Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T14:14:09.912Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The narrative macrostructure production of Spanish–English bilingual preschoolers: Within- and cross-language relations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 October 2019

Dana Bitetti Open the ORCID record for Dana Bitetti [Opens in a new window] ,
Carol Scheffner Hammer  and
Lisa M. López Open the ORCID record for Lisa M. López [Opens in a new window]
Dana Bitetti*
Affiliation:
La Salle University
Carol Scheffner Hammer
Affiliation:
Teachers College, Columbia University
Lisa M. López
Affiliation:
University of South Florida
*
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Despite the importance of understanding the narrative abilities of bilingual children, minimal research has focused on Spanish–English bilingual preschoolers. Therefore, this study examined the cross-language macrostructure and within-language microstructure relations in the English and Spanish narratives of bilingual preschoolers and examined whether language dominance impacted these relations. Narratives were elicited from 200 preschool-aged children of Latino heritage. Microstructure measures included the number of different words, the mean length of utterance in words, and the subordination index. The narrative scoring scheme measured macrostructure (Heilmann, Miller, Nockerts, & Dunaway, 2010). Using standardized language testing of expressive vocabulary and sentence comprehension, the children were classified into two groups: balanced dominance and Spanish dominant. Results revealed that English macrostructure and Spanish macrostructure were not related after controlling for microstructure measures within languages. Children’s microstructure abilities in each language were strongly related to their macrostructure abilities within that language. Dominance did not moderate these relations. Consistent with previous research on school-age children, vocabulary was a unique predictor of macrostructure production. This study highlights the additional importance of utterance length within both languages to macrostructure during the preschool years. The absence of unique cross-language macrostructure relations and the absence of dominance group moderation may have been due to the immaturity of the children’s narratives.

Keywords

bilinguallanguage dominancenarrativepreschoolSpanish
Type
Original Article
Information
Applied Psycholinguistics , Volume 41 , Issue 1 , January 2020 , pp. 79 - 106
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2019 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aiken, L. S., & West, S. G. (1991). Multiple regression: Testing and interpreting interactions. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Altman, C., Armon-Lotem, S., Fichman, S., & Walters, J. (2016). Macrostructure, microstructure, and mental state terms in the narratives of English–Hebrew bilingual preschool children with and without specific language impairment. Applied Psycholinguistics, 37, 165–193. doi: 10.1017/S0142716415000466 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Álvarez, E. (2003). Character introduction in two languages: Its development in the stories of a Spanish-English bilingual child age 6;11–10;11. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 6, 227–243. doi: 10.1017/S1366728903001159 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Applebee, A. (1978). The child’s concept of story: Ages two to seven. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Bajaj, A. (2007). Analysis of oral narratives of children who stutter and their fluent peers: Kindergarten through second grade. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics, 21, 227–245. doi: 10.1080/02699200601075896 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bedore, L. M., Peña, E. D., Gillam, R. B., & Ho, T. H. (2010). Language sample measures and language ability in Spanish-English bilingual kindergarteners. Journal of Communication Disorders, 43, 498–510. doi: 10.1016/j.jcomdis.2010.05.002 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bedore, L. M., Peña, E. D., Summers, C. L., Boerger, K. M., Resendiz, M. D., Greene, K., … Gillam, R. B. (2012). The measure matters: Language dominance profiles across measures in Spanish–English bilingual children. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 15, 616–629. doi: 10.1017/S1366728912000090 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Berman, R. (1988). On the ability to relate events in narrative. Discourse Processes, 11, 469–497. doi: 10.1080/01638538809544714 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berman, R. A., & Slobin, D. I. (Eds.) (1994). Relating events in narrative: A crosslinguistic developmental study. