Karina Hess Zimmermann
Language Learning
El Colegio de México
khess@colmex.mx
website
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Karina Hess Zimmermann Language Learning El Colegio de México khess@colmex.mx website |
| Participants: | 24 children -- ages 6;0, 9;0, and 12;0 |
| Type of Study: | language development during the school years |
| Location: | Mexico |
| Media type: | no longer available |
| DOI: | doi:10.21415/T59C79 |
Hess Zimmermann, K. (2003). El desarrollo lingüístico en los años escolares: análisis de narraciones infantiles. (Unpublished PhD dissertation). El Colegio de México.
In accordance with TalkBank rules, any use of data from this corpus must be accompanied by at least one of the above references.
This corpus was collected as part of the doctoral dissertation "El desarrollo lingüístico en los años escolares: análisis de narraciones infantiles", directed by Rebeca Barriga Villanueva at El Colegio de México. There are no restrictions on the use of these data. Because subjects gave full permission for the use of the data, no pseudonyms are used. Errors in pronunciation were not transcribed. The goal of the investigation was to analyze language development during the school years and therefore it presents data of children aged 6, 9 and 12 from two different schools: public and private. There were 24 children in the study, 8 at each age. Within each age, four children are boys and four age girls. Within both sex, two children go to private schools and two go to public schools.
Based on the assumptions that language development during the school years includes development in both language and metalanguage and that narratives are excellent tools for studying this development, the project collected data on narratives in five different tasks or experiments. Tasks 1, 3 and 5 study the level of metalanguage, whereas tasks 2 and 4 analyze the level of language. Tasks 1, 2 and 3 were applied on a first session with the child; tasks 4 and 5 on a second session, three or four days later. The sessions occurred in a room specifically assigned by the schools for the investigation project. All tasks were video and audiotaped.
Task 1 (Reflection on narrative structure and subjectivity
markers)
The goal of this task was to determine the child's
concept of a narrative and his/her ability to reflect on its structure
and the presence of subjectivity markers (verbs, adverbs and
adjectives). The child watched a theater where two puppets appeared
(female puppet for girls, male puppet for boys; the only difference
between the puppets was the color of the clothes: yellow or red). The
child was told that he/she was a jury during a contest, and that he/she
should decide which puppet told the best story and why. The texts were
the following:
Text 1. Narrative with subjectivity markers
Yo conozco a un/a
niño/a que se llama Alejandro/a. Un día, cuando salió de la escuela, se
dio cuenta de que no había ido su mamá a recogerlo/a. -¡Ay qué rabia!-
pensó - ¡justo hoy que pasa mi programa favorito en la tele! Se enojó
tanto que decidió darle una lección a su mamá. –Me voy a esconder- pensó
y se metió muy calladito/a a la dirección. Cuando por fin llegó su mamá,
se sorprendió de no verlo/a a la salida. Ya medio preocupada lo/a buscó
hasta que lo/a encontró - ¿dónde crees?- ¡debajo del escritorio de la
directora! La mamá lo/a quiso regañar, pero él/ella le dijo que todo
había sido porque había llegado tarde por él/ella. Muy arrepentida, la
mamá se lo/a llevó a su casa. Desde ese día la mamá aprendió a llegar a
tiempo por él/ella.
Text 2. Script without subjectivity markers
Yo conozco a un/a
niño/a que se llama Alejandro/a. Todos los días su mamá va a recogerlo/a
de la escuela después de clases. Sometimes Alejandro/a se enoja y se
esconde en diferentes lugares como, por ejemplo, debajo del escritorio
de la directora. Su mamá se lo/a lleva a su casa.
The child had to listen to each story twice and then answered the following questions in an informal interview: "Who won? Why?, Were the stories different? Why? What did the winner say to win? Why did the loser lose? What was his/her problem? What did he/she say wrong?" The interview was completely transcribed.
Task 2 (Complete a story)
The goal of this task was to
analyze the child's ability to structure a narrative and use
subjectivity markers. The child was asked to tell a story for a story
contest. The adult started a story and asked the child to continue it.
