Story retelling by bilingual children with language impairments and typically developing controls

Area of Science:

• Linguistics
• Developmental Psychology
• Speech-Language Pathology

Background:

• Limited research exists on narrative development in bilingual children with and without primary language impairment (PLI).
• Understanding these growth patterns is crucial for identifying and supporting language development in diverse populations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the gains in narrative macro- and microstructure of bilingual children with and without PLI from kindergarten to first grade.
• To investigate narrative skill development in both Spanish (L1) and English (L2).

Main Methods:

• A longitudinal study involving 21 bilingual children with PLI matched to typically developing (TD) peers.
• Children retold stories from wordless picture books in Spanish and English during their kindergarten and first-grade years.

Main Results:

• TD children outperformed children with PLI in both macro- and microstructure at both time points.
• TD children showed significant improvements in macrostructure in both languages, while PLI children showed limited gains.
• TD children demonstrated greater gains in Spanish narrative microstructure compared to English, whereas PLI children showed no significant change in microstructure in either language.

Conclusions:

• Bilingual children with and without PLI exhibit distinct patterns of narrative development.
• Typically developing bilingual children effectively transfer narrative skills across languages, adapting to language-specific nuances.
• Children with PLI face challenges in transferring literate language skills between L1 and L2, likely due to a need for increased exposure and stronger L1-L2 connections.