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Bialystok, E. (2001). Bilingualism in development: Language, literacy and cognition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Birdsong, D. (2014). Dominance and age in bilingualism. Applied Linguistics, 35, 1–20. doi: 10.1093/applin/amu031 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Botvin, G. J., & Sutton-Smith, B. (1977). The development of structural complexity in children’s fantasy narratives. Developmental Psychology, 13, 377–388. doi: 10.1037//0012-1649.13.4.377 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cleave, P. L., Girolametto, L. E., Chen, X., & Johnson, C. J. (2010). Narrative abilities in monolingual and dual language learning children with specific language impairment. Journal of Communication Disorders, 43, 511–522. doi: 10.1016/j.jcomdis.2010.05.005 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Crais, E. R., & Lorch, N. (1994). Oral narratives in school-age children. Topics in Language Disorders, 14, 13–28. doi: 10.1097/00011363-199405000-00004 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cummins, J. (1979). Linguistic interdependence and the educational development of bilingual children. Review of Educational Research, 49, 222–251.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Curenton, S. M. (2006). Oral storytelling: A cultural art that promotes school readiness. Young Children, 61, 78–89.Google Scholar
Dart, S. (1992). Narrative style in the two languages of a bilingual child. Journal of Child Language, 19, 367–387. doi: 10.1017/s0305000900011454 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dasinger, L., & Toupin, C. (1994). The development of relative clause functions in narrative. In Berman, R. & Slobin, D. (Eds.), Relating events in narrative: A crosslinguistic developmental study (pp. 457–514). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Dearing, E., & Hamilton, L. C. (2006). Contemporary advances and classic advice for analyzing mediating and moderating variables. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 71, 88–104.Google Scholar
Dixon, L. Q., Zhao, J., Shin, J.-Y., Wu, S., Su, J.-H., Burgess-Brigham, R., … Snow, C. (2012). What we know about second language acquisition: A synthesis from four perspectives. Review of Educational Research, 82, 5–60. doi: 10.3102/0034654311433587 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Espinosa, L. M. (2013). PreK–3rd: Challenging common myths about dual language learners: An update to the Seminal 2008 Report (PreK-3rd Policy to Action Brief No. 10). New York: Foundation for Child Development.Google Scholar
Feagans, L., & Appelbaum, M. I. (1986). Validation of language subtypes in learning disabled children. Journal of Educational Psychology, 78, 358–364. doi: 10.1037/0022-0663.78.5.358 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fiestas, C. E., & Peña, E. D. (2004). Narrative discourse in bilingual children: Language and task effects. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 35, 155–168. doi: 10.1044/0161-1461(2004/016)CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Finestack, L. H., Palmer, M., & Abbeduto, L. (2012). Macrostructural narrative language of adolescents and young adults with Down syndrome or Fragile X syndrome. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 21, 29–46. doi: 10.1044/1058-0360(2011/10-0095) CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Genesee, F., Paradis, J., & Crago, M. (2004). Dual language development and disorders: A handbook on bilingualism and second language learning. Baltimore, MD: Brookes.Google Scholar
Gorman, B. K., Bingham, G. E., Fiestas, C. E., & Terry, N. P. (2016). Assessing the narrative abilities of Spanish-speaking preschool children: A Spanish adaptation of the narrative assessment protocol. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 36, 307–317. doi: 10.1016/j.ecresq.2015.12.025 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Griffin, T. M., Hemphill, L., Camp, L., & Wolf, D. P. (2004). Oral discourse in the preschool years and later literacy skills. First Language, 24, 123–147. doi: 10.11770142723704042369 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gummersall, D. M., & Strong, C. J. (1999). Assessment of complex sentence production in a narrative context. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 30, 152–164. doi: 10.1044/0161-1461.3002.152 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gutiérrez-Clellen, V. F. (1998). Syntactic skills of Spanish-speaking children with low school achievement. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 29, 207–215. doi: 10.1044/0161-1461.2904.207 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gutiérrez-Clellen, V. F., & Hofstetter, R. (1994). Syntactic complexity in Spanish narratives: A developmental study. