Page 23 - Literacy Based Speech Language Therapy Activities Digital Version

Improving Story Narratives of Diverse Children

Is how we ask children to tell a story different than how

their parents ask?

In a study on cultural variations in the construction of personal narratives, Melzi (2000)

examined narrative elicitation styles of Spanish-speaking Central American mothers and English-
speaking mothers with European origin. The results showed that the two groups differed in how
they elicited a story, as well as what aspects of the narrative they chose to emphasize. European
American mothers primarily focused on the organizational aspects of the narrative. The Central

American mothers emphasized the conversational aspects of the narrative. The Spanish-speaking
children had greater responsibility in recalling the story as their mothers played a listening role in the

conversation. This is in contrast to the English-speaking children who acted as co-narrators with
their parents. Melzi (2000) concluded that the elicitation styles correspond to the socialization goals
of each culture. This suggests that conversational patterns are inherently different based on cultural
demands.

Benefits of reading to children in their native language

We often hear this question from parents:

“Am I confusing my child by speaking and reading to him in

my native language?”

The answer? A resounding NO!!! Unfortunately, this idea is still propagated by well-meaning

doctors and educational professionals. It makes sense on some level, right? The theory is that if a
child is having difficulty communicating, then two languages would make matters worse. The truth
is that the number of languages a child speaks does not contribute to communication deficits. What

is important is the complexity of the language that is being used. If we are asking parents to interact
in a language that is undeveloped and foreign to them, the child’s communication will not grow
sufficiently. If they provide a great language model, the linguistic abilities will transfer from one

language to the other.

In great study about how beneficial it is for parents to read to their kids in their native language,
Huennekens and Xu (2010) studied the impact of cross-linguistic storybook intervention on English

language development in preschoolers. Researchers selected books that were available in the
children’s home language (Spanish, in this case) and in English. Parents were asked to read the books
in their native language. Meanwhile, during school hours, teachers read the same books in English.

During the period of time that parents and teachers were reading the same books, these preschoolers

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