engleski

Development of narrative ability: parallels between language content and cognitive modalities

The numerous studies of the development of narrative abilities were mostly focused on language components (e.g. Berman, Slobin, 1994, Hickman, 2003, Martinot, Ibrahim, 2003). Some studies explored the structuring of different events in spatial-temporal-causal narrative, however, generally, the cognitive processing still requires more profound attention. The lack of sufficient developmental insight on cognitive abilities that underlie higher language skills reflected in adequate story telling, motivated the present study aimed to relate narrative abilities and cognitive mechanisms. Various studies confirmed that narrative ability is a good predictor of later school achievement, particularly writing and reading. Accordingly, narrative ability could also serve as a good predictor of language deficits. When comparing narration with two other elementary school skills - reading and writing - four basic rules common to those skills could be defined: seriation, ordering, spatial and temporal relations. These rules are reflected in the ability to sequencing pictures from page to page and from picture to picture. If irregular spatial and temporal sequencing of events is observed, the question of the causes still remains. On the one side, it might be that the child has not acquired the rules, or some other, presumably cognitive prerequisites interfered. Two dimensions have defined our study: developmental aspect of narrative ability and the role of two different cognitive modalities (auditive and visual) in narrative input. The results of hundred preschool and thirty school children tested on auditively and visually presented materials have been analyzed. The preschool children data has shown that all children of age 3 and thirty percent of children of age 4 experienced difficulties in seriation and ordering. Namely, these children have not acquired directional rule of \"reading of storybook\". The observed developmental traits reveal other aspects of narration as well. Illogical sequencing of the story content should alarm the child that hers/his sequencing is not appropriate. This has not been observed in the age group of 5 and 6. In terms of the cognitive modalities it has been identified that all children experienced difficulties in creating narratives when the input was only auditive. In contrast to processing information only visually, auditive processing as multifolded and more complex task imposes greater demands on a child. The results show that six-year old children still have difficulties with creating a narrative and the difficulties will be still present when children enter the school. The development of narration skills is not an all-or-none event but quite long lasting process. Actually, the course of the development has been identified as cascadic with different processes and their features running into each other and advancing at their own pace. The mode of presented narrative input is another relevant factor that could facilitate or hinder cognitive processing which could influence the resulting narrative structure.

narrative ability; ordering; seriation

nije evidentirano