Abstract
The present study explored the types and frequency of literate language features in children’s narratives, and the relation of literate language and proper character introduction to children’s oral language skills in a sample of 184 prekindergarten, kindergarten, and first grade students from high-poverty schools. Using hierarchical regression, the results showed that literate language features were not predictive of listening comprehension or narrative quality outcomes. In contrast, children’s skill in properly introducing characters significantly accounted for variance in all outcome measures (narrative comprehension, narrative quality, and listening comprehension) above and beyond the control variables (age, total number of words, and mean length of utterance) and literate language features (adverbs, conjunctions, mental and linguistic verbs, and elaborated noun phrases). These results indicate that the child’s retell and language comprehension skills may develop concurrently with proper character introduction.
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Notes
One child in prekindergarten was 70 months old.
We ran separate models using either pronoun errors, total grammar errors, or use of definite pronouns to predict the outcome variables, and none of these linguistic variables were significantly related to the comprehension outcomes. Additionally, proper character introduction still accounted for variance above and beyond these variables (1 percent for narrative quality and two percent for narrative comprehension and listening comprehension)
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Appendix
Appendix
Prekindergarten oral retell samples
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1.
The mom lost her wallet. The little kids ordered a Happy Meal and uh cheeseburger! They came they umm. The mom said, “We’re going to go out to eats tonight.”
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2.
There was a, there was a little boy and a little girl, and they went to McDon. They, they maybe shouted out, “McDonald’s.” And then, their mother ordered a s–s–s–s–salad. And then, she got she tried to get her wallet. But it was at, it was, they was. Got back in her car to go home to get it. And then they had a great meal at McDonald’s.
Kindergarten oral retell samples
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1.
They was driving the um to a restaurant and the um, her mommy, forgot her wallet. And um, and she, the ch-children said they/’ll wait for her. And she to wait and come back.
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2.
Lisa, Lisa, and, Lisa and, I forgot his name, but they, in um her, his, her brother, they, her mom say, “What do y’all want to eat tonight?” Both of ‘em shouted, “McDonald’s, McDonald’s!” They, they had hopped in the car and then they ran. Then, they was at the store, McDonald’s. And then, uh, Lisa, her brother, they, one of them wanted a Happy Meal and the other one Happy Meal. And then, it will be, um, I forgot how much. And then, she said, “I left my wallet. It must be on the counter in the, in, at our house”. They say, “We will stay here and wait”. And then, she, they had, they had a good night at the thing, at McDonald’s. That’s all I know.
First grade oral retell samples
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1.
Um, um, the two boys and two, one is a girl, and one’s a boy. And they went to McDonald’s. And, the girl wanted um, um a cheeseburger meal, a Happy Meal, and a big ice cream cone. The, the boy wanted a Big Mac and um a big, um milkshake. And, the mom wanted a salad. And um, the mom forgot her wallet. So, she went back home and got it. And then they had a great happy meal together. They jumped into the car.
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2.
Well, Lisa and Raymond, they, they. “What do you want to eat?” And then, they said, they both shouted, “McDonalds, McDonalds!” And then Mom, and then, they went to McDonalds. And then they had a happy meal. But, Lisa didn’t know what she want. She either want a Big Mac or Chicken Nuggets. She didn’t know what to pick. But then, then when Mother and Raymond saw what they wanted, they already had their meal. But they said. And then they had, then they had went. And that then they had, then he said, “That was fifty I mean twelve dollars.” And then Mom looked in her purse and there was no no, her wallet wasn’t there. And then, they went back to the house. And got her wallet. And then they had a great meal.
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Barnes, A.E., Kim, YS. & Phillips, B.M. The relations of proper character introduction to narrative quality and listening comprehension for young children from high poverty schools. Read Writ 27, 1189–1205 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-013-9481-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-013-9481-0