Left-behind experience and language proficiency predict narrative abilities in the home language of Kam-speaking minority children in China
IntroductionStudies have documented that child experiences such as external/environmental factors as well as internal factors jointly affect acquisition outcomes in child language. Thus far, the findings have been heavily skewed toward Indo-European languages and children in the Western, educated, i...
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| Format: | Article |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2023-01-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1059895/full |
| _version_ | 1797950891063508992 |
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| author | Wenchun Yang Wenchun Yang Angel Chan Angel Chan Angel Chan Natalia Gagarina |
| author_facet | Wenchun Yang Wenchun Yang Angel Chan Angel Chan Angel Chan Natalia Gagarina |
| author_sort | Wenchun Yang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | IntroductionStudies have documented that child experiences such as external/environmental factors as well as internal factors jointly affect acquisition outcomes in child language. Thus far, the findings have been heavily skewed toward Indo-European languages and children in the Western, educated, industrialized, rich and democratic (WEIRD) societies. By contrast, this study features an understudied minority language Kam, and a group of so-called left-behind children in China growing up in a unique social-communicative environment.MethodsFifty-five bilingual children aged 5–9 acquiring Kam as home language were assessed using the Multilingual Assessment Instrument for Narratives (LITMUS MAIN). Twenty-three “two parents-left” children (mean age = 6;8, range: 5;0–9;2) remained in rural areas while both parents went to cities for employment, and they were raised by their grandparents. Thirty-two were “one parent-left” peers (mean age = 7;3, range: 5;0–9;3) who also resided in rural areas but were raised by one parent. Oral narrative texts were analysed for macrostructure based on story structure (SS), story complexity (SC) and internal state terms (IS). The study examined whether and how narrative production is predicted by internal factors such as chronological age and linguistic proficiency of a child and an external factor such as left-behind experience. Four measures were scored as outcome measures: SS, SC, IS type, IS token. Four measures were taken as predictors: chronological age, left-behind experience, scores in a lexical production task, and scores in a sentence repetition task tapping expressive morphosyntactic competence.ResultsResults showed that left-behind experience consistently predicted all four outcome measures, where the “two parents-left” children scored significantly lower than their “one parent-left” peers. Expressive vocabulary scores predicted three measures: SS, SC, and IS Token. Expressive morphosyntactic scores predicted SS and SC. Age, by contrast, did not predict any outcome measure.DiscussionThese findings suggested that being left-behind by both parents may be a negative prognostic indicator for the development and maintenance of heritage language abilities in ethnic minority children. We further discussed the conceptual significance of what it means for a child to be left-behind, by relating to more basic external factors in language development, including caregiver educational level, and amount of home language and literacy support by the caretakers. |
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| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-10T22:23:20Z |
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| spelling | doaj.art-9bcab90b3e244c3bb6f3b6140e0c5da02023-01-17T14:24:01ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782023-01-011310.3389/fpsyg.2022.10598951059895Left-behind experience and language proficiency predict narrative abilities in the home language of Kam-speaking minority children in ChinaWenchun Yang0Wenchun Yang1Angel Chan2Angel Chan3Angel Chan4Natalia Gagarina5School of Foreign Studies, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, ChinaLeibniz-Centre General Linguistics (ZAS), Berlin, GermanyDepartment of Chinese and Bilingual Studies, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, ChinaResearch Centre for Language, Cognition, and Neuroscience, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, ChinaThe Hong Kong Polytechnic University – Peking University Research Centre on Chinese Linguistics, Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, ChinaLeibniz-Centre General Linguistics (ZAS), Berlin, GermanyIntroductionStudies have documented that child experiences such as external/environmental factors as well as internal factors jointly affect acquisition outcomes in child language. Thus far, the findings have been heavily skewed toward Indo-European languages and children in the Western, educated, industrialized, rich and democratic (WEIRD) societies. By contrast, this study features an understudied minority language Kam, and a group of so-called left-behind children in China growing up in a unique social-communicative environment.MethodsFifty-five bilingual children aged 5–9 acquiring Kam as home language were assessed using the Multilingual Assessment Instrument for Narratives (LITMUS MAIN). Twenty-three “two parents-left” children (mean age = 6;8, range: 5;0–9;2) remained in rural areas while both parents went to cities for employment, and they were raised by their grandparents. Thirty-two were “one parent-left” peers (mean age = 7;3, range: 5;0–9;3) who also resided in rural areas but were raised by one parent. Oral narrative texts were analysed for macrostructure based on story structure (SS), story complexity (SC) and internal state terms (IS). The study examined whether and how narrative production is predicted by internal factors such as chronological age and linguistic proficiency of a child and an external factor such as left-behind experience. Four measures were scored as outcome measures: SS, SC, IS type, IS token. Four measures were taken as predictors: chronological age, left-behind experience, scores in a lexical production task, and scores in a sentence repetition task tapping expressive morphosyntactic competence.ResultsResults showed that left-behind experience consistently predicted all four outcome measures, where the “two parents-left” children scored significantly lower than their “one parent-left” peers. Expressive vocabulary scores predicted three measures: SS, SC, and IS Token. Expressive morphosyntactic scores predicted SS and SC. Age, by contrast, did not predict any outcome measure.DiscussionThese findings suggested that being left-behind by both parents may be a negative prognostic indicator for the development and maintenance of heritage language abilities in ethnic minority children. We further discussed the conceptual significance of what it means for a child to be left-behind, by relating to more basic external factors in language development, including caregiver educational level, and amount of home language and literacy support by the caretakers.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1059895/fullnarrative abilitiesKam-speakingleft-behind experiencelinguistic proficiencyhome language |
| spellingShingle | Wenchun Yang Wenchun Yang Angel Chan Angel Chan Angel Chan Natalia Gagarina Left-behind experience and language proficiency predict narrative abilities in the home language of Kam-speaking minority children in China Frontiers in Psychology narrative abilities Kam-speaking left-behind experience linguistic proficiency home language |
| title | Left-behind experience and language proficiency predict narrative abilities in the home language of Kam-speaking minority children in China |
| title_full | Left-behind experience and language proficiency predict narrative abilities in the home language of Kam-speaking minority children in China |
| title_fullStr | Left-behind experience and language proficiency predict narrative abilities in the home language of Kam-speaking minority children in China |
| title_full_unstemmed | Left-behind experience and language proficiency predict narrative abilities in the home language of Kam-speaking minority children in China |
| title_short | Left-behind experience and language proficiency predict narrative abilities in the home language of Kam-speaking minority children in China |
| title_sort | left behind experience and language proficiency predict narrative abilities in the home language of kam speaking minority children in china |
| topic | narrative abilities Kam-speaking left-behind experience linguistic proficiency home language |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1059895/full |
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