Thesis (M Speech Path)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Narrative skills have found to be a predictor of academic success with clear correlations to later reading and writing abilities in children. The quality of narratives and the language disorders displayed in specific clinical populations has also been correlated, making narratives a useful diagnostic tool. To be able to know what is atypical, one has to know what is normal. Normative based assessment materials are very limited in South Africa. Commercially available assessments are often inappropriate because of the complex nature of narratives and the influence of socio-economic, linguistic and cultural factors. There is therefore a need not only to develop appropriate assessment materials but also to obtain normative data for use in the South African context. The main research question this study attempted to answer is: What are the patterns of narrative development in normally developing children? A total of 62 typically developing children from schools in a middle class residential area was selected. Three different age groups were identified: Grade R (5 to 6 years), Grade 1 (6 to 7 years) and Grade 3 (8 years 6 months to 9 years 6 months) based on their different exposure to literate language. It was assumed that they would display distinct patterns of narrative development, with an increase in the complexity of narrative features with age. A wordless picture book, regarded as appropriate for the South African context, was developed and used to elicit a narrative from each participant. Narratives were analysed using a comprehensive narrative assessment protocol. Assessment areas included macrostructure, microstructure, use of literate language and the use of abstraction. Results were compared in terms of group differences and developmental trajectories. The assessment protocol showed similar story lengths in all age groups, suggesting that when the developed wordless picture book was used as elicitation stimulus, any significant differences between groups could be of diagnostic value. Results showed clear developmental trajectories in terms of macrostructural measures. The group differences between Grade R and Grade 1 in terms of microstructural measures were not significant. There was, however, a significant increase in terms of syntactic complexity and lexical diversity from Grade R to Grade 3. No significant development was observed in terms of the use of literate language features across the year groups and a group effect was offered as a possible explanation. In contrast to concrete statements, children as young as 5 years old used mainly abstractions in their generated narratives. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Narratiefvaardighede is nie net ‘n voorvereiste vir akademiese sukses nie, maar korreleer ook met lees- en skryfvaardighede in kinders. Weens die korrelasie tussen die kwaliteit van narratiewe en die taal van kinders met spesifieke taalgestremdhede, het narratiewe ook diagnostiese waarde. Om te weet wat atipies is, moet ‘n mens weet wat normaal is. Normatiewe evaluasiemateriaal is baie beperk in Suid-Afrika. Die evaluasies wat kommersieël beskikbaar is, is dikwels ontoepaslik weens die kompleksiteit van narratiewe en die invloed van sosioekonomiese, linguistiese en kulturele faktore. Dit is daarom belangrik om geskikte evaluasie materiaal te ontwikkel en normatiewe data te bepaal vir gebruik in die Suid-Afrikaanse konteks. Met hierdie studie is daar gepoog om die volgende navorsingsvraag te beantwoord: Hoe ontwikkel narratiewe in normaal ontwikkelende kinders? ‘n Totaal van 62 tipies-ontwikkelende kinders is geselekteer uit hoofstroomskole in ‘n middelklas residensiële omgewing. Drie verskillende ouderdomsgroepe is geteiken op grond van hulle blootstelling aan geletterdheidstaal: Graad R (5 – 6 jaar), Graad 1 (6 – 7 jaar) en Graad 3 (8 jaar 6 maande – 9 jaar 6 maande). Daar is aangeneem dat die groepe baie spesifieke patrone in narratiefontwikkeling sou toon, met ‘n toename in die kompleksiteit van narratiewe met toename in ouderdom. ‘n Woordlose prenteboek, wat beskou is as toepaslik binne die Suid-Afrikaanse konteks, is ontwikkel en gebruik om ‘n narratief van elke deelnemer te ontlok. Narratiewe is ontleed met behulp van ‘n omvattende evaluasieprotokol. Areas vir ontleding het makrostruktuur, mikrostruktuur, gebruik van geletterdheidstaal en die gebruik van abstraksie ingesluit. Resultate is vergelyk ten opsigte van groepsverskille en ontwikkelingspatrone. Die storielengte van die verkillende ouderdomsgroepe het ooreengestem en suggereer dat wanneer die woordlose prenteboek as ontlokkingstimulus gebruik word, enige beduidende verskille tussen groepe van diagnostiese waarde is. Die resultate het duidelike ontwikkelingspatrone getoon ten opsigte van makrostrukturele meetings. Groepsverskille tussen Graad R en Graad 1 was onbeduidend ten opsigte van mikrostrukturele metings. Daar was egter ‘n beduidende toename ten opsigte van sintaktiese kompleksiteit en leksikale diversiteit van Graad R tot Graad 3. Geen beduidende ontwikkeling is waargeneem ten opsigte van die gebruik van geletterdheidstaal oor die jaargroepe nie en ‘n groepseffek is as moontlike verduideliking gegee. Kinders so jonk as 5 jaar oud het hoofsaaklik abstrakte taal teenoor konkrete taal in hul narratiewe gebruik. Kliniese implikasies vir spraak- en taalterapeute is bespreek.

