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Updated: Jun 12, 2026
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Assessing the Coherence of Parents' Short Narratives Regarding their Child Using the Five-Minute Speech Sample Procedure
Published on: September 19, 2019
Narrative assessment for Cantonese-speaking children.
Carol Kit-Sum To1, Stephanie F Stokes, Hin-Tat Cheung
1Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences, 5/F Prince Philip Dental Hospital, 34 Hospital Road, Sai Ying Pun, Hong Kong, SAR, China. tokitsum@hku.hk
Summary
This study established a benchmark for Cantonese-speaking children's narrative skills, finding syntactic complexity a key predictor of age and vulnerable in language impairment.
Area of Science:
- Linguistics
- Developmental Psychology
- Speech-Language Pathology
Background:
- Need for normative language assessment tools for school-aged Cantonese speakers.
- Examination of narrative skills in Cantonese-speaking children.
Purpose of the Study:
- Establish a benchmark for Cantonese children's narrative skills.
- Identify key predictors of age in narrative microstructure.
- Evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of narrative components.
Main Methods:
- 1,120 Cantonese-speaking children (ages 4-12) participated.
- Story-retell task using a 24-frame picture series.
- Measured syntactic complexity, semantic score, referencing, and connective use.
Main Results:
- Significant age-related differences in all narrative measures.
- Vocabulary and syntactic complexity were strongest predictors of grade.
- High sensitivity (86-94%) but variable specificity (60-90%) and modest likelihood ratios.
Conclusions:
- Standardized narrative assessment is a reliable tool for identifying language impairment.
- Syntactic complexity is a strong predictor of grade and vulnerable in Cantonese-speaking children with SLI.
- Further research in narrative analysis for diagnostics is recommended.
