Resumen de Oral narrative development of Mandarin Chinese dual language immersion learners

Ko-Yin Sung

• 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.