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Competence with oral narrative discourse is associated with both reading comprehension and academic achievement in general. However, most research on narratives has been conducted with monolingual English speaking children and the theoretical frameworks used to measure narrative skills are predominantly based on what is known about the narrative skills of this population. There has been much less research examining the narrative skills of English language learners (ELLs) and how to best assess these skills. This exploratory study examined the characteristics of the English oral narratives of Spanish-speaking ELLs (SS-ELLs). The narrative data are a subset of data collected as part of a model demonstration project conducted by faculty from The University of Texas in partnership with a central Texas school district. The student sample included 42 SS-ELLs enrolled in a bilingual second grade classroom. Transcripts of stories told in response to a picture prompt were coded and analyzed according to three narrative scoring systems: story grammar analysis, Narrative Assessment Profile, and Narrative Scoring Scheme. Results of these analyses were used to: 1) describe the qualities of the English oral stories of Spanish-speaking ELLs in terms of their organization and production; 2) examine how each scoring system characterizes the sample in terms of expected performance according to its criteria; 3) identify the stable features of narratives whose performance is rated consistently across measures and aspects of scoring systems that are well matched and mismatched to evaluate those features; and 4) identify characteristics of scoring systems that produce information that is useful to instructional planning for SS-ELLs in ESL settings. Recommendations for analyzing the oral narratives of SS-ELLs in ways that are reliable and useful to instructional planning are offered. / text

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Purpose. The purpose of this research project was to compare the narrative content organization (macrostructure) of young children with specific language impairment (SLI) and those with typical language development (TL). While it is well-known that young children with SLI display poorer use of grammar (microstructure) than their TL language similar peers (Leaonard, 2014; Rice et al., 1998) less is known about their use of macrostructure. Thus, the research question was: What are the narrative skills of children with SLI as compared to their language similar peers with development TL? Based on research with older children (Gillam et al., 2016), it was hypothesized that children with SLI will have poorer narrative macrostructure of narratives than those with TL. Method. The experiment compared 6 children with SLI (mean age: 5 years, 2 months) and 8 language similar children with TL (mean age: 4 years, 8 months). Language equivalency was determined based on administration of the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-Preschool-2 and the Rice/Wexler Test of Early Grammatical Impairment. As well, all the participants passed a hearing screening and performed in the average range on the Preschool Test of Nonverbal Intelligence. Researchers read two books, Gossie and Gossie & Gertie (Dunrea, 2002, 2002) to each child. After reading each book, the child retold the story while looking through the pictures as a guide, yielding 12 SLI samples and 16 TL samples. The stories were audio-recorded and transcribed using a consensus method of reliability. Researchers then coded the stories for presence and quality of the following components: Character, Setting, Initiating Event, Internal Response, Plan, Action/Attempt, and Consequence. Once coded, the components were then scored on a 3-point scale using Gillam et al. (2012) narrative development progressmonitoring tool. Results and Conclusions. First, outcomes of the two stories were compared using an ANOVA design with Story Components and Story as within group factors. Because Gossie & Gertie had one more character than Gertie, it naturally scored significantly higher on Characters. Otherwise, the