The Relationship Between Oral and Written Language in Narrative Production by Arabic-Speaking Children: Fundamental Skills and Influences

Abstract

Purpose: This study aims to investigate the relationship between oral and written language skills in narrative production among Arabic-speaking children, focusing on cognitive and linguistic abilities. It examines the differences in narrative parameters between oral and written narratives and explores the associations between these parameters and cognitive and linguistic skills. Method: The research involved 237 sixth-grade Arabic-speaking students from low–socioeconomic status schools in Israel. Each participant was instructed to orally tell a narrative and to write another narrative based on two sets of six sequential pictures. Various narrative features were analyzed, including word count for length, type–token ratio (TTR) for lexical diversity, mean length of utterance (MLU) for morphosyntax, and number of episodes for macrostructure. Cognitive linguistic measures, including Raven's Progressive Matrices, reading comprehension (RC), and morphological awareness (MA) were also assessed. Results: The study found significant differences between oral and written narratives regarding lexical diversity and macrostructure. Participants exhibited significantly higher TTR in written narratives compared to oral narratives, whereas the number of episodes was significantly higher in oral narratives than in written ones. However, no significant differences were observed in narrative length or MLU. Moreover, the study identified significant predictors for various aspects of written narratives, particularly MA and RC, which significantly predicted TTR, MLU, and macrostructure. Additionally, the inclusion of word count in oral narratives significantly enhanced the explained variance for narrative length and macrostructure in written language. Conclusions: The results highlight the importance of the oral–written interface in both micro- and macrostructure representations in both oral and written modalities. They suggest that cognitive and linguistic skills, such as MA and RC, play a crucial role in narrative production. The findings have implications for educational practices and literacy outcomes in the Arab world, enhancing the understanding of the challenges and strategies involved in written language production among Arabic-speaking children.