Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 18, 2026

Assessing the Coherence of Parents' Short Narratives Regarding their Child Using the Five-Minute Speech Sample Procedure
Published on: September 19, 2019
Theme analysis of narratives produced by children with and without Specific Language Impairment
1School of Language and Media, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, Australia. julie.thomson@newcastle.edu.au
Abstract:
Theme is defined within the Systemic-Functional Linguistics framework as the point of the departure for the clause and therefore important for text organisation. Aspects of theme are examined in the elicited narratives and story retells from a group of 25 5-8 year-old children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI) and a group of 25 age-matched children with Typically Developing Language. The analysis indicated that subjects with SLI used less variety and complexity in themes with more than one element but this is suggested to reflect localised lexicogrammatical problems. Analysis of the aspects of theme which are more reliant on text-level resources, namely marked theme and theme progression patterns, yielded equivocal results. No significant inter-group difference was found in the subjects' representation of marked Theme and only one of the two progression patterns showed a significant difference. These findings are discussed in relation to the theoretical implications for the description of narrative abilities in SLI.
More Related Videos
06:15Using the Visual World Paradigm to Study Sentence Comprehension in Mandarin-Speaking Children with Autism
Published on: October 3, 2018
10:11Portable Intermodal Preferential Looking (IPL): Investigating Language Comprehension in Typically Developing Toddlers and Young Children with Autism
Published on: December 14, 2012
Related Concept Videos
Language and Cognition
Language Development
The critical period for language acquisition suggests that the ability to acquire language is at its peak early in life. As people age, this proficiency decreases. Language development begins very...
Language
Corballis and Suddendorf (2007) and Tomasello and Rakoczy (2003) highlight the role of language in...
Social Foundations of Self II: The Generalized Other
Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development from Childhood into Adulthood
Schemata: Building Blocks of Knowledge
Schemata...
Relationship with Other Adult Family Members and Siblings