The adult said: "Había una vez un/a niño/a que le tenía mucho miedo a la
oscuridad...", and the child had to continue the narrative. After
telling the story, the child listened to it on the audio and was asked
if he/she wanted to change it. The child was allowed to change the story
as many times as he/she wished, in order to obtain the most elaborated
and complete narrative. Only the last version of the story was
transcribed.
Task 3 (Reflection on narrative structure)
The goal of
this task was to determine the child's ability to reflect on the
structure of a narrative. As in task 1, the child had to compare two
texts told by puppets (only this time the puppets were of the opposite
gender) and answer the questions. The texts were:
Text 1: script
Una ardilla vivía en un bosque. Todos los días iba
a buscar nueces para comer cuando tenía hambre. Se trepaba a los
árboles y ahí se metía en los agujeros. Cerca del bosque, en el cielo,
vivía un águila que comía ardillas. No podía trepar a los árboles ni
cabía en los agujeros.
Text 2: narrative
Había una vez una ardilla que vivía en un
bosque. Un día, cuando iba a buscar nueces porque tenía hambre, vio en
el cielo a un águila que se la quería comer. La ardilla corrió, se trepó
a un árbol y se metió en un agujero. Ahí encontró muchas nueces y se las
comió. El águila tuvo que ir a buscar comida a otro lado.
The whole interview was transcribed.
Task 4 (Personal narratives)
This task had the objective to analyze the child's ability to structure personal narratives and to include subjectivity markers in his/her stories. Following the method proposed by Peterson and McCabe (1983) the adult set prompts to obtain personal narratives during conversation in a painting activity. The transcription of these narratives followed these rules:
Task 5 (Reflection on the presence/absence of subjectivity markers) This last task studied the way in which children reflect on the presence/absence of subjectivity markers (verbs, adverbs and adjectives) in a narrative. As in task 1 and 3 the child had to judge two texts presented by puppets (the same gender as the child) in a theater. The compared texts were:
Text 1. Narrative with subjectivity markers
El otro día me pasó algo sorprendente. Caminaba lentamente por un bosque cuando de repente me encontré con una preciosa tortuga. Se veía muy triste y me dijo con voz muy preocupada que un oso malo malo le había destruido su casa. ¡Qué mala pata! Entonces pensé que sería bueno acompañarla y entre los dos rápidamente volvimos a construirla. Al final ella me agradeció y me dio un delicioso pastel para que me lo llevara directo a mi casa. ¡Qué bien me sentí de haberle ayudado a una amiga!
Text 2. Narrative without subjectivity markers
El otro día caminaba por un bosque cuando me encontré con una tortuga. Me dijo que un oso le había destruido su casa. Entonces la acompañé y entre los dos volvimos a construirla. Al final ella me dio un pastel para que me lo llevara a mi casa.
All transcriptions were made by Karina Hess Zimmermann. Speech was segmented in utterances, giving each speaker one line per utterance:
*KAR: híjola@i, yo sentí mucho miedo.
*ALE: a mi papá un día lo asaltaron en la casa.
*KAR: en la casa?
When an utterance contained more than one clause, each clause was transcribed on one transcription line. Following Berman and Slobin (1994), clause was defined as “any unit that contains a unified predicate. By unified, we mean a predicate that expresses a single situation (activity, event, state)” (p. 660).
Usually a clause contained one conjugated verb,
*EDG: como mi primo Osvaldo tiene cuatro perros.
*EDG: y tiene una perra.
*EDG: que este ya se murió.
or a conjugated verb with infinitive, participle or gerund that represents a single situation:
*MON: porque mi mamá quería regresar por ella.
*LEO: se lo pudieron haber robado.
*JUA: y el otro va recogiendo las cosas.
Utterances with a modal verb and a complement were transcribed as one clause:
*JUS: creo que me daba miedo la oscuridad.
On two particular cases clauses without a conjugated verb could be found:
1) in presence of an infinitive, participle or gerund that signal an independent situation
*HUG: o sea, tenía un espejo.
*HUG: para ver atrás.
2) in case of ellipsis:
*ANT: porque él estaba acostado.
*ANT: y su compañero también.
