Cohesion in the narratives of good and poor readers.

Reading requires the ability to process language in a manner that is decontextualized from any ongoing event. One hundred and fifty high and low achieving kindergarten and first-grade children were evaluated for differences in the use of decontextualized language. Subjects were required to retell a story to a listener. The cohesion present in the stories was evaluated for (a) propositional completeness and relevance (unity) and (b) clarity (coherence). Results indicated that low achievers in reading, irrespective of grade level, exhibit less cohesion in their use of decontextualized language.