Narrative Skills in Mandarin–English Dual Language Immersion Learners

Abstract

This article investigated the development of narrative production skills among Mandarin-English dual language immersion (DLI) students. A total of 60 children in first (N = 20), third (N = 21), and fifth-sixth (N = 19) grades generated oral narratives from wordless picture books in Mandarin and English. We examined variability in children’s macrostructure and microstructure production by language and grade level. We also examined within-language associations and cross-language transfer in narrative skills. Children in higher grades incorporated more macrostructure and microstructure elements in their narratives than children in lower grades. Within each language, microstructure skills were correlated with macrostructure skills. Evidence for development of shared skills across languages and language-specific patterns of narrative skills were also identified. Results contribute to the growing body of evidence for facilitative transfer in immersion contexts and highlight the importance of measuring outcomes in both the societal and the partner language.