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 37, 645–654. doi: 10.1044/jshr.3703.645 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gutiérrez-Clellen, V. F., Restrepo, M., Bedore, L., Peña, E., & Anderson, R. (2000). Language sample analysis in Spanish-speaking children: Methodological considerations. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 31, 88–98. doi: 10.1044/0161-1461.3101.88 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hammer, C. S., Hoff, E., Uchikoshi, Y., Gillanders, C., Castro, D. C., & Sandilos, L. E. (2014). The language and literacy development of young dual language learners: A critical review. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 29, 715–733. doi: 10.1016/j.ecresq.2014.05.008 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hao, Y., Bedore, L. M., Sheng, L., & Peña, E. D. (2018). Narrative skills in two languages of Mandarin–English bilingual children, International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology. Advance online publication. doi:10.1080/17549507.2018.1444092 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heilmann, J., Miller, J. F., Iglesias, A., Fabiano-Smith, L., Nockerts, A., & Andriacchi, K. D. (2008). Narrative transcription accuracy and reliability in two languages. Topics in Language Disorders, 28, 178–188. doi: 10.1097/01.TLD.0000318937.39301.76 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heilmann, J., Miller, J. F., & Nockerts, A. (2010). Sensitivity of narrative organization measures using narrative retells produced by young school-age children. Language Testing, 27, 603–626. doi: 10.1177/0265532209355669 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heilmann, J., Miller, J. F., Nockerts, A., & Dunaway, C. (2010). Properties of the narrative scoring scheme using narrative retells in young school-age children. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 19, 154–166. doi: 10.1044/1058-0360(2009/08-0024) CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hudson, J. A., & Shapiro, L. R. (1991). From knowing to telling: The development of children’s scripts, stories, and personal narratives. In McCabe, A. & Peterson, C. (Eds.), Developing narrative structure (pp. 89–136). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Hughes, D., McGillivray, L., & Schmidek, M. (1997). Guide to narrative language: Procedures for assessment. Eau Claire, WI: Thinking Publications.Google Scholar
IBM Corp. (2015). IBM SPSS Statistics for Mac, Version 23.0. Armonk, NY: Author.Google Scholar
Iluz-Cohen, P., & Armon-Lotem, S. (2013). Language proficiency and executive control in bilingual children. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 16, 884–899. doi: 10.1017/S1366728912000788 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Iluz-Cohen, P., & Walters, J. (2012). Telling stories in two languages: Narratives of bilingual preschool children with typical and impaired language. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 15, 58–74. doi: 10.1017/S1366728911000538 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jisa, H., & Kern, S. (1995). Discourse organisation in French children’s narratives. Child Language Research Forum, 26, 177–188. Stanford, CA: Stanford Linguistics Association, CSLI Publications.Google Scholar
Kang, J. Y. (2012). How do narrative and language skills relate to each other? Investigation of young Korean EFL learners’ oral narratives. Narrative Inquiry, 22, 307–331. doi: 10.1075/ni.22.2.06yus CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kapalková, S., Polišenská, K., Marková, L., & Fenton, J. (2016). Narrative abilities in early successive bilingual Slovak-English children: A cross-language comparison. Applied Psycholinguistics, 37, 145–164. doi: 10.1017/S0142716415000454 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
King, D., Dockrell, J., & Stuart, M. (2014). Constructing fictional stories: A study of story narratives by children with autistic spectrum disorder. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 35, 2438–2449. doi: 10.1016/j.ridd.2014.06.015 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kohnert, K., Kan, P. F., & Conboy, B. T. (2010). Lexical and grammatical associations in sequential bilingual preschoolers. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 53, 684–698. doi: 10.1044/1092-4388(2009/08-0126) CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Krogstad, J. M., & Gonzalez-Barrera, A. (2015). A majority of English-speaking Hispanics in the U.S. are bilingual. Pew Research Center: Hispanic Trends. Retrieved from http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/03/24/a-majority-of-english-speaking-hispanics-in-the-u-s-are-bilingual/ Google Scholar
