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To examine micro- and macrolinguistic underpinnings of circumstantiality in temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), we examined the elicited narrative output of 15 individuals with TLE and 14 controls. To replicate and extend Field and colleagues' (2000) work, participants were asked to produce five immediately consecutive elicitations of an eight-frame cartoon "Cowboy Story" (Joanette et al., 1986). Following transcription and coding, detailed multi-level discourse analysis demonstrated a typical pattern of compression in controls. The narratives produced by individuals with TLE were less fluent, cohesive, and coherent across trials: producing fewer novel units and more repetitive and extraneous content. Significant group by trial interactions in sample length, spontaneous duration, and statements, were not explained by seizure burden, age, or lexical retrieval deficits. These findings suggest that they do not benefit from repeated engagement with a narrative in the same manner as controls. Disturbed social cognition and pragmatics in TLE might underpin communication inefficiencies. • A multi-centre multi-level discourse analysis examined narrative discourse in temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). • Individuals with TLE do not benefit from repeating a narrative in the same way that neurologically normal individuals do. • Individuals with TLE fail to compress discourse and instead introduce more repetitive and extraneous content. • Their narratives are less fluent, cohesive, and coherent than controls which reflects inefficient discourse processing. • Disturbed pragmatics in TLE might underpin communication inefficiencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within contemporary Western contexts, positive aging discourses are a key aspect of structured mandates for how to think about and act toward aging bodies. This study adds to previous work on embodiment that has situated how aging bodies are managed by focusing on the body as an aspect of retirement preparation, and critically considering how the imperative to govern the aging body in ways consistent with being a ‘good’ neoliberal citizen circulated through positive aging discourses is negotiated by aging individuals. Utilizing narrative data from a study addressing the discursive re-shaping and narrative negotiation of retirement within the Canadian context conducted with 30 informants aged 45 to 83, this paper draws upon a governmentality perspective to critically analyze ways informants talked about their aging bodies as part of preparing for and moving into retirement. Overall, the findings illustrate how informants embodied positive aging discourses and, in turn, embodied neoliberal rationality particularly in taking up the call to attend to the body as part of the broadening of retirement planning within a neoliberal context in which health, social, financial and other responsibilities are increasingly shifted toward individuals. Although informants described realizing some of the promises offered up with positive aging discourses, such as a sense of youthfulness and bodily control, their narratives also point to detrimental individual and social implications that can arise out of the limits of bodily practices, the need for perpetual risk management, an aversion to oldness, and attributions of failure. As such, this study raises concerns about the implications of the intersections of positive aging discourses and the neoliberal agenda of activation, responsibilization and individualization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes a discursive constructionist (DC) approach to narrative in second/foreign language teaching and learning research. We begin by sketching an historical and theoretical background of constructionism. Next, we describe how DC advances contemporary narrative research by prioritizing analysis of narrative construction , that is, the in situ mobilization of the constructed and constructive elements of discourse that story-tellers use to build narrative worlds. Drawing on an analysis of two narrative episodes from focus group research with ESL teachers, we examine the construction and versioning of narrative worlds, identities, and knowledge. We also consider an additional affordance that attends a DC approach to narrative research—methodography—which opens up for analysis the situated work of the researcher/data analyst. We conclude with suggestions for future applications of DC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]