Executive Function and Narrative Language Abilities in Emergent Bilingual Preschoolers: An Exploratory Study

• Published in: Language, speech & hearing services in schools Vol. 54; no. 2; pp. 584 - 599
• Main Authors: Clark-Whitney, Elysha, Melzi, Gigliana
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Speech-Language-Hearing Association 03.04.2023
• Subjects: Bilingual Students; Child; Child, Preschool; Cognition; English Language Learners; Executive Function; Executive Function - physiology; Expressive Language; Hispanic American Students; Humans; Language; Language Skills; Linguistics; Literacy; Predictor Variables; Preschool Children; Spanish Speaking; Student Characteristics; Urban Schools; New York (New York)
• ISSN: 0161-1461; 1558-9129
• DOI: 10.1044/2022_LSHSS-21-00190

Purpose: In light of the importance of preschool oral narrative skills as precursors to literacy, this exploratory study examined expressive language skills among emergent bilingual Latine preschoolers using a naturalistic personal narrative task. To understand the factors that support language use in the personal narrative context for this population, we examined the contribution of children's executive function (EF) skills to their narrative language abilities. Method: Children completed two subtests from the Preschool Self-Regulation Assessment to measure EF and produced two personal narratives in response to conversational prompts. A series of linear regressions were used to evaluate the relation between children's EF skills and their narrative production ability, narrative organization, and expressive language skills derived from automated analyses of narrative samples. Results: EF was found to predict children's ability to produce a personal narrative but not the language skills children demonstrated in these narratives. Conclusions: The current findings suggest that EF is implicated in emergent bilingual Latine children's narrative abilities. At the preschool age, the contribution of EF to narrative language production is apparent in the global task of producing a narrative, rather than in the organizational or linguistic features of the narrative. As such, supporting both EF and narrative skills might be an important means of facilitating preliteracy among bilingual children.