Page 19 - Literacy Based Speech Language Therapy Activities Digital Version

Improving Story Narratives of Diverse Children

2. Improving Story Narratives of

Children from Diverse Backgrounds

The narrative styles of children from English-speaking and non-English-speaking homes vary from
culture to culture. That is to say, how a child tells a story, includes details, and conveys meaning is

influenced by language, social class, and beliefs (Shiro, 1998). As educators, we rely heavily on
narrative abilities when assessing our students’ skills. We ask children to tell us about events, retell
stories, write about events in their journals, and answer questions about stories. We then analyze and

judge the grammar and content of their story, the order of events, the semantic complexity, and the
narrative elements. Consider, however, that a child’s stories are different than we expect because his
culture and life experiences have taught him a different script. How do we decide if missing elements
are due to an impairment or cultural difference? For example, what if a non-mainstream culture

dictates that a story be ordered differently than in mainstream culture, or perhaps another culture
places great importance on a story attribute that is not significant in mainstream American culture?

Further, the complexity of a child’s story is considered in the diagnosis of language impairment, as

well as in the selection of intervention goals. Common deficits include difficulty sequencing story
events, difficulty identifying the main idea, problem and solution, and difficulty answering “WH”
questions about a story. How should we use evaluation materials if they have not taken this child’s

culture into account?

Let’s begin with research behind differences in narrative abilities and conclude with examples of how
to:

1) easily determine what your student’s current narrative includes
2) intervene successfully in the classroom and in language therapy

Narrative Elements that are Common to Most Cultures

The aspects of discourse and manner of oration that a speaker employs to tell his or her story vary
from culture to culture. Initiating events, attempts, consequences, and resolutions are episodic

features that are common to stories in most cultures. Contrarily, the uses of an internal response,
discourse markers, listener roles and participant roles, are all culturally specific. Below are two quick
reference charts with narrative elements that may be different across cultures and elements that most

cultures share.

8
www.bilinguistics.com