stories did not reliably differ and were combined for further analysis. Next a mixed model ANOVA design with Story Components as a within group factor and Group as a between group faction was conducted. The results indicated no statistically significant main effects or interactions. The findings did not support the hypothesis, suggesting that the narrative skills of children with SLI are equivalent to their language similar peers with TL. It may be as children get older and their narratives become more complex, children with SLI begin to fall further behind yielding the differences reported in the literature. This project prompts future questions about narrative macrostructure skills of young age-matched children with SLI and TL and use of macrostructure skills in more complex stories.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2014. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Children with specific learning disability (SLD) struggle with reading, spelling and/or writing, and tend to have poor narrative skills (Fey, Catts, Proctor-Williams, Tomblin & Zhang, 2004; Scanlon, 2013). Although learners with SLD mostly use grammatical sentences after discharge from conventional speech-language therapy, they often still struggle with creating narratives and find comprehension tasks challenging. For this study, I chose an action research design (McNiff & Whitehead, 2013). I used a lesser known therapy approach with some of these learners, in an attempt to ascertain whether kinetic methods of teaching language can improve their narrative skills. The research question posed was: What changes in narrative skills (if any), measured in terms of micro and macro structure, are brought about by the Sandtray Play Approach (STPA) in first language (L1) Afrikaans-speaking Grade 3 learners with SLDs? I used the STPA with four L1 Afrikaans-speaking Grade 3 boys with SLD over a course of six weeks (on average two therapy sessions per week). During each session, they each choose a variety of miniature objects with which they individually built a so-called “Sandworld” in their own sandtray. After each Sandworld was built, the boys took turns telling their story and listening to those of the other group member. After each narration, each listener made one positive comment and asked one question about the story. During the intervention period, I regularly presented mini-sessions teaching the participants how to create, improve and expand their narratives. The Language in Multilingual Society: Multilingual Assessment of Narratives (LITMUS: MAIN-Afrikaans) (Gagarina, Klop, Kunnari, Tantele, Valimaa, Baluciuniene, Bohnacker, & Walters, 2012) was used to analyse pre- and post-intervention narratives in terms of story structure components; (in)completeness of episodes; mean length of utterance (in words); and use of subordinating and co-ordinating conjunctions, conjunctive adverbs and internal state terms. The pre- and post-intervention results of the four boys in the experimental group were compared to those of four boys who did not receive any STPA intervention and who formed the control group. All eight participants had been clinically diagnosed as presenting with an SLD. Comparisons of the LITMUS: MAIN-Afrikaans scores indicated inter-group differences: Post-intervention, the experimental group used a higher number of story structure components, internal state terms, words, and utterances (those linguistic aspects introduced and practised during STPA intervention) than the control group. The experimental group’s Sandtray narratives also increased in multiple areas of structural complexity – e.g., in the use of conjunctive adverbs; subordinating and co-ordinating conjunctions; and embedding. These results have implications for speech-language therapy practice, showing that the STPA is potentially a valuable resource for teaching narrative skills to learners with SLD, and that positive changes can be observed in as little as six weeks. The STPA has been used in Europe with learners with hearing or learning impairment and with mainstream learners. In the South African context, it appears only to have been used to teach oral language use to deaf learners; and no South African studies on the use of the STPA for narrative skill development could be traced. This study was the first of its kind and indicated that using the STPA can assist Speech-Language Therapists in developing narrative skills of children with atypical language development. