Chinese-English and Spanish-English Dual Language Learners’ Bilingual Narrative Skills

The purpose of the dissertation study was to explore early bilingual narratives for Chinese-English and Spanish-English dual language learners (DLLs) enrolled in Head Start programs to reveal what narrative skills they present in English and the heritage language (HL). The study first analyzed narrative microstructure, or lexical and grammatical skills as well as macrostructure, or overall narrative quality to explore similarities and differences between narrative abilities of the two language groups. The study also compared advanced and less advanced narrative characteristics qualitatively to elucidate in what way their presentation of the same story differs, and to understand how less advanced narratives can be improved by comparing exemplifying quotes. The associations of microstructure and macrostructure in English and HL were then examined through Pearson correlation analysis for both the Chinese and Spanish groups. In order to examine the interdependence hypothesis (Cummins, 1981) at the macrostructure level, the study employed multiple linear regression analysis and tested whether English macrostructure is predicted by HL macrostructure. The second regression model also examined whether English macrostructure is predicted by HL macrostructure after controlling for English microstructure to explore significant predictors of English narratives. The narrative data were collected from 77 Chinese-English and 48 Spanish-English DLLs from Head Start programs in Northern California. Their home language was either Chinese or Spanish, and at least one of their parents identified themselves as Chinese American or Mexican American. The narrative data in both English and HL were collected using a wordless picture book. The results from the descriptive statistics showed that overall, there were no statistically significant differences among the English and HL macrostructure and English microstructure for the two language groups. The Spanish group organized events in a chronological order in English more than the Chinese group and the differences were significant. The results from the qualitative analysis showed that the advanced and less advanced narratives were distinct in four characteristics such as syntactic complexity, character delineation, direct and indirect quotes, and character emotions and intentions for both language groups. The results from the Pearson correlation showed within-language associations of macrostructure and microstructure in English for the Chinese and Spanish groups. Cross-linguistic correlations of macrostructure and microstructure were observed only for the Chinese group. Further, the multiple linear regression analysis showed no significant association between English and HL macrostructure when controlling for within-language microstructure for both language groups. Within-language microstructure, or English microstructure, predicted English macrostructure, and HL macrostructure was not a significant predictor of English macrostructure for both groups. Age was not a significant predictor of English macrostructure in the two regression models for the Chinese group, and it was significant for the first regression model for the Spanish group. Sex differences were included as a control variable in the regression model only for the Chinese group, and it was not a significant predictor of English macrostructure. Overall, the results from this study suggest that the DLLs from two language groups could be taught in similar ways in that they were more similar than different in their narrative skills. Due to their differences in mentioning temporality, the Chinese group may be taught more temporal relations of events with connectives. Educators and parents of young DLLs may emphasize overall narrative quality like talking about small event components and connecting these components to strengthen their narratives skills. The data showed strong associations between macrostructure and microstructure which suggests that children should have strong vocabulary and grammar skills to construct better quality narratives