Production of mental state terms in narratives of Mandarin-speaking children with autism spectrum disorder

Sah, Wen-hui; Torng, Pao-Chuan

doi:10.1080/02699206.2016.1219920

Cited by 9 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…Although several studies on narratives of Mandarin-speaking children with ASD have reported that they failed to provide enough information to meet listeners’ needs, these studies were mainly concerned with the structural or evaluative aspect of narratives (e.g., Chen & Chang, 2005; Sah & Torng, 2015, 2016; Tsou & Cheung, 2007). The referential abilities of Mandarin-speaking autistic children are relatively much less understood.…”

Section: Purpose Of the Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Referential choice in narratives of Mandarin-speaking children with autism spectrum disorder: Form, function, and adequacy

Sah

2017

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This study investigates the referential choice of Mandarin-speaking children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The data consist of narratives from 16 children with ASD and 16 typically-developing (TD) children. The narratives were elicited using the wordless picture book Frog, where are you? Participants' referential expressions were coded in terms of referential form, function, and adequacy. The results revealed that, compared with the IQ-and language-matched TD children, the children with ASD used significantly more pronominal forms for subsequent mentions, showed insufficient ability to use definite and indefinite noun phrases to mark the information status of referents, and made fewer adequate reintroductions. Additionally, this study demonstrated the potential of the three-category classification to advance our understanding of referential choice in ASD. The outcomes underscore the importance of analyzing referential adequacy across referential functions, and suggest that referential functions are not equally difficult.

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Section: Purpose Of the Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

“… 3. As part of another study (Sah & Torng, 2016) involving this sample, more detailed data about participants’ characteristics were reported in that paper. …”

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confidence: 99%

Referential choice in narratives of Mandarin-speaking children with autism spectrum disorder: Form, function, and adequacy

Sah

2017

First Language

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“…Children’s acquisition of narrative discourse has been investigated in diverse populations and languages including Arabic (Hipfner- et al, 2015; Fichman et al, 2017; Sah & Torng, 2019), and this research has outlined some general patterns in the acquisition of narrative skills across languages (Lucero, 2015). Yet, few studies have focused on narrative skills in Arabic diglossia (however, see Leikin et al, 2014; Ravid et al, 2014), a context characterized by the co-existence of two linguistically distant language varieties: a spoken variety used for everyday speech and in which narrative skills probably first develop, and a standard variety which is acquired later and in which narratives that are read from print are expected to be delivered.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Narrative microstructure and macrostructure skills in Arabic diglossia: The case of Arab immigrant children in Canada

Asli‐Badarneh¹,

Hipfner-Boucher²,

Bumgardner³

et al. 2022

International Journal of Bilingualism

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Aims and objectives: The study investigated narrative microstructure skills of Arabic-speaking immigrant children in Canada ( N = 75; age range 7–12 years) with specific focus on diglossia and the lexical distance between Spoken Arabic (SpA) and Standard Arabic (StA). The study also tested the relationship between microstructure and macrostructure and probed into the relative importance of general versus diglossia-specific features of microstructure in predicting macrostructure. Design/methodology/approach: Participants were asked to tell a story from a picture using an Arabic version of the Test of Narrative Language (Gillam & Pearson, 2004). Instructions to participants were given in StA. Data and analysis: General measures of microstructure were coded: number of tokens, number of types, type/token ratio, and mean length of utterance (MLU). In addition to these general measures, we coded the average frequency of five diglossia-specific word types: (a) identical words, which keep the same phonological form in StA and SpA; (b) SpA cognates, namely, cognate words that keep different yet related forms in StA and SpA, used in their SpA form; (c) StA cognates, cognate words used in their StA forms; (d) unique SpA words; and (e) unique StA words. Regression analysis was used to predict macrostructure from general and diglossia-specific features of microstructure. Findings/conclusions: Results showed that the bulk of the lexicon of the narratives produced by immigrant children consisted of words and word forms that are within SpA: identical words, SpA cognates, and unique SpA words; StA word forms appeared less frequently, and English code-switched words were very rare. Results also showed that the microstructure features of narrative length in tokens and type/token ratio significantly predicted macrostructure beyond the children’s age and Arabic language proficiency. However, when diglossia-specific lexical features were added as predictors, the frequency of StA words predicted unique variance in macrostructure beyond age, Arabic language proficiency, and narrative length. Findings advance our understanding of narrative skills in Arabic diglossia among new immigrants and the role of lexical distance in narrative production in this context. Originality: The study is innovative in investigating the manifestation of diglossia in narrative microstructure features and the role of diglossia-specific features in predicting macrostructure, as well as in testing this question among immigrant children. Significance/implications: The study demonstrates the multifaceted lexicon of diglossic Arabic speakers as reflected in the microstructure of their narratives and the prevalence of SpA word forms in their lexicons. The study also demonstrates a significant relationship between microstructure and macrostructure, and the important role of StA lexical features of microstructure in predicting macrostructure. The results of the study have theoretical implications for the importance of lexical distance in understanding narrative production in children at both the microstructure and macrostructure levels. The study also has practical implications for assessment and intervention with Arabic-speaking children in diglossic Arabic.

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“…Varios estudios utilizan la narración a partir de imágenes en poblaciones incluidas dentro del espectro autista (Siller, Swanson & Teachworth, 2014;Sah & Torng, 2017). Rumpf, Kamp-Becker, Becker y Kauschke (2012) estudiaron lenguaje sobre estados internos y narraciones a partir de un libro de imágenes llamado "Tuesday" de Wiesner (1991).…”

Section: Cognición Social Y Evaluación Del Lenguaje: El Trastorno Del...unclassified

Estrategias y desafíos en la creación de un instrumento de evaluación lingüística infantil

et al. 2022

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The design of a stimulus to elicit data in children involves several challenges, which combine not only theoretical and methodological dimensions, but also ethical ones. This paper develops the theoretical-methodological decisions and ethical options adopted in the design, development and testing of an activity designed to elicit linguistic production in Spanish-speaking children (5 to 14 years old) with a focus on populations with difficulties in the attribution of mental states (AMS). The methodological considerations that justified the decisions taken and a series of qualitative observations arising from the preliminary analysis of the data are presented. The activity designed seeks the elicitation of a narration from images and the retelling of a story from a linguistic stimulus. The activity format was specifically designed to elicit narratives that include psychological events. In its design and elaboration, methodological criteria were used that privileged both the particularities of the study phenomenon and the target population of the research -children with pragmatic difficulties in the AMS. The process of creating and designing the stimulus involved not only the adherence to a theoretical-methodological framework, but also the decision to introduce changes in the design based on review instances, such as the judgement of experts, the results of the piloting stage and the observations and suggestions of the participants. This synergy and flexibility resulted in the optimization of the stimulus conditions to elicit varied and complex aspects of the phenomenon under study.

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Production of mental state terms in narratives of Mandarin-speaking children with autism spectrum disorder

Cited by 9 publications

References 29 publications

Referential choice in narratives of Mandarin-speaking children with autism spectrum disorder: Form, function, and adequacy

Referential choice in narratives of Mandarin-speaking children with autism spectrum disorder: Form, function, and adequacy

Narrative microstructure and macrostructure skills in Arabic diglossia: The case of Arab immigrant children in Canada

Estrategias y desafíos en la creación de un instrumento de evaluación lingüística infantil

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