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Kinders met spesifieke leergestremdheid (SLG) sukkel met lees, spelling en/of skryf, en neig om swak narratiefvaardighede te hê (Fey, Catts, Proctor-Williams, Tomblin & Zhang, 2004; Scanlon, 2013). Alhoewel leerders met SLG meestal grammatikale sinne gebruik ná ontslag uit konvensionele spraak-taalterapie, sukkel hulle steeds gereeld met narratiefproduksie en begripstake. Vir hierdie studie het ek gekies om ‘n aksienavorsingsmetode (McNiff & Whitehead, 2013) te gebruik. Ek het ‘n minder bekende terapiebenadering met sommige van hierdie leerders gevolg, in 'n poging om vas te stel of kinetiese metodes van taalonderrig hulle narratiefvaardighede kan verbeter. Die navorsingsvraag was: Watter veranderinge in narratiefvaardighede (indien enige), gemeet in terme van makro- en mikrostruktuur, word teweeg gebring deur die Sandbak-Speelbenadering (SBSB) in eerstetaal- (T1) Afrikaanssprekende Graad 3-leerders met SLG? Ek het die SBSB met vier T1 Afrikaanssprekende Graad 3-seuns met SLG oor ses weke gebruik (gemiddeld twee terapiesessies per week). Tydens hierdie sessies het elkeen ‘n verskeidenheid miniatuur voorwerpe gekies waarmee elkeen individueel ‘n sogenaamde “Sandwêreld” in hulle eie sandbakkie gebou het. Nadat elke Sandwêreld gebou is, het die seuns beurte geneem om hulle storie te vertel en na die stories van die ander groeplede te luister. Nadat elke storie vertel is, het elke luisteraar een positiewe punt van kommentaar oor die storie gelewer en een vraag oor die storie gevra. Gedurende die intervensietydperk het ek gereeld mini-sessies aangebied om die deelnemers te leer hoe om narratiewe te skep, te verbeter en uit te brei. Die Language in Multilingual Society: Multilingual Assessment of Narratives (LITMUS: MAIN-Afrikaans) (Gagarina, Klop, Kunnari, Tantele, Valimaa, Baluciuniene, Bohnacker, & Walters, 2012) is gebruik om voor- en ná-intervensie-narratiewe te ontleed in terme van storiestruktuurkomponente; (on)volledigheid van episodes; gemiddelde lengte van uiting (in woorde); en die gebruik van onderskikkende en neweskikkende voegwoorde, verbindingsbywoorde en interne toestand-terme. Ek het hierdie tellings vergelyk met dié behaal deur 'n kontrolegroep (vier manlike klasmaats van die eksperimentele groep). Ek het ook 'n seleksie van drie verteenwoordigende sandbaknarratiewe per eksperimentele groepdeelnemer in terme van hierdie metings geassesseer Al ag deelnemers is klinies gediagnoseer met SLG. Vergelykings van die LITMUS: MAIN-Afrikaans-tellings het inter-groepsverskille aangetoon: Die eksperimentele groep het ná intervensie ‘n groter aantal storiestruktuurkomponente, interne toestand-terme, woorde en uitinge (d.i. daardie linguistieke aspekte wat bekendgestel en geoefen is tydens SBSB-intervensie) gebruik as die kontrolegroep. Die eksperimentele groep se sandbaknarratiewe het ook toegeneem in terme van veelvuldige areas van strukturele kompleksiteit – byvoorbeeld in die gebruik van verbindingsbywoorde, onderskikkende en neweskikkende voegwoorde, en inbedding. Hierdie resultate het implikasies vir spraak-taalterapiepraktyk: Dit toon aan dat die SBSB potensieel ‘n waardevolle hulpbron is vir die leer van narratiefvaardighede aan leerders met SLG, en dat positiewe veranderinge in so min as ses weke waarneembaar is. Die SBSB word in Europa met leerders met gehoor- of leergestremdheid gebruik asook met hoofstroomleerders. In die Suid-Afrikaanse konteks is dit skynbaar nog slegs gebruik om gehoorgestremdes te leer praat; geen Suid-Afrikaanse studies oor die gebruik van die SBSB vir narratiefvaardigheidsontwikkeling kon gevind word nie. Hierdie studie was die eerste van sy soort en toon aan dat die gebruik van die SBSB Spraak-Taalterapeute kan help om narratiefvaardighede te ontwikkel in kinders met atipiese taalontwikkeling.