Kunnari, S., Välimaa, T., & Laukkanen-Nevala, P. (2016). Macrostructure in the narratives of monolingual Finnish and bilingual Finnish–Swedish children. Applied Psycholinguistics, 37, 1–30. doi:10.1017/S0142716415000442 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kupersmitt, J., & Berman, R. A. (2001). Linguistic features of Spanish-Hebrew children’s narratives. In Verhoeven, L. & Strömqvist, S. (Eds.), Narrative development in a multilingual context (pp. 277–318). Philadelphia, PA: Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Loban, W. (1976). Language development: Kindergarten through grade twelve. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.Google Scholar
Lucero, A. (2015). Cross-linguistic lexical, grammatical, and discourse performance on oral narrative retells among young Spanish speakers. Child Development, 86, 1419–1433. doi: 10.1111/cdev.12387 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mandler, J. M., & Johnson, N. S. (1977). Remembrance of things parsed: Story structure and recall. Cognitive Psychology, 9, 111–151. doi: 10.1016/0010-0285(77)90006-8 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mathematica Policy Research Institute. (2013). Report to Congress on Dual Language Learners in Head Start and Early Head Start Programs, Executive Summary. Retrieved September 29, 2013, from http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/opre/resource/report-to-congress-on-dual-language-learners-in-head-start-and-early-head Google Scholar
Mayer, M. (1975). One frog too many. New York: Puffin.Google Scholar
Mayer, M., & Mayer, M. (1971). A boy, a dog, a frog and a friend. New York: Dial Books for Young Readers.Google Scholar
Méndez, L. I., Perry, J., Holt, Y., Bian, H., & Fafulas, S. (2018). Same or different: Narrative retells in bilingual Latino kindergarten children. Bilingual Research Journal, 41, 150–166. doi: 10.1080/15235882.2018.1456984 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, J. (1981). Assessing language production in young children. Austin, TX: Pro-Ed.Google Scholar
Miller, J., Heilmann, J., Nockerts, A., Iglesias, A., Fabiano, L., & Francis, D. J. (2006). Oral language and reading in bilingual children. Learning Disabilities Research and Practice, 21, 30–43. doi: 10.1111/j.1540-5826.2006.00205.x CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, J., & Iglesias, A. (2012). Systematic Analysis of Language Transcripts (SALT) Research Version 2012. Middleton, WI: SALT Software.Google Scholar
Montanari, S. (2004). The development of narrative competence in the L1 and L2 of Spanish-English bilingual children. International Journal of Bilingualism, 8, 449–497. doi: 10.1177/13670069040080040301 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Murphey, D., Guzman, L., & Torres, A. (2014). America’s Hispanic children: Gaining ground, looking forward. Washington, DC: Child Trends. Retrieved from http://www.childtrends.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/2014-38AmericaHispanicChildren.pdf Google Scholar
Pearson, B. Z. (2002). Narrative competence among monolingual and bilingual school children in Miami. In Oller, D. K. & Eilers, R. E. (Eds.), Language and literacy in bilingual children (pp. 135–174). Buffalo, NY: Multilingual Matters.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peterson, C., & McCabe, A. (1983). Developmental psycholinguistics: Three ways of looking at a child’s narrative. New York: Plenum Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peterson, C., & McCabe, A. (1991). Linking children’s connective use and narrative macrostructure. In McCabe, A. & Peterson, C. (Eds.), Developing narrative structure (pp. 29–53). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Rezzonico, S., Goldberg, A., Mak, K. K., Yap, S., Milburn, T., Belletti, A., & Girolametto, L. (2016). Narratives in two languages: Storytelling of bilingual Cantonese–English preschoolers. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 59, 521–532. doi: 10.1044/2015_JSLHR-L-15-0052 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Roch, M., Florit, E., & Levorato, C. (2016). Narrative competence of Italian–English bilingual children between 5 and 7 years. Applied Psycholinguistics, 37, 49–67. doi: 10.1017/S0142716415000417 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rodina, Y. (2017). Narrative abilities of preschool bilingual Norwegian-Russian children. International Journal of Bilingualism, 21, 617–635. doi: 10.1177/1367006916643528 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rolla San Francisco, A., Carlo, M., August, D., & Snow, C. E. (2006). The role of language of instruction and vocabulary in the English phonological awareness of Spanish–English bilingual children. Applied Psycholinguistics, 27, 229–246. doi: 10.1017/S0142716406060267 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosselli, M., Ardila, A., Santisi, M. N., Arecco, M. D. R., Salvatierra, J., Conde, A., & Lenis, B. (2002). Stroop effect in Spanish-English bilinguals. