Biomedical subjects

V F Gutierrez-Clellen

Publications and source records attributed to V F Gutierrez-Clellen.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2001

Article use in Spanish-speaking children with specific language impairment.

The current study analysed article use in Spanish-speaking children with specific language impairment who are learning English as a second language. The surface hypothesis account of specific language impairment was evaluated in relation to the use of articles in these children. Language samples were obtained from 15 Spanish-speaking children with language impairment and 15 with normal language, ages 5;0 to 7;1, matched by age, gender, and school. The percentage of article errors was tested between groups with a nonparametric analysis and an analysis of covariance with mean length of terminable unit as the covariate. Results revealed significant differences between groups on percent of article errors with and without MLTU as the covariate. Nonparametric statistics on percent of article error types indicated that most errors consisted of omissions and gender agreement substitutions. As predicted by the Surface Hypothesis, article errors were likely to occur in unstressed definite articles, suggesting that perceptual and prosodic processes have some impact on children's production of articles.

Child↗

PubMed2001

Examining the quality of children's stories: clinical applications.

Research has shown that narrative analysis is an appropriate method for assessing the narrative skills of children from diverse backgrounds. Child narrative studies are reviewed to show crosslinguistic similarities and differences across Spanish and English speakers. An approach that examines the quality of children's narratives based on research with Spanish-speaking children is then described. The protocol focuses on the plot, clarity, cohesion, specificity, and memorable features of narratives as assessment categories. Methodological issues are discussed, and narrative samples from two children with and without language impairment are used to illustrate the analysis.

Child↗

PubMed1994

Syntactic complexity in Spanish narratives: a developmental study.

Syntactic complexity in the movie retellings of 77 school-age Spanish-speaking children was examined using a structural constituent analysis. The results demonstrated developmental differences in the length of T-units, index of subordination, use of relative clauses, and prepositional phrases. There were also differences in the length of T-units, use of nominal clauses, and adverbial phrases across Spanish language groups. The analysis underscores the significance of subordination as a cohesive device and as an indicator of narrative proficiency.

Child Language↗

PubMed1993

Referential cohesion in the narratives of Spanish-speaking children: a developmental study.

Forty-six Spanish-speaking children, ages 4, 6, and 8 years, were shown a short silent film and asked to tell the investigator what happened in the movie. All narratives were audiotaped and transcribed for analysis. The development of referential cohesion was examined based on the referential devices the children used to indicate characters, props, and places in their narratives and on their overall referential accuracy. The results demonstrated an increase in the use of elliptical reference to refer to places in stories, an increase in appropriate phrases, and a decrease in ambiguities and additions as children got older. Language-specific factors in the use of reference and individual differences in the achievement of referential cohesion are discussed.

Age Factors↗

PubMed1992

Causal coherence in the oral narratives of Spanish-speaking children.

Forty-six Spanish-speaking children distributed among three age groups (4:0-4:11, 6:0-6:11, and 8:0-8:11 years) were shown a short silent film and asked to tell the investigator what happened in the movie. All narratives were audiotaped and transcribed for analysis. The stories of older children contained more narrative actions and included more mental state/goal causes than those of younger children. With increasing age, children's narratives showed a decrease in the use of two-clause causal sequences, an increase in the use of three-clause causal sequences, and a decrease in the proportion of unrelated statements. The variability in the types of causal links manifested in the stories suggests that absence of certain types of interclausal connections should not be interpreted as reflecting cognitive or comprehension deficits.

Causality↗