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Article published In: Narrative Inquiry
Vol. 29:1 (2019) ► pp.50–81

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Personal narrative skills of Urdu speaking preschoolers

 | University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan
 | University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan
 | University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan
 | University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan
Published online: 2 July 2019
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https://doi.org/10.1075/ni.17063.ham
Abstract
The present study aimed to explore the personal narrative skills of Urdu speaking preschoolers, aged between 4 and 5 years. The study also aimed to investigate the gender differences in narrative skills, and relationship and the predictive association between macro- and microstructure skills. A total of 80 preschoolers were recruited using two-stage sampling (convenience and purposive). After screening the participants for intellectual functioning, three personal narratives were collected from each participant. The results revealed non-significant differences on the basis of age and gender. A significant correlation was found between the macro- and microstructure skills in children. NDW (number of different words), TNW (total number of words), and MLU (mean length of utterance) were revealed as significant predictors of macrostructural competencies in children. This was the first research that highlighted the narrative skills of Urdu speaking preschoolers. Hence, the patterns identified might help in extending the theory and research in this field.
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Types of narrative analyses
    • Mean length of utterance (MLU) and total number of utterances
    • Lexical diversity
    • Cohesion
  • The relationship between macro- and microstructural analyses
  • Rationale and aims of the current study
  • Method
  • Narrative elicitation procedure
  • Assessment measures
    • Macrostructure analysis
    • Microstructure analysis
      • Cohesion
      • Lexical diversity (LD)
      • Mean length of utterance (MLU) and total utterances (TU)
  • Results
    • An inter-rater reliability analysis of narrative analyses, to determine agreement between two individual examiners
    • Narrative analyses
    • Statistical analyses
  • Discussion
  • Conclusion
  • Implications
  • Limitations and future suggestions
  • References
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