Tell me a story about that! Assessing language abilities of 10-year-old Danish-speaking children using the Global TALES protocol
Author
Nørgaard, Nadia Sand
Term
4. term
Education
Publication year
2024
Submitted on
2024-05-31
Pages
45
Abstract
Personal narratives make up about half of children’s daily conversations. They shape social, emotional, cognitive, and language skills, which can influence education and career paths. Yet children’s language is often assessed with standardized, norm-based tests. Fictional narratives and story retelling are sometimes added, but they do not capture children’s spontaneous, personal language. The international Global TALES (GT) protocol was created to collect personal narratives using six prompts linked to different emotions. This study is the first to examine Danish-speaking children’s personal narratives elicited with GT. The aims were to test the feasibility of the GT protocol with typically developing (TD) Danish children and to compare their language microstructure with findings from children acquiring other languages. Microstructure refers to sentence- and word-level features, including TNU (total number of utterances), TNW (total number of words), MLU (mean length of utterance), and NDW (number of different words). We also examined social-cognitive skills via evaluative devices (words and phrases that express thoughts and feelings), self-efficacy beliefs, and Theory of Mind, and explored how these relate to the language elicited by GT. Method: Twenty TD Danish-speaking 10-year-olds (14 girls, 6 boys; ages 9;11 to 11;1) produced personal narratives in response to the GT prompts. The Formulated Sentences subtest of CELF-IV served as a standardized measure of productive language. Six additional prompts were piloted to elicit self-conscious, emotionally laden narratives. Children rated their self-efficacy using the General Self-Efficacy Scale and completed six false-belief stories from Happé’s Strange Stories (Theory of Mind). Results: The GT protocol successfully elicited personal narratives, with substantial individual variability. Microstructure averages were TNU 47.3, TNW 544.5, MLU 11.32, and NDW 187.55. The original GT prompts yielded stronger language measures than the additional self-conscious prompts. There were no significant microstructure differences between positive and negative prompts, but children used more evaluative devices when describing emotionally negative experiences. Formulated Sentences scores correlated with MLU, but not with other language measures. Use of evaluative devices correlated with TNU, TNW, and NDW. Only emotion words (EMOT-words) correlated with self-efficacy (SE) and Strange Stories (SS) scores. Conclusion: The GT protocol can be used to elicit personal narratives from TD Danish-speaking 10-year-olds. Their microstructure and use of evaluative devices are comparable to results reported for children speaking other languages. The additional self-conscious prompts can also elicit narratives in this age group and should be explored in other ages. Future research should compare spontaneous language (GT) with standardized, norm-based tests to identify the most effective assessment tools.
Personlige fortællinger udgør omkring halvdelen af børns daglige samtaler. De påvirker sociale, følelsesmæssige, kognitive og sproglige færdigheder, som igen kan få betydning for uddannelse og karriere. Alligevel vurderes børns sprog ofte med standardiserede, normbaserede test. Fiktive fortællinger og genfortællinger bruges somme tider som supplement, men de fanger ikke børns spontane, personlige sprog. Det internationale forskningsprojekt Global TALES (GT) er udviklet til at indsamle personlige fortællinger via seks opfordringer, der hver tager udgangspunkt i en følelse. Dette studie er det første, der undersøger danske børns personlige fortællinger fremkaldt med GT. Formålet var at vurdere, om GT-protokollen er anvendelig for typisk udviklede (TD) dansktalende børn og at sammenligne deres sproglige mikrostruktur med resultater for børn, der lærer andre sprog. Mikrostruktur dækker over sproglige mål på sætnings- og ordniveau, herunder TNU (samlet antal ytringer), TNW (samlet antal ord), MLU (gennemsnitlig ytringslængde) og NDW (antal forskellige ord). Derudover undersøgte vi børnenes sociale-kognitive færdigheder gennem brug af evaluerende udtryk (ord og vendinger, der udtrykker tanker og følelser), deres selv-efficacy (troen på egne evner) og teori om sindet, samt sammenhænge mellem disse færdigheder og det sprog, der kom frem gennem GT. Metode: 20 typisk udviklede dansktalende 10-årige (14 piger, 6 drenge; 9;11–11;1 år) fortalte personlige historier ud fra GT-opfordringerne. Delprøven Formulated Sentences fra CELF-IV blev brugt som standardiseret mål for produktivt sprog. Der blev også afprøvet seks ekstra opfordringer designet til at få børnene til at fortælle om selvbevidste, følelsesladede oplevelser. Børnene vurderede deres selv-efficacy med General Self-Efficacy Scale og hørte seks historier om falske overbevisninger fra Happés Strange Stories (teori om sindet). Resultater: GT-protokollen fremkaldte vellykket personlige fortællinger, og der var stor individuel variation. I mikrostrukturanalysen var gennemsnitlig TNU 47.3, TNW 544.5, MLU 11.32 og NDW 187.55. De oprindelige GT-opfordringer gav stærkere sproglige mål end de ekstra, selvbevidste opfordringer. Der var ingen signifikante forskelle mellem positive og negative opfordringer for mikrostruktur, men børnene brugte flere evaluerende udtryk, når de fortalte om følelsesmæssigt negative oplevelser. Scores på Formulated Sentences korrelerede med MLU, men ikke med de øvrige sprogsmål. Brug af evaluerende udtryk korrelerede med TNU, TNW og NDW. Kun følelsesord (EMOT-ord) korrelerede med selv-efficacy (SE) og Strange Stories (SS) scores. Konklusion: GT-protokollen kan anvendes til at fremkalde personlige fortællinger hos TD dansktalende 10-årige. Børnenes mikrostruktur og brug af evaluerende udtryk svarer til fund hos børn, der taler andre sprog. De ekstra opfordringer om selvbevidste følelser kan også bruges i denne aldersgruppe og bør undersøges i andre aldersgrupper. Fremtidig forskning bør sammenligne sprog vurderet via spontan sprogbrug (GT) med standardiserede, normbaserede test for at finde de mest effektive redskaber til sprogvurdering.
[This apstract has been rewritten with the help of AI based on the project's original abstract]
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