Hostname: page-component-75d7c8f48-c28dw Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-03-22T08:48:35.099Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Narrative abilities in bilingual children

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 December 2015

NATALIA GAGARINA*
Affiliation:
Center for General Linguistics (ZAS), Berlin
DALEEN KLOP
Affiliation:
Stellenbosch University
IANTHI M. TSIMPLI
Affiliation:
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and University of Reading
JOEL WALTERS
Affiliation:
Bar Ilan University
*
ADDRESS FOR CORRESPONDENCE Natalia Gagarina, Center for General Linguistics (ZAS), Schuetzenstrasse 18, Berlin 10117, Germany. E-mail gagarina@zas.gwz-berlin.de

Extract

The number of bilingual children is growing dramatically all over the world. In 2010 the International Organization of Migration documented 214 million migrants worldwide, many bilingual (Koser & Laczko, 2010). One of the challenges arising from the rapid increase of bilingual children is scientifically grounded assessment of linguistic proficiency in both of a child's languages in various language domains. Assessment in both languages is especially important to avoid misdiagnosis of language impairment. Specific language impairment (SLI) is among the most prevalent impairments, estimated to affect 7%–10% of children entering formal education (Grimm, 2003; Tomblin, Smith, & Zhang, 1997). Assessment tools for bilinguals in both the home language and the majority language are often lacking (for exceptions, see Gagarina, Klassert, & Topaj, 2010; Schulz & Tracy, 2011).

Information

Type
Introduction
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

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.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

REFERENCES

Armon-Lotem, S., de Jong, J., & Meir, N. (Eds.). (2015). Assessing multilingual children: Disentangling bilingualism from language impairment. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Botting, N. (2002). Narrative as a tool for the assessment of linguistic and pragmatic impairments. Child Language Teaching and Therapy, 18, 121.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Curenton, S. M., & Justice, L. M. (2004). Use of literate language features in low-income preschoolers’ narratives. Paper presented at the Head Start 7th National Research Conference, Washington, DC.Google 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, 155168.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gagarina, N., Klassert, A., & Topaj, N. (2010). Sprachstandstest Russisch für mehrsprachige Kinder/ Russian language proficiency test for multilingual children. ZAS papers in linguistics 54. Berlin: ZAS.Google Scholar
Gagarina, N., Klop, D., Kunnari, S., Tantele, K., Välimaa, T., Balèiûnienë, I., et al. (2012). MAIN—Multilingual Assessment Instrument for Narratives. ZAS papers in linguistics 56. Berlin: ZAS.Google Scholar
Gagarina, N., Klop, D., Kunnari, S., Tantele, K., Välimaa, T., Balèiûnienë, I., et al. (2015). Assessment of narrative abilities in bilingual children. In Armon-Lotem, S., de Jong, J., & Meir, N. (Eds.), Assessing multilingual children: Disentangling bilingualism from language impairment (pp. 241274). Bristol: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Grimm, H. (2003). Störungen der Sprachentwicklung: Grundlagen—Ursachen—Diagnose—Intervention—Prävention. Göttingen: Hogrefe.Google Scholar
Gülzow, I., & Gagarina, N. (2007). Noun phrases, pronouns and anaphoric reference in young children narratives. ZAS papers in linguistics 48 (pp. 203–223). Berlin: ZAS.Google Scholar
Gutierrez-Clellen, V. F., Simon-Cereijido, G., & Wagner, C. (2008). Bilingual children with language impairment: A comparison with monolinguals and second language learners. Applied Psycholinguistics, 29, 320.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hadley, P. A. (1998). Language sampling protocols for eliciting text-level discourse. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 29, 132147.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hayward, D., & Schneider, P. (2000). Effectiveness of teaching story grammar knowledge to preschool children with language impairment: An exploratory study. Child Language Teaching and Therapy, 16, 255284.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, 603626.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, 154166.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hickmann, M. (2003). Children's discourse: Person, space and time across languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hughes, D. L., McGillivray, L., & Schmidek, M. (1997). Guide to narrative language: Procedures for assessments. Eau Claire, WI: Thinking Publications.Google 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, 5874.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koser, K., & Laczko, F. (2010). World Migration Report 2010: The future of migration: Building capacities for change. Geneva: International Organization for Migration.Google Scholar
Labov, W. (1997). Some further steps in narrative analysis. Journal of Narrative and Life History, 7, 207215.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liles, B. Z., Duffy, R. J., Merritt, D. D., & Purcell, S. L. (1995). Measurement of narrative discourse ability in children with language disorders. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 38, 415425.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nippold, M. A., Ward-Lonergan, J. M., & Fanning, J. L. (2005). Persuasive writing in children, adolescents, and adults: A study of syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic development. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 36, 125138.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Oakhill, J., & Cain, K. (2007). Issues of causality in children's reading comprehension. In McNamara, D. (Ed.), Reading comprehension strategies: Theories, interventions, and technologies (pp. 4772). New York: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Paradis, J., Genesee, F., & Crago, M. B. (2010). Dual language development and disorders: A handbook on bilingualism and second language learning (2nd ed.). Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes.Google Scholar
Pearson, B. Z. (2001). Language and mind in the stories of bilingual children. In Verhoeven, L. & Strömqvist, S. (Eds.), Narrative development in a multilingual context (pp. 373398). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pearson, B. Z. (2002). Narrative competence among monolingual and bilingual school children in Miami. In Oller, K. & Eilers, R. (Eds.), Language and literacy in bilingual children. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Pearson, B. Z., & de Villiers, P. A. (2005). Child language acquisition: Discourse, narrative and pragmatics. In Brown, K. & Lieven, E. (Eds.), Encyclopedia of language and linguistics. Oxford: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Pesco, D., & Kay-Raining Bird, E. (2016). Perspectives on bilingual children's narratives elicited with the Multilingual Assessment Instrument for Narratives. Applied Psycholinguistics, 37, 1–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schulz, P., & Tracy, R. (2011). Linguistische Sprachstandserhebung—Deutsch als Zweitsprache (LiSe-DaZ). Göttingen: Hogrefe.Google Scholar
Snow, C. (2002). Reading for understanding: Toward a research and development program in reading comprehension. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation.Google Scholar
Swanson, L., Fey, M., Mills, C., & Hood, L. (2005). Use of narrative-based language intervention with children who have specific language impairment. American Journal of Speech–Language Pathology, 14, 131143.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tomasello, M. (2003). Constructing a language: A usage-based theory of language acquisition. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Tomblin, J. B., Smith, E., & Zhang, X. (1997). Epidemiology of specific language impairment: Prenatal and perinatal risk factors. Journal of Communication Disorders, 30, 325342.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Uccelli, P., & Páez, M. (2007). Narrative and vocabulary development of bilingual children from kindergarten to first grade: Developmental changes and associations among English and Spanish skills. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 38, 225236.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Westby, C. E. (2005). Assessing and facilitating text comprehension problems. In Catts, H. & Kamhi, A. (Eds.), Language and reading disabilities (pp. 157232). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.Google Scholar