Narratives in Two Languages: Storytelling of Bilingual Cantonese–English Preschoolers

Abstract

The results of this study have implications for speech-language pathologists who collect narratives in Cantonese and English from bilingual preschoolers. The results suggest that there is a possible transfer in narrative abilities between the two languages.

The narrative macrostructure production of Spanish–English bilingual preschoolers: Within- and cross-language relations

“…The results are consistent with Kang (2012) but contrast with Rezzonico et al (2016). Similar to the current study, Kang found that Korean macrostructure was not related to Korean-English bilingual children's English macrostructure when microstructure abilities were controlled.…”

“…Kang (2012) examined 5-to 6-year-old Korean-English bilinguals and found that English microstructure measures predicted children's production of English macrostructure; however, children's production of Korean macrostructure was not a significant predictor of English macrostructure when controlling for English narrative microstructure measures. Contrary to Kang's findings, Rezzonico et al (2016) examined 4-to 5-year-old Cantonese-English bilingual children and found that Cantonese macrostructure did predict English macrostructure after controlling for English microstructure measures. The mixed findings may be due, in part, to differences in the participants' language dominance, a possibility that is discussed below.…”

“…In contrast, children who are dominant in one language may lack the necessary vocabulary and grammatical skills in their weaker language to support the use of macrostructure features in that language, even if they have previously acquired these features in their stronger language. This idea is supported by the work of Kang (2012) and Rezzonico et al (2016) discussed above. The children in Kang's (2012) study were reported to have stronger Korean abilities, so they may not have developed the linguistic skills needed in English to convey more advanced macrostructure features previously acquired in Korean; as such, there was no cross-language association.…”

“…The children in Kang's (2012) study were reported to have stronger Korean abilities, so they may not have developed the linguistic skills needed in English to convey more advanced macrostructure features previously acquired in Korean; as such, there was no cross-language association. The children in Rezzonico et al (2016) were reported to have balanced abilities based on their vocabulary scores, which may be why significant cross-language macrostructure relations were found even after accounting for microstructure.…”

Swedish Preschool Teachers Perspectives on Multilingual Children’s Emergent Literacy Development

“…Even if the studies are aimed at school teachers, these activities can also include preschool teachers' methods of working in the preschool, as children need meaningful literary practices at an early state. In the preschool storytelling activities are highlighted for multilingual children as a good way of creating meaning and developing language awareness Rezzonico et al, 2016). Cummins et al (2005) consider that multilingual children who are given the opportunity to process linguistic concepts in their different languages parallel with one another and to transfer them from one to the other will be supported in the development of their biliteracy, that is, the children's literacy development in more than one language.…”