Narrative and related spoken language skills—a comparison between German-speaking children who are hard of hearing and children with typical hearing

IntroductionNarrative skills are crucial for academic success and social interaction. To date, few studies have looked at the specific impact of hearing loss on higher-level language skills, like narrative skills, especially in German-speaking children. This study is the first to analyze the narrati...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Lara Hardebeck, Esther Ruigendijk, Bénédicte Grandon, Ulla Licandro
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2024-12-01
Series:Frontiers in Communication
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2024.1473075/full
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850054679094886400
author Lara Hardebeck
Esther Ruigendijk
Bénédicte Grandon
Bénédicte Grandon
Ulla Licandro
author_facet Lara Hardebeck
Esther Ruigendijk
Bénédicte Grandon
Bénédicte Grandon
Ulla Licandro
author_sort Lara Hardebeck
collection DOAJ
description IntroductionNarrative skills are crucial for academic success and social interaction. To date, few studies have looked at the specific impact of hearing loss on higher-level language skills, like narrative skills, especially in German-speaking children. This study is the first to analyze the narrative skills of German-speaking children who are hard of hearing.MethodSpecifically, we assessed and compared the narrative skills of two groups of school-aged children – children who are hard of hearing (n = 22; Mage = 10;5) and children with typical hearing (n = 28; Mage = 9;0) – at the macro- and microstructural level using a standardized storytelling task. In addition, the relationship between spoken narrative skills, receptive vocabulary, and phonological working memory was investigated to determine which factors best predict oral narrative performance.ResultsChildren who are hard of hearing produced adequate narratives at the macrostructural level, but used less diverse vocabulary than their peers without hearing loss. Furthermore, children who are hard of hearing demonstrated lower receptive vocabulary and phonological working memory skills than children with typical hearing. Receptive vocabulary emerged as the most important factor in predicting narrative skills at the microstructural level.DiscussionThe heterogeneity observed in the narratives of children who are hard of hearing emphasizes the need to investigate additional factors that may influence the development and expression of spoken narrative skills in this group.
format Article
id doaj-art-45fde4a6c6fd47c7acaf300db21f82b2
institution DOAJ
issn 2297-900X
language English
publishDate 2024-12-01
publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
record_format Article
series Frontiers in Communication
spelling doaj-art-45fde4a6c6fd47c7acaf300db21f82b22025-08-20T02:52:11ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Communication2297-900X2024-12-01910.3389/fcomm.2024.14730751473075Narrative and related spoken language skills—a comparison between German-speaking children who are hard of hearing and children with typical hearingLara Hardebeck0Esther Ruigendijk1Bénédicte Grandon2Bénédicte Grandon3Ulla Licandro4Department of Special Needs Education and Rehabilitation, Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg and Cluster of Excellence Hearing4all, Oldenburg, GermanyDepartment of Dutch Studies, Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg and Cluster of Excellence Hearing4all, Oldenburg, GermanyDepartment of Dutch Studies, Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg and Cluster of Excellence Hearing4all, Oldenburg, GermanyNantes Université, CNRS, Laboratoire de linguistique de Nantes, UMR 6310, Nantes, FranceDepartment of Special Needs Education and Rehabilitation, Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg and Cluster of Excellence Hearing4all, Oldenburg, GermanyIntroductionNarrative skills are crucial for academic success and social interaction. To date, few studies have looked at the specific impact of hearing loss on higher-level language skills, like narrative skills, especially in German-speaking children. This study is the first to analyze the narrative skills of German-speaking children who are hard of hearing.MethodSpecifically, we assessed and compared the narrative skills of two groups of school-aged children – children who are hard of hearing (n = 22; Mage = 10;5) and children with typical hearing (n = 28; Mage = 9;0) – at the macro- and microstructural level using a standardized storytelling task. In addition, the relationship between spoken narrative skills, receptive vocabulary, and phonological working memory was investigated to determine which factors best predict oral narrative performance.ResultsChildren who are hard of hearing produced adequate narratives at the macrostructural level, but used less diverse vocabulary than their peers without hearing loss. Furthermore, children who are hard of hearing demonstrated lower receptive vocabulary and phonological working memory skills than children with typical hearing. Receptive vocabulary emerged as the most important factor in predicting narrative skills at the microstructural level.DiscussionThe heterogeneity observed in the narratives of children who are hard of hearing emphasizes the need to investigate additional factors that may influence the development and expression of spoken narrative skills in this group.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2024.1473075/fullnarrative skillschildren who are hard of hearingreceptive vocabularyphonological working memoryschool-age
spellingShingle Lara Hardebeck
Esther Ruigendijk
Bénédicte Grandon
Bénédicte Grandon
Ulla Licandro
Narrative and related spoken language skills—a comparison between German-speaking children who are hard of hearing and children with typical hearing
Frontiers in Communication
narrative skills
children who are hard of hearing
receptive vocabulary
phonological working memory
school-age
title Narrative and related spoken language skills—a comparison between German-speaking children who are hard of hearing and children with typical hearing
title_full Narrative and related spoken language skills—a comparison between German-speaking children who are hard of hearing and children with typical hearing
title_fullStr Narrative and related spoken language skills—a comparison between German-speaking children who are hard of hearing and children with typical hearing
title_full_unstemmed Narrative and related spoken language skills—a comparison between German-speaking children who are hard of hearing and children with typical hearing
title_short Narrative and related spoken language skills—a comparison between German-speaking children who are hard of hearing and children with typical hearing
title_sort narrative and related spoken language skills a comparison between german speaking children who are hard of hearing and children with typical hearing
topic narrative skills
children who are hard of hearing
receptive vocabulary
phonological working memory
school-age
url https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2024.1473075/full
work_keys_str_mv AT larahardebeck narrativeandrelatedspokenlanguageskillsacomparisonbetweengermanspeakingchildrenwhoarehardofhearingandchildrenwithtypicalhearing
AT estherruigendijk narrativeandrelatedspokenlanguageskillsacomparisonbetweengermanspeakingchildrenwhoarehardofhearingandchildrenwithtypicalhearing
AT benedictegrandon narrativeandrelatedspokenlanguageskillsacomparisonbetweengermanspeakingchildrenwhoarehardofhearingandchildrenwithtypicalhearing
AT benedictegrandon narrativeandrelatedspokenlanguageskillsacomparisonbetweengermanspeakingchildrenwhoarehardofhearingandchildrenwithtypicalhearing
AT ullalicandro narrativeandrelatedspokenlanguageskillsacomparisonbetweengermanspeakingchildrenwhoarehardofhearingandchildrenwithtypicalhearing