Souvent considéré comme une pure littérature ludique et enfantine, le conte ne relève pas seulement d'une pratique culturelle ancrée dans les arts et modes de vie, mais d'une modalité pédagogique émanant de la dialectique de l'oralité. Bien plus, il semble occuper une place primordiale dans le contexte socio-culturel africain/camerounais et ce, malgré le développement et l'expansion de la « société de l'écriture ». Mais au vu des difficultés auxquelles seraient confrontés certains acteurs de l’éducation (enseignants, conteurs, élèves) à transmettre cet art de la parole, ne serait-il pas temps de découvrir la manière et la pédagogie avec lesquelles le conte peut permettre aux élèves de déployer des compétences orales? Comment initier les apprenants à une pratique artistique du conte qui différencie l'action de lire à celle de conter oralement? Partant de différents niveaux de médiation, les pistes de ce travail explorent l'approche pédagogique de l'oralité et proposent des activités langagières dans trois collèges au Cameroun. Nos résultats (dé)montrent qu’à défaut de perpétuer et de renforcer la culture de l'oralité, le conte oral développe et contribue à la valorisation des compétences narratives chez les apprenants. La visée de la présente étude est, d’une part d’intégrer le conte comme un moyen propice au langage et un vecteur d'identité interculturelle, et d’autre part de renouveler les approches et perspectives, tant dans l'enseignement de l’oral que dans l’ingénierie pédagogique. / Often considered as a linguistic and narrative process reserved to children, tale's approach can not be overlooked in Cameroonian socio-cutural and anthropological context. Even though, nowadays, there is an evident development and the expasion of a rampant writing culture. In fact, in oral tradition, tale occupies an essential place in the learning process. But, then, how, and with what specific pedagogy, the tale can be hepful for pupils in their curriculum as far as learning is concerned ? Since, each tale is mainly given orally, how can it be proposed to learners who are of a different cultural background, namely, a writing culture ? In this work, taking into consideration didactic approach of educational actors, our main purpose is to establish that the pedagogic dimension of tale does not rely only on its artistic relevance but has a primordial role in oral tradition. Consequently our results first of all show that trough this cultural chanel, that is, tale, is an efficient instrument for a reliable communication in oral tradition; tale is a bridge in cultural transmission. Secondly, by using tale's approach, learners are better equiped in their narrative skills. Therefore, the present work puts accross the importance of tales in oral tradition speciffically and in a writing culture as well. Indeed tale is a valuable pedadogic agent. As our research work try to show, tale can no longer be considered as a pure playful and childish literature, but an indispensable vector of intercultural identity in Cameroonian context. Taking into account various levels of mediation, the present work proposes concrete linguistic activities, not from the tales gathered in various textbooks of the official schools' curricula, but from a new directory which may enable eventual users to explore the didactic approach yet to be discovered in tale's wisdom.

This study examined how 22 children with spina bifida and hydrocephalus (SBH) and 22 matched control children with the same vocabulary age (VA) performed on story retelling and story generation tasks. The children were asked to retell two stories of different lengths (Stein and Glenn's Melvin, the Skinny Mouse and The Tiger's Whisker) and generate two stories from different stimuli (wordless picture book and verbal story starter). Analyses were conducted in terms of global narrative organization (story structure), local connection of ideas (cohesion), and productivity (number of words and utterances). Two-way ANOVAs were conducted to analyze how the stories and story tasks (retell versus generation) influenced the two groups' narrative performance. When comparisons were made between the two groups' performances on the individual stories, the children with SBH generally produced shorter and less complex stories than their VA peers. Story-by-group interaction effects showed that the children with SBH produced fewer story grammar elements than their VA peers on the retell stories but not on the generated ones. When comparisons were made between the two groups' performances on the type of task (story retell versus generation), results showed that for story retelling, the children with SBH produced stories that contained fewer words and utterances than their VA peers, significantly fewer story grammar components, and more correct cohesive ties. For the story generation task, the children with SBH produced significantly fewer reactions and total story grammar components. Story-by-group interaction effects showed that the children with SBH produced fewer reactions and total different words than the VA group on the story retell task but not the generation task. The results suggest that children with SBH function differently from their vocabulary age peers in some dimensions of narrative production. When the children with SBH encountered the retelling tasks or the more structured generation story, they tended to produce stories that were shorter than those of their VA peers.

