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ERIC Number: EJ1251926
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2020-Apr
Pages: 11
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0161-1461
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Structural Development of Narratives in Arabic: Task Complexity, Age, and Cultural Factors
Abdalla, Fauzia; Mahfoudhi, Abdessattar; Alhudhainah, Shouq
Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, v51 n2 p405-415 Apr 2020
Purpose: This study examines the effect of age and task complexity on the macrostructure of story production in preschool- and school-age Kuwaiti Arabic--speaking children. It also compares the children's production of core and complementary macrostructure story elements. Method: A descriptive, cross-sectional research design was used to explore the participants' narrative skills. A total of 122 monolingual speakers of Kuwaiti Arabic (97 children and 25 adults) participated in this study. The children aged 4;0 to 7;11 (years;months) were randomly recruited from public schools across Kuwait. There were 24 four-year-olds (Kindergarten 1), 23 five-year-olds (Kindergarten 2), 23 six-year-olds (Grade 1), and 27 seven-year-olds (Grade 2). A group of adults was also included to establish a benchmark. Storytelling was elicited from all the participants using two sets of sequential pictures from the Edmonton Narrative Norms Instrument: a one-episode story and a more complex three-episode story (Schneider et al., 2005). Across-group comparisons were conducted to explore the effect of age, story complexity, and type of macrostructure elements on story production. Results: The findings revealed a progression by age in the development of story macrostructure, but there was no effect of task complexity. Within all age groups, the core macrostructure components were mastered before the complementary elements. Conclusions: The results of this study confirmed that cross-linguistic narrative measures could be used in contexts that are culturally and linguistically different with minor adaptations. The piloting of two picture-based stories showed that the shorter one-episode version may be sufficient to evaluate the language development of this age group.
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. 2200 Research Blvd #250, Rockville, MD 20850. Tel: 301-296-5700; Fax: 301-296-8580; e-mail: lshss@asha.org; Web site: http://lshss.pubs.asha.org
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Elementary Education; Early Childhood Education; Grade 1; Primary Education; Grade 2
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Kuwait
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A