Identifying pragmatic competence in the narrative of visually impaired secondary students: A clinical discourse analysis approach

This study aims to investigate the characteristics of narrative discourse among secondary students with visual impairments (VI) through Clinical Discourse Analysis (CDA) by Damico (1985), with a focus on pragmatic competence. Language samples were collected from 22 VI students (N= 22; n=7 in inclusive schools, n=15 in specialized schools) in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, who were asked to present three discourse situation (spatial direction, narrative and reasoning). All participants had total blindness or low vision without developmental disorders. The data were analyzed using quantitative measures: Mean Length of Utterance (MLU), Type-Token Ratio (TTR), grammatical accuracy, lexical category distribution, gesture behavior and combined with pragmatic analysis procedures in CDA. Findings revealed that students consistently used gestures and demonstrated overall grammatical stability; differences emerged between the two groups in terms of pragmatic performance, particularly in gesture appropriateness. The integration of quantitative data provided a comprehensive view of VI students’ communicative development. This combining of different data components contributed to better outcomes and offered effective communication support strategies within both inclusive and specialized educational settings. Keywords: Pragmatic competence, Clinical Discourse Analysis (CDA), Narrative discourse, Nonverbal communication, Blinds/ Visually Impaired (VI) Students.