This project aimed to describe oral narrative retells of Spanish-English speaking dual language learners (DLLs) and examine relationships with standardized vocabulary assessments. Investigators described oral narrative retells of 145 DLLs in kindergarten and first grade by number of different words (NDW), words per minute (WPM), and macrostructural components. Hierarchical regression analyses were used to examine relationships between narrative retells and standardized vocabulary performance. Children in first grade showed significantly better narrative retells than kindergarten DLLs, characterized by greater NDW and WPM, and more macrostructural components. Regression results indicated NDW accounted for the majority of the unique variance in DLLs’ performance on standardized vocabulary assessments. Findings substantiate that narrative retells are educationally relevant tools in predicting performance on a standardized English vocabulary assessment. The study contributes to knowledge of narrative performance of typically developing DLLs and supports the utility of retells in assessment of DLLs.
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. (2004). Preferred practice patterns for the profession of speech-language pathology [Preferred Practice Patterns]. Available from www.asha.org/policy
2.
ApelK. (1994). When there’s “something else odd”: Targeting narrative and pragmatic deficits. The Clinical Connection, 7, 21–23.
3.
BanerjeeR.GuibersonM. (2012). Evaluating young children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds for special education services. Young Exceptional Children, 151, 33–45. doi:10.1177/1096250611435368
4.
BarnettS. W.YaroszD. J.ThomasJ.JungK.BlancoD. (2007). Two-way and monolingual English immersion in preschool education: An experimental comparison. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 22, 277–293.
5.
BedoreL. M.PeñaE. D.SummersC. L.BoergerK. M.ResendizM. D.GreeneK.. . .GillamR. B. (2012). The measure matters: Language dominance profiles across measures in Spanish-English bilingual children. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 15, 616–629.
6.
CaesarL. G.KohlerP. D. (2007). The state of school-based bilingual assessment: actual practice versus recommended guidelines. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 38, 190–200. doi:10.1044/0161-1461(2007/020)
7.
CaesarL. G.KohlerP. D. (2009). Clinicians use: A survey of language assessment procedures used by school-based speech-language pathologists. Communication Disorders Quarterly, 30, 226–236.
8.
CohenJ. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
9.
CohenL. E.Kramer-VidaL.FryeN. (2012). Using dialogic reading as professional development to improve student’s English and Spanish vocabulary. NHSA Dialog: A Research-to-Practice: Journal for the Early Childhood Field, 15, 59–80.
10.
CristofaroT. N.Tamis-LeMondaC. S. (2008). Lessons in mother–child and father–child personal narratives in Latino families. In McCabeA.BaileyA. L.MelziG. (Eds.), Spanish-language narration and literacy: Culture, cognition and emotion (pp. 54–91). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
11.
DencklaM. B.RudelR. (1974). Rapid “automatized” naming of pictured objects, colors, letters and numbers by normal children. Cortex, 10, 186–202. doi:10.1016/S0010-9452(74)80009-2
12.
DiehmE.WoodC.MessierJ.CallenderM. (in press). Technology enhanced narrative assessment: Effect of presentation modality on preschoolers’ narrative retell.
13.
DunnL.LugoS.PadillaR.DunnL. (1986). Test de Vocabulario en Imagenes Peabody [Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test]. Circle Pines, MN: American Guidance Service.
14.
DunnL. M.DunnL. M. (2007). Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test–Fourth. Circle Pines, MN: American Guidance Service.
15.
DuránL.RosethC. J.HoffmanP. (2010). An experimental study comparing English-only and transitional bilingual education on Spanish-speaking preschoolers’ early literacy development. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 25, 207–217.
16.
DuránL.RosethC. J.HoffmanP. (2015). Effects of transitional bilingual education on Spanish-speaking preschoolers’ literacy and language development: Year 2 results. Applied Psycholinguistics, 36, 921–951. doi:10.1017/S0142716413000568
17.
DuránL.RosethC. J.HoffmanP.RobertshawM. G. (2013). Spanish-speaking preschoolers’ early literacy development: A longitudinal experimental comparison of predominantly English and transitional bilingual education. Bilingual Research Journal, 36, 6–34.
18.
EhrlerD. J.McGheeM. L. (2008). Primary Test of Nonverbal Intelligence (PTONI). Austin TX: Clocktower Hill Research and Publishing Group.
19.