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 8, 819–827. doi: 10.1017/S1355617702860106 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Scott, C. M. (1988). A perspective on the evaluation of school children’s narratives. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 19, 67–82. doi: 10.1044/0161-1461.1901.67 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shapiro, L., & Hudson, J. (1991). Tell me a make-believe story: Coherence and cohesion in young children’s picture-elicited narratives. Developmental Psychology, 27, 960–974. doi: 10.1037/0012-1649.27.6.960 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Silliman, E. R., Bahr, R. H., Brea, M. R., Hnath-Chisolm, T., & Mahecha, N. R. (2002). Spanish and English proficiency in the linguistic encoding of mental states in narrative retellings. Linguistics and Education, 13, 199–234. doi: 10.1016/S0898-5898(01)00062-6 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Silva-Corvalán, C., & Treffers-Daller, J. (2016). Digging into dominance: A closer look at language dominance in bilinguals. In Silva-Corvalán, C. & Treffers-Daller, J. (Eds.), Language dominance in bilinguals: Issues of measurement and operationalization. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simon-Cereijido, G., & Gutiérrez-Clellen, V. F. (2009). A cross-linguistic and bilingual evaluation of the interdependence between lexical and grammatical domains. Applied Psycholinguistics, 30, 315–337. doi: 10.1017/s0142716409090134 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Squires, K. E., Lugo-Neris, M. J., Peña, E. D., Bedore, L. M., Bohman, T. M., & Gillam, R. B. (2014). Story retelling by bilingual children with language impairments and typically developing controls. International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders, 49, 60–74. doi: 10.1111/1460-6984.12044 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stein, N. L., & Albro, E. R. (1997). Building complexity and coherence: Children’s use of goal structured knowledge in telling stories. In Bamberg, M. (Ed.), Narrative development: Six approaches (pp. 5–44). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Strong, C. J. (1998). The Strong narrative assessment procedure. Eau Claire, WI: Thinking Publications.Google Scholar
Tabors, P. O., Snow, C. E., & Dickinson, D. K. (2001). Homes and schools together: Supporting language and literacy development. In Dickinson, D. K. & Tabors, P. O. (Eds.), Beginning literacy with language: Young children learning at home and school (pp. 313–334). Baltimore, MD: Brookes.Google Scholar
Trabasso, T., & Rodkin, P. (1994). Knowledge of goal/plans: A conceptual basis for narrating Frog, where are you . In Berman, R. A. & Slobin, D. I. (Eds.), Relating events in narrative: A cross linguistic developmental study. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Trabasso, T., Stein, N., Rodkin, P., Park Munger, M., & Baughn, C. (1992). Knowledge of goals and plans in the on-line narration of events. Cognitive Development, 7, 133–170. doi: 10.1016/0885-2014(92)90009-G CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Treffers-Daller, J. (2011). Operationalizing and measuring language dominance. International Journal of Bilingualism, 15, 147–163. doi: 10.1177/1367006910381186 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Viberg, A. (2001). Age-related and L2-related features in bilingual narrative development in Sweden. In Verhoeven, L. & Strömqvist, S. (Eds.), Narrative development in a multilingual context (pp. 87–128). Philadelphia: Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Westby, C., Van Dongen, R., & Maggart, Z. (1989). Assessing narrative competence. Seminars in Speech and Language, 10, 63–76. doi: 10.1055/s-0028-1082490 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wiig, E. H., Secord, W. A., & Semel, E. M. (2004). Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals—Preschool 2. San Antonio, TX: Harcourt/Psych Corporation.Google Scholar
Wiig, E. H., Secord, W. A., & Semel, E. M. (2009). Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals—Preschool 2, Spanish edition. San Antonio, TX: Pearson.Google Scholar
Zhang, J., Anderson, R. C., & Nguyen-Jahiel, K. (2013). Language-rich discussions for English language learners. International Journal of Educational Research, 58, 44–60. doi: 10.1016/j.ijer.2012.12.003 CrossRefGoogle Scholar