Thesis (PhD (General Linguistics))--University of Stellenbosch, 2011. / Bibliography / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The attainment of literacy is crucial for survival in a modern industrialised, knowledge-driven society. Children with poor language skills are at risk for academic failure because of the differences between oral language used in daily interactions and the language skills needed to succeed in a formal school environment. The impact of poorly developed oral language skills on the successful acquisition of reading skills, particularly reading comprehension, is often underestimated in the education of young learners in South Africa. Narrative skills form the bridge between oral language and literacy by providing experience in using the extended and decontextualized discourse units that children will encounter in written language. This study investigated the relationship between narrative skills and reading comprehension skills in young learners who are developing literacy. Specific linguistic markers of literacy in the narratives of a group of Grade 3 learners from communities with low socio-economic status were examined. The main research questions this study attempted to answer were: “How do linguistic deficits of learners with poor reading comprehension and specific reading comprehension deficits manifest in their oral narratives?” and “Are there linguistic markers that decisively distinguish between learners with specific reading comprehension deficits and learners with general poor reading skills as compared to learners with normal reading comprehension?” In a quasi-experimental research design, the Grade 3 participants in this study were assigned to three groups: Readers who are competent at word level and comprehension (good reading comprehension group), readers who are competent at word level but poor at comprehension (specific comprehension disorder group) and readers who are poor at both word level and comprehension (poor reading comprehension group). Measurement protocols were used to assess the linguistic variables of interest, namely vocabulary, narrative micro- and macrostructure structure, cohesion, coherence and other aspects of oral language. The results of this study confirmed the relationships between language skills and reading comprehension. It was found that readers with general poor reading skills performed significantly poorer on a variety of linguistic measures than readers with good reading comprehension. The group identified as readers with specific reading comprehension disorders were, in general, not significantly different from the other two groups. This study therefore did not provide clear evidence that readers with specific reading comprehension disorders presented with linguistic markers that could differentiate them from the other groups. The clinical implications for speech-language therapists and educators with regards to assessment and intervention were highlighted. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die behaling van geletterdheid is noodsaaklik om te oorleef in ‘n moderne, geïndustrialiseerde en kennisgedrewe samelewing. Kinders met swak taalvaardighede loop die risiko om akademies te faal weens die verskille tussen die orale taal wat alledaags gebruik word en die taalvaardighede wat vereis word om sukses in formele skoolomgewings te behaal. Die impak van swak orale taalvaardighede op die suksesvolle aanleer van leesvaardighede, spesifiek leesbegrip, word dikwels onderskat in die onderrig van jong Suid-Afrikaanse leerders. Narratiefvaardighede vorm die oorgang tussen orale taal en geletterdheid omdat narratiewe ondervinding verskaf in die gebruik van uitgebreide en gedekontekstualiseerde diskoerseenhede wat kinders in skryftaal teëkom. Hierdie studie het die verband tussen narratiefvaardighede en leesbegrip in jong kinders wat besig is om gelettedheid te ontwikkel, ondersoek. Spesifieke linguistiese merkers vir geletterdheid in die narratiewe van ‘n groep Graad 3 leerders van lae sosio-ekonomiese status, is ondersoek. Die hoof navorsingsvrae van die studie was: “Hoe manifesteer die linguistiese