Sometimes, a clause was inserted into another. On these cases both clauses were separated and transcribed on different lines, as in the following example, with the utterance “a la señora que me levantó la llevaron a la delegación”:
*DIA: a la señora la llevaron a la delegación.
*DIA: que me levantó.
Finally, some verbs as ve, mira, fíjate, oye, llama, were not considered as independent clauses because they were used by the speakers as interjections or interaction markers:
*KAR: oye@i, y has tenido algún accidente tú?
*JUA: es que, ve@i, primero estábamos en cómosellama estábamos ahí.
Coding
Four project-specific codes were used (%cod, %co1, %co2 and %co3). Each one will be explained.
%cod (hpa)
The %cod line was used to make a High Point Analysis of the narratives (tasks 2 and 4), as proposed by Peterson and McCabe (1983). Codification included the following criteria:
f) Irrelevant material
$I – irrelevante (irrelevant to the topic of the narrative)
%xsub
The %xsub line was used to code subjectivity words (or evaluative words) in the narratives obtained in tasks 2 and 4. Subjective words were located according to the criteria described by Kerbrat-Orecchioni (1986) and classified as:
$V – subjective verb
$A – subjective adjective
$AV – subjective adverb
%xtie
The %xtie or time line coded verb tenses in the narratives (tasks 2 and 4). Codes were selected according to the tense classification by Rojo and Veiga (1999) for indicative tenses in Spanish:
$pres – presente ‘canto’
$pret – pretérito ‘canté’
$fut – futuro ‘cantaré’
$cop – copretérito ‘cantaba’
$pos – pospretérito ‘cantaría’
$apres – antepresente ‘he cantado’
$apret – antepretérito ‘había cantado’
$afut – antefuturo ‘habré cantado’
$apos – antepospretérito ‘habría cantado’
%xjui
The %xjui line was used to code the children’s reflections on narratives (tasks 1, 3 and 5). Codification was made on two levels:
a) Selected text
The first level included codes on the child’s answer to the question of which was the best story. When the child changed his/her mind during the interview, only the last response was coded. The codes were the following:
For all tasks:
$EMP – empate (both texts selected)
For task 1:
$PS – prototípica con subjetividad (narrative with subjective markers)
$NS – no prototípica sin subjetividad (script without subjective markers)
For task 3:
$PR – prototípica (narrative)
$NP – no prototípica (script)
For task 5:
$CS – con subjetividad (narrative with subjective markers)
$SS – sin subjetividad (narrative without subjective markers)
b) Type of answers
Answers were classified under three non exclusive categories. Only answers which included new information (and were not a mere repetition or an abstract of the narrative) were coded. Repeated answers were coded only once. All answers, even if incorrect, were coded. The categories were the following:
Content
This category included all reflections that mentioned aspects related to the content of the narrative (topic, events, or narrative structures of content):
$C:obs – obstáculo (obstacle)
$C:cau – causa/efecto (cause/effect)
$C:exp – experiencia (child’s personal experience)
$C:ver – verdad (truth judgement)
$C:mor – moral (moral judgement)
$C:fal – elementos faltantes (missing elements)
$C:rup – ruptura (rupture of canonicity)
$C:rel – relevancia (relevance of certain information)
$C:con – contenido (content)
$C:tem – tema (topic)
$C:emo – emociones (emotions, feelings, thoughts of the puppet)
$C:res – resolución (resolution)
Form
This category included all anwers related to the text form:
$F:lon – longitud (text length)
$F:est – estructura (text structure)
$F:exp – expresividad (expressivity of the narrating puppet)
$F:ele – elemento lingüístico (linguistic element)
$F:gen – género (text genre)
$F:ver – verbo (quoted verb)
$F:adv – adverbio (quoted adverb)
$F:adj – adjetivo (quoted adjective)
$F:sus – sustantivo (quoted noun)
Expression
Answers that refer to the relationship between the narrating puppet and the listener were coded under this category:
$E:aud – auditorio (mentions the listener)
$E:com – comprensibilidad (text comprehensibility)
The Children
Children of two very different environments were selected. Children of School 1 (Escuela Dr. Francisco Vázquez Gómez, public school, Mexico City) had few or no exposition to written language at home; and school did not have an extensive curriculum with language (oral and written). On the other hand, children belonging to School 2 (Colegio Madrid, private school, Mexico City) had rich activities with oral and written language at school and came from homes where written language is highly valued. The following table lists the main differences between schools on the access to literacy experiences:
