Tutoring effects in the narrative skills of typically developing children

ABSTRACT

Purpose  The objectives of this study were 1) To evaluate the tutoring effect on the type of the narrative produced by typically developing children, 2) To compare this effect between children from state and private schools and 3) to relate it with vocabulary, age and school performance.

Methods  The sample was composed by 107 children from state and private schools, aged from 4 to 9 years, within typical development. Children’s narratives were prompted by sequences of pictures and scored according to the type of discourse: descriptive, causal or intentional. Children’s narrative performance was compared before and after tutoring, between (state and private school) and within groups. The type of narrative was correlated with vocabulary, age and school performance.

Results  Before tutoring, most narratives were classified as descriptive. After tutoring, there was a predominance of intentional narratives. Children from state and private schools showed a similar response pattern with and without tutoring. After tutoring, the type of narrative showed significant correlation with vocabulary and academic performance.

Conclusion  Tutoring improved the quality of children’s narratives and this effect correlated with the vocabulary.

Keywords
Language Development; Narration; Semantics; Mentoring; Child Language