Tarbiat Modares University Language Related Research 2322-3081 Articles in Press 2025 07 13 Connectivity in Written Personal and Fictional Narratives: The Study of Iranian EFL Learners and Native Speakers of Persian and English Connectivity in Written Personal and Fictional Narratives: The Study of Iranian EFL Learners and Native Speakers of Persian and English 7231 10.48311/lrr.2025.7231 FA Zahra Yazdanpanah Lecturer of English Teaching, Department of English Language and Literature, Islamic Azad University, Larestan Branch, Larestan, Iran. Majid Nemati Associate Professor of English Teaching, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literature, Tehran University, Tehran, Iran. 0000-0001-6129-8873 Amir Zand-Moghadam Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics, Department of English Language and Literature Adjunct, Department of Linguistics, Allameh Tabataba'I University (ATU), Tehran, Iran. Journal Article 2025 07 13 The present study aimed to examine the use of different levels of syntactic architecture in written personal and fictional narratives in both Persian and English across three discourse communities, namely Persian native speakers, English native speakers, and Iranian EFL learners. To this end, the participants of the study were selected based on convenience sampling and were asked to write one of their happiest memories. Also, an English fable from Aseop's fables and a Persian story, chosen based on comparative literature and having the similar plot, were given to them to read and write whatever they remembered; there was no limit on the number of words and paragraphs. To analyze the data, the Berman and Nir-Sagiv's (2009) model was followed. The findings showed that in fictional narratives written by both Persian and English native speakers, isotaxis, asymmetric parataxis, complement (CMP), and parataxis levels were frequently employed; however, personal narratives in Persian were dominantly isotactic, paratactic, and asymmetric paratactic, CMP, while isotactic, hypotactic, and paratactic levels were frequent in English written personal narratives. Also, after receiving explicit instruction on different types of English sentences, the use of adverbial and relative clauses (hypotaxis level) increased in Iranian EFL learners' written narratives. It can be concluded that explicit teaching of syntactic levels enabled EFL learners to arrange their sentences correctly to express their intended meaning. Teachers can benefit from the results to gain a more comprehensive understanding of narrative connectivity and help EFL learners elaborate clause linkage in their written narrative tasks. The present study aimed to examine the use of different levels of syntactic architecture in written personal and fictional narratives in both Persian and English across three discourse communities, namely Persian native speakers, English native speakers, and Iranian EFL learners. To this end, the participants of the study were selected based on convenience sampling and were asked to write one of their happiest memories. Also, an English fable from Aseop's fables and a Persian story, chosen based on comparative literature and having the similar plot, were given to them to read and write whatever they remembered; there was no limit on the number of words and paragraphs. To analyze the data, the Berman and Nir-Sagiv's (2009) model was followed. The findings showed that in fictional narratives written by both Persian and English native speakers, isotaxis, asymmetric parataxis, complement (CMP), and parataxis levels were frequently employed; however, personal narratives in Persian were dominantly isotactic, paratactic, and asymmetric paratactic, CMP, while isotactic, hypotactic, and paratactic levels were frequent in English written personal narratives. Also, after receiving explicit instruction on different types of English sentences, the use of adverbial and relative clauses (hypotaxis level) increased in Iranian EFL learners' written narratives. It can be concluded that explicit teaching of syntactic levels enabled EFL learners to arrange their sentences correctly to express their intended meaning. Teachers can benefit from the results to gain a more comprehensive understanding of narrative connectivity and help EFL learners elaborate clause linkage in their written narrative tasks.