No macrostructure measure differs significantly between bilingual and monolingual children, while age improves story structure, internal state terms, comprehension, and aggregate scores but not structural complexity¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · associational r1 · q3
Currency · newest study 2026 · checked against its sources 2026-10-20 (automated, 1 of 1 entry) · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i? Language group showed no significant effect on SS, SC, IST, comprehension, or the aggregate score. → Hayes 2026 q3 i? Age group significantly affected SS, IST, comprehension, and aggregate, but SC showed no significant effects. → Hayes 2026

Evidence¶

Hayes 2026¶

Hayes, R. L., and Kan, P. F. (2026). Shared and divergent patterns in narrative skills: comparing English monolingual and Japanese–English bilingual children. Frontiers in Psychology. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1747702

q3 · i? · associational · r1

2×2 ANOVAs on macrostructure measures from the MAIN retells of 56 children. The aggregate score showed a significant age effect but no language group effect; SS, IST, and comprehension followed the same pattern, while "SC was not significant, F(3, 52) = 1.62, p = 0.2, R2 = 0.09, and none of the variables reached significance."

"The Aggregate score was significant, F(3, 52) = 5.3, p < 0.01, R2 = 0.23, with Language group, p = 0.16, and the interaction between Language and Age group, p = 0.22, not being significant, and Age group being significant, p < 0.001."

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

• Age and Developmental Stage — predictor: learners who differ on it differ in outcomes

Related Claims¶

• Language × Age interactions show bilingual preschoolers had the lowest MLUm, NDW, and SI scores, while bilingual school-age children produced the most fragments — related
• All children retold MAIN episode one with the most complexity and episode two with the least, regardless of age or language group — related
• All narrative microstructure measures increase with age group, but only lexical diversity (NDW) differs between Japanese–English bilingual and English monolingual children — related
• Bilingual children showed a nonsignificant advantage on the hardest theory-of-mind comprehension question, and MAIN comprehension questions may be too easy for the age range — related
• Bilingual school-age children's microstructure converged with monolinguals', consistent with bilinguals exceeding the ~60% input benchmark for typical development — related
• Pretend play enactment of stories facilitates narrative recall and expression over shorter time periods but not later unprompted recall — related
• Narrative memory is superior when content follows stereotypical story grammar structure, and goal information is critical to comprehension — related
• Socioeconomic status differences between bilingual and monolingual groups may determine study outcomes — related
• Performance differences based on transcription complexity index the extent to which children internalized lexical representations — related