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Article published In:
Narrative Inquiry
Vol. 30:1 (2020) ► pp.185–209

Vivid elements in Dutch educational texts

| Utrecht University
| Utrecht University
| Utrecht University
| Utrecht University

Educational publishers often make their expository texts more vivid, by making them emotionally interesting, concrete and imagery-provoking, and proximate in a sensory, temporal, or spatial way. Previous studies have found mixed results regarding the effects of vividness on the attractiveness, comprehensibility, and memorability of educational texts. In order to be able to account for these mixed results, we chart and describe the various ways in which educational texts can be made more vivid. Drawing from the literature on narrativity, we define prototypical narrative elements in the educational domain (i.e., particularized events, experiencing character, landscape of consciousness), and demonstrate that Dutch Social Studies and Science texts apply these elements in varying combinations. Subsequently, we illustrate how texts can be given a voice by imitating a direct, “here and now” author-student interaction.

Keywords: vividness, narrativity, voice, proximity, expository texts, educational texts, particularized events, experiencing character, landscape of consciousness
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Strategies of vividness: Narratives
    • 2.1What is a narrative?
    • 2.2Fully narrative texts
    • 2.3Expository texts with narrative characteristics
  • 3.Strategies of vividness: Elements of voice
  • 4.Discussion and conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 10 March 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ni.18090.san
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