English Narrative Macrostructure Development of Spanish-English Bilingual Children From Preschool to First Grade

Purpose This longitudinal study examined the development of seven macrostructure features in the English narratives of Spanish-English bilingual children from the beginning of preschool to the end of first grade and examined whether the timing of English exposure impacted this development. Method Narratives were collected over 4 years for 103 children of Puerto Rican descent. Narratives were elicited in the fall and spring of each year and coded for macrostructure using the Narrative Scoring Scheme, which generates a score for each macrostructure feature. Using parent report of the timing of English exposure, the children were grouped according to whether they had learned Spanish and English from birth (home English communication) or whether they had been primarily exposed to English in Head Start (school English communication [SEC]). Results Growth curve models revealed that the children's production of all seven narrative features demonstrated growth over the 4 years. Some features demonstrated slowed growth during the school years. Though the children in the SEC group began Head Start with significantly lower macrostructure scores than the children in the home English communication group, the SEC children demonstrated faster growth rates for a majority of features once schooling began. Conclusions The results provide information about the unique developmental progression of each macrostructure feature in the English narratives of bilingual children. The findings suggest that individual macrostructure features were susceptible to the effects of the timing of English exposure. The preschool years mark an important time to promote bilingual children's narrative production, especially for children exposed primarily to Spanish at home.