Cover not available
Part of
Developing Narrative Comprehension: Multilingual Assessment Instrument for Narratives
Edited by Ute Bohnacker and Natalia Gagarina
[Studies in Bilingualism 61] 2020
► pp. 1–30

Cross-linguistic development of narrative comprehension from A to Z

ORCID logo | Uppsala University
ORCID logo | Uppsala University | Leibniz-Centre General Linguistics (ZAS)
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Narrative comprehension and how it can be understood
    • 2.1Theoretical background
    • 2.2Comprehension of stories in different modalities
  • 3.Our model of inference-based visual narrative comprehension
  • 4.The MAIN materials
    • 4.1Background: The ‘birth’ of MAIN
    • 4.2The picture stories
    • 4.3The MAIN comprehension task
    • 4.4Assessing narrative comprehension with MAIN
  • 5.The contributions of the book
  • 6.Narrative comprehension outcomes
    • 6.1Steep increase with age initially
    • 6.2Reaching a milestone by age 5
    • 6.3Variation at earlier ages
    • 6.4Similarity in narrative comprehension in bilinguals’ two languages
    • 6.5Factors affecting narrative comprehension
    • 6.6Putting our tool to the test
  • 7.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 10 December 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/sibil.61.01boh
References (52)
References
Armon-Lotem, S., de Jong, J., & Meir, N. (Eds.). (2015). Assessing multilingual children: Disentangling bilingualism from language impairment. Bristol: Multilingual Matters. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Astington, J. W., & Pelletier, J. (2005). Theory of Mind, language, and learning in the early years: Developmental origins of school readiness. In B. D. Homer & C. S. Tamis-LeMonda (Eds.), The development of social cognition and communication (pp. 312–352). New York, NY: Taylor & Francis (ProQuest Ebook Central).Google Scholar
Berman, R. A., & Slobin, D. I. (1994). Narrative structure. Chapter IIA. In R. A. Berman & D. I. Slobin (Eds.), Relating events in narrative: A cross-linguistic developmental study (pp. 39–84). New York, NY: Psychology Press.Google Scholar
Bishop, D. V. M. (1997). Uncommon understanding: Development and disorders of language comprehension in children. Hove: Psychology Press.Google Scholar
Bishop, D. V. M., & Adams, C. (1992). Comprehension problems in children with specific language impairment: literal and inferential meaning. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 35(1), 119–129. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bohnacker, U. (2016). Tell me a story in English or Swedish: Narrative production and comprehension in bilingual preschoolers and first graders. Applied Psycholinguistics, 37(1), 19–48. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2018). Guidelines for Scoring Macrostructure in MAIN (Unpublished material). Uppsala University, Version November 2018.Google Scholar
Bohnacker, U., & Lindgren, J. (in press). MAIN story comprehension: What can we expect of a typically developing child? In S. Armon-Lotem & K. K. Grohmann (Eds.), LITMUS in action: Cross-comparison studies across Europe. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Preprint retrieved from <[URL]> (18 June, 2019).
Bohnacker, U., Öztekin, B., & Lindgren, J. (this volume). Bilingual Turkish-Swedish children’s understanding of MAIN picture sequences: Individual variation, age, language and task effects. In U. Bohnacker & N. Gagarina (Eds.), Developing narrative comprehension: Multilingual Assessment Instrument for Narratives. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logo
Boudreau, D. M. (2007). Narrative abilities in children with language impairments. In R. Paul (Ed.), Language disorders from a developmental perspective: Essays in honour of Robin S. Chapman (pp. 331–356). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Burris, S. E., & Brown, D. D. (2014). When all children comprehend: Increasing the external validity of narrative comprehension development research. Frontiers in Psychology, 5, Article 168. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dodwell, K., & Bavin, E. L. (2008). Children with specific language impairment: An investigation of their narratives and memory. International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders, 43(2), 201–218. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ellis Weismer, S. (1985). Constructive comprehension abilities exhibited by language-disordered children. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 28, 175–184. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fiani, R., Henry, G., & Prévost, P. (this volume). Narrative comprehension in Lebanese Arabic-French bilingual children. In U. Bohnacker & N. Gagarina (Eds.), Developing narrative comprehension: Multilingual Assessment Instrument for Narratives. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logo
Filiatrault-Veilleux, P., Bouchard, C., Trudeau, N., & Desmarais, C. (2015). Inferential comprehension of 3–6 year olds within the context of story grammar: A scoping review. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, 50(6), 737–749. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Florit, E., Roch, M., & Levorato, M. C. (2011). Listening text comprehension of explicit and implicit information in preschoolers: The role of verbal and inferential skills. Discourse Processes, 48(2), 119–138. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gagarina, N., Klop, D., Kunnari, S., Tantele, K., Välimaa, T., Balčiūnienė, I., Bohnacker, U., & Walters, J. (2012). Multilingual Assessment Instrument for Narratives (MAIN). ZAS Papers in Linguistics, 56. Berlin: Zentrum für Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft.Google Scholar
(2015). Assessment of narrative abilities in bilingual children. In S. Armon-Lotem, J. de Jong, & N. Meir (Eds.), Assessing multilingual children: Disentangling bilingualism from language impairment (pp. 243–276). Bristol: Multilingual Matters. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gagarina, N., Klop, D., Kunnari, S., Tantele, K., Välimaa, T., Bohnacker, U., & Walters, J. (2019). MAIN: Multilingual Assessment Instrument for Narratives – Revised. ZAS Papers in Linguistics, 63. Berlin: Leibniz Zentrum für Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft.Google Scholar