gebreke van leerders met swak leesbegrip en spesifieke leesbegripsprobleme in hul orale narratiewe?” en “Is daar linguistiese merkers wat afdoende onderskei tussen leerders met spesifieke leesbegripsprobleme en leerders met algemene swak leesvaardighede?” In ‘n kwasieksperimentele ontwerp is die deelnemers aan hierdie studie toegeken aan drie groepe: Lesers wat bevoeg is op woordvlak en begripsvlak (groep met goeie leesbegrip), lesers wat bevoeg is op woordvlak, maar met swak begrip (groep met spesifieke leesbegripsprobleme) en lesers wat onbevoeg is op woordvlak en begripsvlak (groep met algemene swak leesvaardighede). Protokolle is gebruik om die linguistiese veranderlikes, naamlik woordeskat, narratief mikro- en makrostruktuur, kohesie, koherensie en ander aspekte van verbale taal, te meet. Die resultate van hierdie studie het die verband tussen taalvaardighede en leesbegrip bevestig. Daar is gevind dat lesers met algemene swak leesvaardighede, in vergelyking met lesers met goeie leesbegrip, beduidend swakker presteer het op verskeie linguistiese metings. Die groep wat geïdentifiseer is as lesers met spesifieke leesbegripsprobleme het, oor die algemeen, nie beduidend van die ander twee groepe verskil nie. Hierdie studie het dus nie duidelike bewyse gevind dat lesers met spesifieke leesbegripsprobleme linguistiese merkers vertoon het wat hulle van die ander twee groepe kon onderskei nie. Die kliniese implikasies vir spraak-taalterapeute en opvoeders met betrekking tot assessering en intervensie is toegelig.

<p>In a school for children from 6-9 years in a small town in the southeast of Sweden, is areading activity program in progress since 8 years. The original purpose of this program wasto enhance the student’s reading interest. All of the students read at least one book a week andthen they review the book in front of the class.</p><p>The purpose of the present study was to examine vocabulary, word retrieving, narrative skillsand grammatical abilities in children in this school. The objectives were to investigate if thechosen language abilities in these children were different compared to normative data andearlier studies in children at comparable ages. Furthermore, the aim was to study if narrative skills correlated with vocabulary, word retrieving and grammatical ability.</p><p>The examination was carried out by testing 65 students in the school regarding the chosenlanguage abilities. The results showed that these students had better vocabulary compared to American normative data and earlier Swedish studies. In narratives they produced stories inchronological order and they included a large amount of information. Narrative abilitiescorrelated with receptive vocabulary, word retrieving and grammatical abilities.</p><p>It was concluded that reading promoting activities may have affected these student’s languageabilities in a positive way.</p> / <p>I en skola för barn mellan 6 och 9 år i en liten stad i sydöstra Sverige pågår sedan 8 år tillbakaen aktivitet vars ursprungliga syfte var att öka elevernas läsintresse. Alla elever läser minst enbok i veckan och gör därefter en recension som de läser upp i klassen.</p><p>Syftet med föreliggande studie var att studera ordförråd, ordmobilisering, narrativ förmågasamt grammatisk förmåga hos eleverna på den utvalda skolan. Frågeställningarna varhuruvida utvalda språkförmågor hos eleverna skiljde sig från normativa data och tidigarestudier av barn i jämförbara åldrar. Vidare undersöktes om narrativ förmåga hade någotsamband med ordförråd, ordmobilisering och grammatisk förmåga.</p><p>Undersökningen gjordes genom att 65 elever på skolan testades med avseende på de utvalda språkförmågorna. Resultatet visade att dessa elever hade ett bättre ordförråd jämfört medamerikansk normering och tidigare svenska studier. Gällande elevernas narrativa förmåga berättade de i kronologisk ordning och återgav många delhändelser i historien. Resultatetvisade också att narrativ förmåga hade samband med impressivt ordförråd, ordmobiliseringoch grammatisk förmåga.</p><p>Slutsatsen var att den läsfrämjande aktiviteten kan ha påverkat dessa elevers språkförmågorpositivt.</p>