A pilot study: Examining the microstructural and macrostructural narrative measures in bilingual preschool aged children
Abstract
Purpose: Research has identified narratives as accurate and reliable predictors of language skills, yet little is documented on the microstructural and macrostructural narrative production of preschool aged bilingual children. This pilot study examined the microstructure and macrostructure elements of narratives in these children to provide preliminary data for further research. Method: This study examined the narrative skills of 11 bilingual children between the ages of 3 and 4. Narrative retells in Spanish were elicited and were analyzed for the microstructural measures of lexical diversity (NDW) and productivity (TNW and MLU) measures and for the their macrostructural Narrative Scoring Scheme (NSS) scores. Results: The descriptive data for the NSS scores suggests that typically developing 3-4-year-old preschool children produced narratives between minimal/immature (NSS score of 0 or 1) and emerging levels (NSS score of 2 or 3) of narrative structure and content. The macrostructural NSS measures were significantly correlated to lexical diversity (NDW) and productivity (TNW and MLU) microstructural measures. The NDW was significantly correlated to all seven macrostructural content and structural NSS characteristics. The TNW was significantly correlated to all NSS characteristics except for introduction. Lastly, the MLU was significantly correlated with the participants' abilities to use referencing within in their narratives. Conclusions: The results of this examination indicated that typically developing 3 and 4 year-old bilingual children are unable to provide macrostructurally emergent or proficient narratives as measured through the NSS. However, the macrostructural NSS measures of the narratives were strongly correlated to the children's lexical diversity and productivity measures (NDW, TNW).
Subject Area
Speech therapy
Recommended Citation
Esparza, Caroline, "A pilot study: Examining the microstructural and macrostructural narrative measures in bilingual preschool aged children" (2014). ETD Collection for University of Texas, El Paso. AAI1557756.
https://scholarworks.utep.edu/dissertations/AAI1557756