| School 1 (public) | School 2 (private) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home | Written language | Family reads at home | 6/12 a little | 11/12 yes | |
| 5/12 yes | 11/12 a little | ||||
| 1/12 no | |||||
| Type of material read at home | 4/12 magazines | 11/12 novels | |||
| 4/12 consulting material | 3/12 magazines | ||||
| 3/12 comics | 2/12 newspaper | ||||
| 1/12 newspaper | 1/12 consulting material | ||||
| 0/12 novels | 0/12 comics | ||||
| Parents read to their children | 6/12 yes | 12/12 yes | |||
| 6/12 no | 0/12 no | ||||
| Child reads for pleasure | 6/12 sometimes | 12/12 yes | |||
| 5/12 yes | |||||
| 1/12 no | |||||
| Type of material child reads for pleasure | 8/12 storybooks | 8/12 books for children | |||
| 3/12 consulting material | 6/12 storybooks | ||||
| 1/12 school books | 1/12 consulting material | ||||
| 0/12 books for children | 0/12 school books | ||||
| Oral language | Persons who tell stories at home | 3/12 grandparents | 4/12 parents | ||
| 2/12 siblings | 3/12 grandparents | ||||
| 2/12 uncles/aunts | |||||
| 2/12 siblings | |||||
| Situations in which stories are told | 4/12 family reunions | 6/12 conversation in the family | |||
| 1/12 every night | 3/12 every night | ||||
| 2/12 family reunions | |||||
| School | Written language | School work on written narratives | 11/12 read stories1 | 11/12 read stories | |
| 4/12 copy stories | 9/12 write stories4 | ||||
| 3/12 write stories2 | 9/12 analyze stories5 | ||||
| 2/12 analyze stories3 | 1/12 copy stories | ||||
| Oral language | Work with oral narratives at school | 7/12 yes | 12/12 yes | ||
| 5/12 no | 0/12 no |
1Predominantly reading in choir in the classroom
2Only 12-year olds and exclusively in the classroom
3Only 12-year olds and in classroom activities
4All ages and in diverse school activities: library, school newspaper, contests on narrative creativity, etc.
5All ages and in different school activities: library, public discussions, etc.
Additionally, the two schools represent populations with very different social environments, based on the parents’ occupation and education. The following tables show these differences:
School 1
| Age | Subject | Father's occupation | Father's education | Mother's occupation | Mother's's education |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | Abril | mechanic | secondary | home | secondary |
| Xóchitl | employee | secondary | home | primary | |
| Edgar | employee | secondary | home | secondary | |
| J.Carlos | solderer | primary | home | primary | |
| 9 | Dulce | --- | --- | cook | secondary |
| Paola | employee | technical school | home | primary | |
| Antonio | driver | secondary | home | secondary | |
| Hugo | concierge | primary | home | secondary | |
| 12 | Diana | mason | secondary | home | secondary |
| Nayely | carpenter | secondary | maid | 5th primary | |
| Edgar | driver | primary | primary | ||
| Oscar | employee | 2nd secondary | home | primary |
School 2
| Age | Subject | Father's occupation | Father's education | Mother's occupation | Mother's's education |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | Alexis | architect | bachelor's degree | architect | bachelor's degree |
| Claudia | --- | --- | teacher | bachelor's degree | |
| Manuel | researcher | bachelor's degree | researcher | master's degree | |
| Martín | bank employee | bachelor's degree | neurolinguist | bachelor's degree | |
| 9 | Leonora | consultant | bachelor's degree | consultant | bachelor's degree |
| Mónica | employee | bachelor's degree | own business | bachelor's degree | |
| Juan S. | own business | bachelor's degree | accountant | bachelor's degree | |
| Luis P. | dentist | bachelor's degree | home | technical career | |
| 12 | Jessica | researcher | bachelor's degree | home | bachelor's degree |
| María | general director | bachelor's degree | department chief | 5th bachelor's degree | |
| Alejandro | architect | master's degree | architect | bachelor's degree | |
| Juskani | architect | bachelor's degree | therapist | bachelor's degree |
File names are based on these abbreviations:
d = Escuela Dr. Francisco Vázquez Gómez (School 1)
m = Colegio Madrid (School 2)
a = niña (female)
o = niño (male)
1= primero (first child)
2 = segundo (second child)
ex1= experimento 1 (task 1)
ex2= experimento 2 (task 2)
ex3= experimento 3 (task 3)
ex4= experimento 4 (task 4)
ex5= experimento 5 (task 5)
Thus, file m12a2ex3 corresponds to a subject of the Colegio Madrid, 12 years old, girl, second child, during task 3.