ErtmerD. J.StrongL. M.SadagopanN. (2003). Beginning to communicate after cochlear implantation: oral language development in a young child. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 46, 328–340. doi:10.1044/1092-4388(2003/026)
20.
FeyM. E.CattsH. W.Proctor-WilliamsK.TomblinJ. B.ZhangX. (2004). Oral and written story composition skills of children with language impairment. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 47, 1301–1318. doi:10.1044/1092-4388(2004/098)
21.
FiestasC. E.PeñaE. D. (2004). Narrative discourse in bilingual children: Language and task effects. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 35, 155–168.
22.
GillamS.FargoJ.PetersenD. B.ClarkM. (2012). Assessment of structure dependent narrative features in modeled contexts: African American and European American children. English Linguistics Research, 1, 1–17.
23.
GormanB.FiestasD. C.PeñaE.ReynoldsM. (2011). Creative and stylistic devices employed by children during a storybook narrative task: A cross-cultural study. Language Speech and Hearing Services in the School, 42, 167–181.
24.
Gutierrez-ClellanV.QuinnR. (1993). Addressing narratives of children from diverse cultural linguistic groups. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in the Schools, 24, 2–9.
25.
Gutierrez-ClellenV.PenaE.QuinnR. (1995). Accommodating cultural differences in narrative style: A multicultural perspective. Topics in Language Disorders, 15(4), 54–67.
26.
Gutierrez-ClellenV. F.RestrepoM. A.BedoreL. M.PeñaE.AndersonR. (2000). Language sample analysis in Spanish-speaking children: Methodological considerations. Language, Speech and Hearing Services in Schools, 31, 88–98.
27.
HeilmannJ.MillerJ.IglesiasA.Fabiano-SmithL.NockertsA.Digney-AndriacchiK. (2008). Narrative transcription accuracy and reliability in two languages. Topics in Language Disorders, 28, 178–188.
28.
HeilmannJ.NockertsA.MillerJ. F. (2010). Using language sample databases. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 41, 75–81.
29.
JacobsonP. F.WaldenP. R. (2013). Lexical diversity and omission errors as predictors of language ability in the narratives of sequential Spanish–English bilinguals: A cross-language comparison. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 22, 554. doi:10.1044/1058-0360(2013/11-0055)
30.
KohnertK.YimD.NettK.KanP. F.DuranL. (2005). Intervention with linguistically diverse preschool children: A focus on developing home language(s). Language Speech and Hearing Services in Schools, 36, 251–263.
31.
KoutsoftasA. D.GrayS. (2012). Comparison of narrative and expository writing in students with and without language-learning disabilities. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 43, 395–409.
32.
KrollJ. F.StewartE. (1994). Category interference in translation and picture naming: Evidence for asymmetric connections between bilingual memory representations. Journal of Memory and Language, 33, 149–174.
33.
KummererS. E.Lopez-ReynaN. A.HughesM. T. (2007). Mexican immigrant mothers’ perceptions of their children’s communication disabilities, emergent literacy development, and speech-language therapy program. American Journal of Speech-language Pathology, 16, 271–282.
34.
LeacoxL.Wood JacksonC. (2014). Spanish vocabulary-bridging technology-enhanced instruction for young English language learners’ word learning. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 14, 175–197.
35.
LilesB. Z.DuffyR. J.MerrittD. D.PurcellS. L. (1995). Measurement of narrative discourse ability in children with language disorders. Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research, 38, 415. doi:10.1044/jshr.3802.415
36.
McMasterK.TilstraJ. (2007). Productivity, fluency, and grammaticality measures from narratives: Potential indicators of language proficiency?Communication Disorders Quarterly, 29(1), 43–53.
37.
MengX.RosenthalR.RubinD. B. (1992). Comparing correlated correlation coefficients. Quantitative Methods in Psychology, 111, 172–175.
38.
MillerJ. F.ChapmanR. (1983–2012). SALT: Systematic analysis of language transcripts (Version 2012) [Computer software]. Middleton, WI: SALT Software.
39.
MillerJ. F. (1991). Quantifying productive language disorders. Research on Child Language Disorders: A Decade of Progress, 211–220.
40.
MillerJ. F.AndriacchiK.NockertsA. (2015). Assessing language production using SALT software: A clinician’s guide to language sample analysis. Middleton, WI: SALT Software.
41.
MillerJ. F.ChapmanR. S. (1981). The relations between age and mean length of utterance in morphemes. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 24, 154–161.
42.
