The Use of Cohesive Devices in the Written Narratives of Persian Speaking Students with and without Specific Learning Disorders in grade5

In this research, writings of students with/without specific learning disorders in Tehran is investigated and compared regarding the use of cohesive devices. The research method is Ex Post Facto or Causal Comparative. Halliday and Matthiessen's (2004) systemic functional approach was applied for analyzing the data. 13 boys with learning disorder and 13 boys without learning disorders were selected through random sampling. The informants were 10:6 to 12:00 (year: month) old 5th graders who were chosen among students enrolled in learning diability centeres and public schools in Tehran. Three researcher-made subtests (reading, visual, and listening) were administered for gathering the written data. Descriptive statistics (maximum and minimum, mean, frequency, and frequency percentage) were used to describe the data. Then, Multi Analysis of Variation (MANOVA) was used to analyze the significance between the differences of frequencies of cohesive devices. Results showed that only for reading subtest, the difference of frequency of usage in the written narratives between students with and without learning disorder is significant if =α0/05.