Structural Development of the Fictional Narratives of African American Preschoolers

Abstract

The Bus Story Language Test (C. Renfrew, 1991) appears to be an assessment tool that is sensitive to structural growth in African American children's narratives from 4 years to kindergarten entry.

Assessment of Structure Dependent Narrative Features in Modeled Contexts: African American and European American Children

“…The notion that certain structural aspects of narratives may differ across cultures has been well researched (Berman, 1988;Celinska, 2009;Hudson & Shapiro, 1991;Gutierrez-Clellen & Quinn, 1993;Price, Roberts & Jackson, 2006). In a recent study, Gorman, Fiestas, Pena and Clark, (2011) examined the effects of culture on creative and stylistic features for 60 first-and second-grade children from AA, Latino American (LA) and Caucasian backgrounds.…”

“…An analysis of narrative comprehension and production ability may be undertaken when children demonstrate academic difficulty, as it may be an indication of language delay or impairment. Research suggests that certain structural aspects of narratives may differ across cultures making unbiased interpretation of narrative assessment results from diverse populations more difficult (Berman, 1988;Hudson & Shapiro, 1991;Gutierrez-Clellen & Quinn, 1993;Laing & Kamhi, 2003;Price, Roberts & Jackson, 2006). Most research on narrative development has been conducted with monolingual, English speakers from mainstream EA(EA) cultural backgrounds.…”

“…For example, Price, Roberts and Jackson (2006) examined the story grammar elements (Stein & Glenn, 1979) produced by 65 AA children in preschool and again in kindergarten using a standardized, norm-referenced assessment (The Bus Story; Renfrew, 1991). These researchers analyzed the narrative retells for use of macrostructural elements including introductions (e.g., Once upon a time), relationships (his bus), initiating events (explicitly stated causal sequence of the motive for the bus to run away), internal responses (explicitly stated goal of the character; i.e., decided to run away), attempts (statements regarding "how" the bus ran away), and endings.…”

Características comuns à narrativa oral de crianças na pré-alfabetização

“…Estudos realizados com crianças de quatro a oito anos mostraram que a habilidade de narrar é adquirida gradativamente 10,11 , não sendo uma tarefa muito simples de ser realizada visto que implica considerar o outro como interlocutor e considerarse como narrador. Alguns dos estudos destacam resultados em que se verificou que, com o aumento da idade e da escolaridade, a narrativa de histórias tornava-se mais complexa e elaborada [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] .…”

“…Alguns dos estudos destacam resultados em que se verificou que, com o aumento da idade e da escolaridade, a narrativa de histórias tornava-se mais complexa e elaborada [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] . Assim, evidencia-se que existe uma evolução quanto ao domínio das convenções e da estrutura próprias da contagem de história.…”