MillerJ. F.HeilmannJ. (2004, February). Bilingual language project update. Paper presented at the Department of Communication Disorders Colloquium, Madison, WI
43.
MillerJ. F.HeilmannJ.NockertsA.IglesiasA.FabianoL.FrancisD. (2006). Oral language and reading in bilingual children. Learning Disabilities Research & Practice, 21(1), 30–43. doi:10.1111/j.1540-5826.2006.00205.x
44.
MillerJ. F.IglesiasA. (2010) Systematic Analysis of Language Transcripts (SALT), English & Spanish (Version XX) [Computer software]. Madison: University of Wisconsin–Madison, Waisman Center, Language Analysis Laboratory.
45.
Notari-SyversonA.LosardoA.LimY. S. (2003). Assessment of young children from culturally diverse backgrounds: A journey in progress. Assessment for Effective Intervention, 29(1), 39–51. doi:10.1177/073724770302900105
46.
NunnallyJ. (1978). Psychometric theory. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
47.
PeñaE. D.Gutiérrez-ClellenV. F.IglesiasA.GoldsteinB. A.BedoreL. M. (2013). Bilingual English Spanish Assessment (BESA). San Diego, CA: AR-Clinical Publications.
48.
PriceJ. R.JacksonS. C.NippoldM.Ward-LonerganJ. (2015). Procedures for obtaining and analyzing writing samples of school-age children and adolescents. Language, Speech & Hearing Services in Schools, 46, 277–293. doi:10.1044/2015_LSHSS-140057
49.
PriceL. H.HendricksS.CookC. (2010). Incorporating computerized language sample analysis into clinical practice. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 41, 206–222.
50.
PuranikC. S.LombardinoL. J.AltmannL. J. P. (2008). Assessing the microstructure of written language using a retelling paradigm. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 17, 107–120.
RiceM. L.RedmondS. M.HoffmanL. (2006). Mean length of utterance in children with specific language impairment and in younger control children shows concurrent validity and stable and parallel growth trajectories. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 49, 793–808.
53.
RiggenbachH. (1991). Toward an understanding of fluency: A microanalysis of nonnative speaker conversations. Discourse Processes, 14, 423–441. doi:10.1080/01638539109544795
54.
RobertsT. A. (2008). Home storybook reading in primary or second language with preschool children: Evidence of equal effectiveness for second-language vocabulary acquisition. Reading Research Quarterly, 43, 103–130.
55.
RojasR.IglesiasA. (2013). The language growth of Spanish-speaking English Language Learners. Child Development, 84, 630–646.
56.
SchachterR. E.CraigH. K. (2013). Students’ production of narrative and AAE features during an emergent literacy task. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 44, 227–238.
57.
ScottC. M.WindsorJ. (2000). General language performance measures in spoken and written narrative and expository discourse of school-age children with language learning disabilities. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 43, 324–339.
58.
SquiresK. E.Lugo-NerisM. J.PeñaE. D.BedoreL. M.BohmanT. M.GillamR. B. (2014). Story retelling by bilingual children with language impairments and typically-developing controls. International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders, 49, 11–26. doi:10.1111/1460-6984.12044
59.
SteigerJ. H. (1980). Tests for comparing elements of a correlation matrix. Psychological Bulletin, 87, 245–251.
60.
SteinN. L.GlennC. G. (1979). An analysis of story comprehension in elementary school children. In FeedleR. O. (Ed.), New directions in discourse processing (pp. 53–120). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
61.
SturmJ.SeeryC. (2007). Speech and articulatory rates of school-age children in conversation and narrative contexts. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in the Schools, 38, 47–59. doi:10.1044/0161-1461(2007/005)
62.
TerryN. P.MillsM. T.BinghamG. E.MansourS.MarencinN. (2013). Oral narrative performance of African American prekindergarteners who speak non mainstream American English. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 44, 291–305.
63.
ThordardottirE. T.NamaziM. (2007). Specific language impairment in French-speaking children: Beyond grammatical morphology. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 50, 698–715.
64.
TilstraJ.McMasterK. (2007). Productivity, fluency, and grammaticality measures from narratives: Potential indicators of language proficiency?Communication Disorders Quarter, 29, 43–53.
65.
UccelliP.PaézM. M. (2007). Narrative and vocabulary development of bilingual children from kindergarten to first grade: Developmental changes and associations among English and Spanish skill. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 38, 225–236.
