Classroom-Based Narrative and Vocabulary Instruction: Results of an Early-Stage, Nonrandomized Comparison Study

• Published in: Language, speech & hearing services in schools Vol. 45; no. 3; pp. 204 - 219
• Main Authors: Gillam, Sandra Laing, Olszewski, Abbie, Fargo, Jamison, Gillam, Ronald B
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) 01.07.2014; American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
• Subjects: Academic failure; Allied Health Personnel; Analysis; Child; Children & youth; Comparative Analysis; Control Groups; Curriculum; Education; Elementary School Students; Feasibility Studies; Female; Grade 1; Humans; Instructional Effectiveness; Intervention; Language disorders; Language Disorders - rehabilitation; Language Skills; Language Therapy - methods; Learning; Male; Narration; Narratives; Native Language Instruction; Physiological aspects; Reading Comprehension; Speech Language Pathology; Story Grammar; Study and teaching; Teaching; Teaching - methods; Vocabulary; United States
• ISSN: 0161-1461; 1558-9129
• DOI: 10.1044/2014_LSHSS-13-0008

Purpose: This nonrandomized feasibility study was designed to provide a preliminary assessment of the impact of a narrative and vocabulary instruction program provided by a speech-language pathologist (SLP) in a regular classroom setting. Method: Forty-three children attending 2 first-grade classrooms participated in the study. Children in each classroom were divided into high- and low-risk subgroups on the basis of their performance on a narrative test. Narrative and vocabulary instruction was provided by an SLP in 1 classroom for three 30-min periods per week for 6 weeks. Results: The children in the experimental classroom made clinically significant improvements on narrative and vocabulary measures; children in the comparison classroom did not. Within the experimental classroom, children in the high-risk subgroup demonstrated greater gains in narration and fewer gains in vocabulary than children in the low-risk subgroup. There were no subgroup differences in the comparison classroom. Conclusion: These preliminary results provide early evidence of the feasibility of implementing a narrative instruction program in a classroom setting. Children at a high risk for language difficulties appeared to profit more from the narrative instruction than from the embedded vocabulary instruction. More extensive research on this instructional program is warranted.