The narrative competence of pre-school children marks the transition from orat to literate language productions so that they are an indicator for the pre-literate language skills which are indispensable for educational success in the Western-European countries. The study of Schwabl (2015) which is presented here investigates migrant children’s narrative competence to find out which language structures are the most problematic. The overarching questions of this paper are, what are the main linguistic problems of these bilingual and migrant pre-school children, which are the linguistic structures they lack regarding their pre-literate language skills and how can we develop methods to evaluate these specific skills to support their language progression. No age-based development can be noted due to the high individual linguistic variation between the bilingual children. However, the most meaningful results come from the analysis of the syntactic structures which offer the possibility to categorize the migrant children in to competence profiles.
Table of Contents
01. Introduction
02. Pre-school children and language
02.01. Language acquisition and bilingualism
02.02. Language and migration
02.03. Testing language skills
02.04. Narrations of pre-school children
02.04.01. Composition of the narrative competence
02.04.02. Sentence structure and connectivity
02.04.03. Reference
02.04.04. Temporal structure
02.04.05. Narrative structure
02.04.06. Orat and literate language skills
02.04.07. Pre-literate language skills and the role of the narration
03. Narrative competence of migrant pre-school children
03.01. Material and method
03.02. Narrations of migrant pre-school children
03.02.01. Sentence structure and connectivity
03.02.02. Reference
03.02.03. Temporal structure
03.02.04. Narrative structure
04. Conclusion
Objectives and Research Focus
The paper examines the narrative competence of bilingual pre-school children with a Turkish migrant background, specifically analyzing their linguistic deficits and the lack of pre-literate language skills that hinder success in the Austrian educational system.
- Impact of migration on language acquisition and bilingual development
- Development of narrative competence in pre-school children
- Methods for evaluating language skills in bilingual children
- Analysis of syntactic structures and narrative components in migrant children
- The Linguistic Capital Model as a framework for understanding educational outcomes
Excerpt from the Book
03.01. Material and method
The basis for the study of Schwabl (2015) are preceding investigations of narrations of monolingual and bilingual pre-school children which turned out to be very different regarding the quality of the narrations although all of these children were about to enter school very soon (Schwabl, 2015, p. 120). Following these studies and in cooperation with the Austrian city Graz, Schwabl (2015) analyzed 24 (actual 30) pre-school children with a Turkish migrant background over a period of 12 months and she also collected background information about the family situation, the language environment and psycholinguistic data (Schwabl, 2015, p. 121). All children’s parents immigrated from Turkey at a young age of the children or the children were even born in Austria. The children’s colloquial language is Turkish and they do not show any cognitive or general health deficits (Schwabl, 2015, p. 121). The selection of the children is made because of filled out questionnaires from the parents and with help of a speech therapist (Schwabl, 2015, p. 121).
The material that has been used to elicite the narrations are five picture stories, four which contain four pictures, one picture story consists of one picture, the renarration of a short film clip, the narration of a personal experience and data of spontaneous language productions have been collected, too (Schwabl, 2015, pp. 122-124). The first picture story deals with a boy who loses his balloon, the second story is about a little girl who has got a nightmare and therefore can not sleep until she gets her cuddly toy from her mother (Schwabl, 2015, pp. 122-123). In the third picture story, there is a horse that steals the carrots of a rabbit but in the end, they reconciliate with each other and the fourth picture story is about a boy who has to remove the shards of a bowl that was broken by a cat (Schwabl, 2015, pp. 123-124). The last picture story shows a rider who falls from his bucking horse and who is photographed by an outsider (Schwabl, 2015, p. 124).
Summary of Chapters
01. Introduction: The introduction sets the scene by discussing the link between language competence and educational success, identifying the lack of pre-literate register as a core challenge for migrant children.
02. Pre-school children and language: This chapter covers fundamental aspects of language acquisition, the influence of migration on language learning, and the specific narrative components required to test linguistic development.
03. Narrative competence of migrant pre-school children: This section details the study of Turkish migrant children in Austria, evaluating their sentence structure, referencing strategies, and temporal usage in narrations compared to monolingual peers.
04. Conclusion: The conclusion emphasizes that evaluating these children requires functional language analysis and support, highlighting that socio-political factors and linguistic resources are key determinants of success.
Keywords
narrative competence, bilingualism, pre-school children, migration, language acquisition, literate register, academic language skills, syntactic profiles, Turkish, Austria, linguistic capital, oral language, educational success, language development, scaffolding
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the core subject of this paper?
The paper focuses on the narrative competence of pre-school children with a migrant background, specifically those of Turkish origin in Austria, and their ability to transition to literate language use.
What are the central themes of the research?
Key themes include the impact of migration on language acquisition, the role of pre-literate knowledge in educational success, and the methodology of testing narrative skills in bilingual children.
What is the primary research goal?
The goal is to identify problematic linguistic structures in bilingual children's narrations and to develop methods for evaluating these skills to better support their educational progress.
Which scientific methods are employed?
The research relies on data from a study by Katharina Schwabl (2015), involving the analysis of narrations elicited through picture stories, short film clips, and personal experiences, as well as the application of Brizić's Linguistic Capital Model.
What is covered in the main section?
The main section analyzes syntactic profiles, sentence connectivity, reference strategies, temporal structures, and overall narrative composition of migrant children, contrasting them with monolingual children.
Which keywords characterize the work?
The work is characterized by terms such as narrative competence, bilingualism, pre-literate language skills, linguistic capital, and migrant education.
Why is the "literate register" so important for these children?
The literate register is indispensable for educational success in Western-European school systems; migrant children often lack this academic language knowledge, which differs from their everyday conversational language.
How does the "Linguistic Capital Model" explain the findings?
The model suggests that educational failure is not due to "parental failure" or the origin of the children, but rather a result of social or language-political inequality that limits the linguistic capital of the learners.
- Arbeit zitieren
- Melanie Jankrift (Autor:in), 2017, The narrative competence of pre-school children with a migrant background, München, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/445630
