Pragmatics in the elementary school years: the contribute of mental state language used in narrative and persuasive texts

The purpose of the current study was to verify whether mental state language (MSL), as derived from narrative and persuasive writings, impacted on pragmatic abilities. Seventy-five third-grade and 84 fifth-grade pupils were enrolled. The study involved two assessment time-points. At T1, narrative and persuasive writing tasks were administered, and MSL was obtained for the both kinds of the tasks. Three months later at T2, pragmatic abilities were evaluated. Results showed that MSL used in persuasive text predicted pragmatic ability only among the fifth graders, controlling for gender. These results were discussed through the lens of past investigations and new lines of research were suggested for educational context.