Graesser, A. C., Singer, M., & Trabasso, T. (1994). Constructing inferences during narrative text comprehension. Psychological Review, 101(3), 371–395. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gutiérrez-Clellen, V. F. (2002). Narratives in two languages: Assessing performance of bilingual children. Linguistics and Education, 13(2), 175–197. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hayward, D., Schneider, P., & Gillam, R. B. (2009). Age and task-related effects on young children’s understanding of a complex picture story. The Alberta Journal of Educational Research, 55(1), 54–72.Google Scholar
Johnson, N. S. & Mandler, J. M. (1980). A tale of two structures: Underlying and surface forms in stories. Poetics, 9, 51–86. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kendeou, P., Bohn-Gettler, C., White, M. J., & van den Broek, P. (2008). Children’s inference generation across different media. Journal of Research in Reading, 31(3), 259–272. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kintsch, W. (1988). The role of knowledge in discourse comprehension. A constructive-integration model. Psychological Review, 95, 163–182. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kintsch, W., & van Dijk, T. (1978). Toward a model of text comprehension and production. Psychological Review, 85, 363–394. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Labov, W. (1972). Language in the inner city: Studies in the Black English vernacular. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press.Google Scholar
Labov, W., & Waletzky, J. (1967). Narrative analysis. In J. Helm (Ed.), Essays on the verbal and visual arts: Proceedings of the 1966 Annual Spring Meeting of the American Ethnological Society (pp. 12–44). Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press.Google Scholar
Letts, C., & Leinonen, E. (2001). Comprehension of inferential meaning in language-impaired and language normal children. International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders, 36(3), 307–328. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Levinson, S. C. (1983). Pragmatics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lindgren, J., & Bohnacker, U. (this volume). Age, language and inferencing: How Swedish-German bilingual preschoolers understand stories. In U. Bohnacker & N. Gagarina (Eds.), Developing narrative comprehension: Multilingual Assessment Instrument for Narratives. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Lynch, J. S., & van den Broek, P. (2007). Understanding the glue of narrative structure: Children’s on- and off-line inferences about characters’ goals. Cognitive Development, 22, 323–340. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lynch, J. S., van den Broek, P., Kremer, K. E., Kendeou, P., White, M. J., & Lorch, E. P. (2008). The development of narrative comprehension and its relation to other early reading skills. Reading Psychology, 29, 327–365. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mandler, J. M., & Johnson, N. S. (1977). Remembrance of things parsed: Story structure and recall. Cognitive Psychology, 9, 111–151. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mar, R. A. (2004). The neuropsychology of narrative: Story comprehension, story production and their interrelation. Neuropsychologia, 42, 1414–1434. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mayer, M. (1969). Frog where are you? New York, NY: Dial Press.Google Scholar
Paris, A. H., & Paris, S. G. (2003). Assessing narrative comprehension in young children. Reading Research Quarterly, 38(1), 36–76. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Paris, S. G., & Stahl, S. A. (Eds.). (2005). Children’s reading comprehension and assessment. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Peterson, C., & McCabe, A. (1983). Developmental psycholinguistics: Three ways of looking at a child’s narrative. New York, NY: Plenum Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Renfrew, C. E. (1969 [1997]). Bus Story Test: A test of narrative speech (4th ed.). Bicester, Oxon: Winslow Press.Google Scholar
Shapiro, L. R., & Hudson, J. A. (1991). Tell me a make-believe story: Coherence and cohesion in young children’s picture-elicited narratives. Developmental Psychology, 27(6), 960–974. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Stein, N. L., & Glenn, C. G. (1979). An analysis of story comprehension in elementary school children. In R. O. Freedle (Ed.), New directions in discourse processing (pp. 53–120). Norwood, NJ: Ablex.Google Scholar
Stein, N. L., & Policastro, M. (1984). The concept of a story: A comparison between children’s and teacher’s viewpoints. In H. Mandl, N. L. Stein, & T. Trabasso (Eds.), Learning and comprehension of text (pp. 113–155). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Thompson, J. G., & Myers, N. A. (1985). Inferences and recall at ages four and seven. Child Development. 56, 1134–1144. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tompkins, V., Guo, Y., & Justice, L. M. (2013). Inference generation, story comprehension, and language skills in the preschool years. Reading & Writing, 26(3), 403–426. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Trabasso, T., & Nickels, M. (1992). The development of goal plans of action in the narration of a picture story. Discourse Processes, 15(1), 249–275. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Trabasso, T., Secco, T., & van den Broek, P. W. (1984). Causal cohesion and story coherence. In H. Mandl, N. L. Stein, & T. Trabasso (Eds.), Learning and comprehension of text (pp. 83–111). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Trabasso, T., Stein, N., Rodkin, P. C., Park Munger, M., & Baughn, C. R. (1992). Knowledge of goals and plans in the on-line narration of events. Cognitive Development, 7(2), 133–170. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Van den Broek, P. (1997). Discovering the cement of the universe: The development of event comprehension from childhood to adulthood. In P. W. van den Broek, P. J. Bauer, & T. Bourg (Eds.), Developmental spans in event comprehension: Bridging fictional and actual events (pp. 321–342). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Van den Broek, P., Kendeou, P., Kremer, K., Lynch, J., Butler, J., White, M., & Lorch, E. P. (2005). Assessment of comprehension abilities in young children. In S. G. Paris & S. A. Stahl (Eds.), Children’s reading comprehension and assessment (pp. 107–130). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Wenner, J. A. (2004). Preschoolers’ comprehension of goal structure in narratives. Memory, 12(2), 193–202. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Westby, C. E. (2005). Assessing and facilitating text comprehension problems. In H. Catts & A. Kamhi (Eds.), Language and reading disabilities (pp. 157–232). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.Google Scholar