The following table lists the subjects' data and corresponding files:
| School | Name | Gender | Age | Date | Filenames |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| School 1 | Abril | female | 6;9 | May 99 | d6a1ex1-5 |
| (public) | Xóchitl | female | 6;8 | May 99 | d6a2ex1-5 |
| Dr Francisco | Edgar | male | 6;8 | May 99 | d6o1ex1-5 |
| Vázquez | JuanCarlos | male | 6;9 | May 99 | d6o2ex1-5 |
| Gómez | Dulce | female | 9;7 | May 99 | d9a1ex1-5 |
| Paola | female | 9;7 | May 99 | d9a2ex1-5 | |
| Antonio | male | 9;4 | May 99 | d9o1ex1-5 | |
| Hugo | male | 9;8 | May 99 | d9o2ex1-5 | |
| Diana | female | 12;2 | May 99 | d12a1ex1-5 | |
| Nayely | female | 12;1 | May 99 | d12a2ex1-5 | |
| Edgar | male | 12;3 | May 99 | d12o1ex1-5 | |
| Oscar | male | 12;6 | May 99 | d12o2ex1-5 | |
| School | Alexis | female | 6;8 | June/July 99 | m6a1ex1-5 |
| (private) | Claudia | female | 6;10 | June/July 99 | m6a2ex1-5 |
| Colegio | Manuel | male | 6;10 | June/July 99 | m6o1ex1-5 |
| Madrid | Martín | male | 6;9 | June/July 99 | m6o2ex1-5 |
| Leonora | female | 9;6 | June/July 99 | m9a1ex1-5 | |
| Mónica | female | 9;3 | June/July 99 | m9a2ex1-5 | |
| Luis Pedro | male | 9;8 | June/July 99 | m9o1ex1-5 | |
| Juan Salvador | male | 9;1 | June/July 99 | m9o2ex1-5 | |
| Jessica | female | 12;6 | June/July 99 | m12a2ex1-5 | |
| María | female | 12;4 | June/July 99 | m12a2ex1-5 | |
| Alejandro | male | 12;5 | June/July 99 | m12o1ex1-5 | |
| Juskani | male | 12;3 | June/July 99 | m12o2ex1-5 |
References
Berman, Ruth y Dan Isaac Slobin (1994) Relating Events in Narrative, Hillsdale NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Kerbrat-Orecchioni, Catherine (1986) La enunciación: de la subjetividad en el lenguaje, Buenos Aires: Hachette.
Ochs, Elinor (1997) "Narrative" en van Dijk, Teun A. (ed.) Discourse Studies: A Multidisciplinary Introduction, [vol. 1], Londres: SAGE, pp. 185-207.
Peterson, Carole y Allyssa McCabe (1983) Developmental Psycholinguistics: Three Ways of Looking at a Child’s Narrative, Nueva York - Londres: Plenum Press.
Rojo, Guillermo y Alexandre Veiga (1999) "El tiempo verbal. Los tiempos simples" in Bosque, Ignacio y Violeta Demonte (comps.) Gramática descriptiva de la lengua española, [Vol. 2: Las construcciones sintácticas fundamentales. Relaciones temporales, aspectuales y modales], Madrid: Espasa Calpe, pp. 2867-2934.