English Language Narratives of Filipino Children

Area of Science:

• Linguistics
• Child Language Acquisition
• Bilingualism

Background:

• Understanding the impact of bilingual exposure on child language development is crucial.
• Previous research has explored narrative skills in monolingual children.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the English narrative skills of children exposed to the Filipino language.
• To analyze narrative complexity, productivity, and grammaticality in this population.

Main Methods:

• Eight children (ages 6;0–7;7) with primary English use and Filipino exposure participated.
• Children produced three narrative samples from wordless picture books.
• Samples were analyzed for narrative complexity, productivity, and grammaticality.

Main Results:

• Narrative complexity was comparable to monolingual English-speaking children.
• An average of 16.55% Filipino-influenced English forms were noted.
• Patterns of influence were predictable; maze use correlated with Filipino exposure.

Conclusions:

• Grammaticality assessment should consider language contact influences.
• Maze use may indicate language exposure and warrants further investigation in language evaluations.