The Dynamic Assessment of Narratives: A Bilingual Study

Abstract

This study applied the dynamic assessment (DA) of narratives in a bilingual Spanish- and English-speaking early elementary population. We examined transfer and change in narrative performance within and across languages after mediated learning experience (MLE) in Spanish or English. Sixty-eight bilingual children were randomized to two groups: Spanish (n = 24) or English mediation (n = 25), while a control group (n = 19) participated in regular academic activities. The MLE Spanish and English groups participated in mediated learning focusing on storytelling ability, and children’s modifiability was rated. Pre- to posttest narrative macro- and microstructure change was measured for all children. Both MLE groups demonstrated significant gains in macrostructure compared to the no-treatment control group. Children’s stories were stronger in Spanish overall. Children in both MLE groups demonstrated transfer of narrative macrostructure across both languages regardless of the language of the MLE. When the language of MLE matched language of story production, children did not make greater posttest gains than when unmatched. Finally, MLE in English had a small effect on children’s modifiability ratings. For English-language learners, DA may be a valid method to assess children’s modifiability, language learning, and transfer of skills across languages in an academically relevant task.

Spanish Language and Literacy Intervention for Bilingual Children at Risk for Developmental Language Disorder

“…This is suggestive of possible cross-linguistic transfer of narrative language skills from Spanish to English. Results replicate previous work (Fiestas & Peña, 2018) in which children demonstrated transfer of narrative skills to the nontargeted language following MLE in either Spanish or English. A summary of these (and those discussed later) main effects and interaction effects is shown in Table 3.…”

“…Children scored higher on Spanish narratives (M = 6.75) than on English (M = 3.43). This aligns with previous work (e.g., Fiestas & Peña, 2018;Spencer et al, 2019) where narrative language skills of ELLs in early grades are stronger in L1 (Spanish).…”

“…This is suggestive of possible cross-linguistic transfer of narrative language skills from Spanish to English. Results replicate previous work (Fiestas & Peña, 2018) in which children demonstrated transfer of Copyright © 2021 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. Unauthorized reproduction of this article is prohibited.…”

“…In a study conducted by Peña et al (2006), by focusing children's attention on story macrostructure and cohesive aspects of narration, children in the treatment group produced more and a greater variety of words in a narrative context following MLE. For bilingual children, when a narrative MLE protocol was delivered in either Spanish or English (Fiestas & Peña, 2018), children in both language treatment groups produced more and a greater variety of words and improved their narrative macrostructure more than did controls. Important to the notion of cross-linguistic transfer, children's meaning-based skills also increased in the language not targeted during intervention.…”

Understanding the Dynamics of Materials Adaptation in An English-Chinese Bilingual Storytelling Curriculum for First Graders

“…Therefore, researchers began to explore the interplay between stories (storytelling) and children's narrative abilities by focusing on bilinguals or comparing monolinguals and bilinguals (MacLeod & Pesco, 2023;Fiestas & Peña, 2018;Young, 2015). For example, found that English-Spanish bilingual children can significantly improve vocabulary in both languages while developing overall story structure at different levels.…”