Narrative development of preschoolers in Hong Kong : the comparison between personal and fictional narratives

Abstract

This study examined the personal and fictional narratives of Cantonese-Chinese speaking preschool children in terms of macrostructure and microstructure. The study also looked at the extent to which children’s language ability and exposure to storybooks influence their narrative production. Personal and fictional narratives were elicited from 50 normal developing preschool children aged between 3;00 and 5;00. The High point analysis and the mean length of C-units (MLCU) were used to examine the macrostructure and the microstructure of the children’s narratives respectively. The Cantonese Receptive Vocabulary Test was administered as a proxy measure of the children’s language ability. The children’s length of exposure to story books was obtained from their parents. Results showed that children performed differently in two types of narratives. Most of them performed better in fictional narratives in terms of macrostructure. They could produce a higher level of narrative pattern and demonstrated more high point elements in fictional narratives. However, no significant difference was found between the two types of narratives in terms of microstructure. In addition, significant positive correlation was found in language ability and narrative production, especially in fictional narrative. However, no correlation was found between the children’s exposure to story books and their narrative production.