Oral narrative development of Mandarin Chinese dual language immersion learners

ABSTRACT

This study explored the development of oral narrative retell proficiency among Mandarin Chinese-English dual language immersion (DLI) learners in Utah. The study compared the younger and the older DLI learners’ oral narrative retelling production in order to provide information regarding the Mandarin narrative developmental trend of the DLI learners. A total of ten first graders and ten fifth graders who spoke English as their native language from a Mandarin DLI program in Utah were involved in this study. Oral narratives were elicited via retelling a story. MANOVA tests were run to detect any significant differences at the macrostructure and microstructure levels of the participants’ narratives. The results showed significant differences in the older learners for many macrostructure and microstructure features; however, certain components in both macrostructure and microstructure features remain at similar levels. The results could be explained by children’s typical progress in oral narrative development (e.g. progressing from word level through sentence and story formation), the DLI curriculum, and the difference between the Chinese and English language features.

KEYWORDS:

• Oral narrative retelling
• dual language immersion
• Mandarin Chinese

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ko-Yin Sung

Ko-Yin Sung is a Professor of Chinese in the Department of World Languages and Cultures at Utah State University, USA. Her interests include Mandarin Chinese dual language immersion learning, language learning strategies, Chinese character instruction and technology-assisted language learning.