Cultural Considerations for Narrative Assessment

Narratives & Story Telling Across Cultures

For both assessment and intervention, knowledge and understanding of children’s culture and home language is essential. Speech-language pathologists tend to incorporate narrative stories into their clinical practice; as such, it is important to understand the influence that culture may have on children’s storybook narration (Gorman, Fiestas, Peña, & Clark, 2011). This page provides a brief resource to help clinicians identify culturally different narrative styles, structures, and details and incorporate them into their practice.

Narrative analysis is often included in a comprehensive exam, qualifying or disqualifying children for speech-language services, and is a common medium for intervention (Gorman, et al. 2011). When cultural influences are not considered during narrative assessment, the child may be penalized for not producing a narrative from the dominant culture. For this reason, language disorders must be differentiated from the personal narratives of each culture. Behind every clinical decision, there must be an understanding of the home discourse styles and backgrounds of the child and family. For example, a child whose first language is Spanish may be penalized for including broad topic maintenance, a style that is not dominant in mainstream culture (Bliss & McCabe, 2008).

Gorman and colleagues (2011) highlight that “because effective intervention promotes academic and social functioning, clinicians should consider targeting children’s effective delivery of narratives as text to promote academic achievement and narratives as performance to promote social development” (p. 11). In mainstream school culture, narrative as a text is the predominant style used inside classrooms, which promotes fictional storybook narratives, giving more generalization and decontextualization from cultural diversity (Gorman, et al., 2011). However, authors Inglebret, