Relationship Between Performance on Oral Narrative Retells and Vocabulary Assessments for Spanish-English Speaking Children

Abstract

This project aimed to describe oral narrative retells of Spanish-English speaking dual language learners (DLLs) and examine relationships with standardized vocabulary assessments. Investigators described oral narrative retells of 145 DLLs in kindergarten and first grade by number of different words (NDW), words per minute (WPM), and macrostructural components. Hierarchical regression analyses were used to examine relationships between narrative retells and standardized vocabulary performance. Children in first grade showed significantly better narrative retells than kindergarten DLLs, characterized by greater NDW and WPM, and more macrostructural components. Regression results indicated NDW accounted for the majority of the unique variance in DLLs’ performance on standardized vocabulary assessments. Findings substantiate that narrative retells are educationally relevant tools in predicting performance on a standardized English vocabulary assessment. The study contributes to knowledge of narrative performance of typically developing DLLs and supports the utility of retells in assessment of DLLs.