the consonants in the first or second slot of the coda and the following results were obtained: a. Sonority sequencing principle is confirmed in clusters nuclei are /i,u,a/. b. Sonority sequencing principle is rejected in clusters with vowels /æ, e,o/. c. Based on sonority sequencing principle, vowels in Persian make up two natural classes namely / æ, e,o/ and /i,u,a/.

Most popular models of narratives and narrative analyses have been drawn on native stories, yet EFL learners’ narratives have not received due narrative analysis. The present study then aims at scrutinizing the structure of personal English stories as told by EFL learners. To this aim, three hundred narratives were collected through classroom discussions and interviews. Qualitative analysis methods were utilized to find how narratives were recounted. The results of data analyses indicated that EFL learners’ narratives consisted of 4 parts with the abstract and coda sections absent from them. Besides, there were other differences between the collected narratives and those told by English native speakers.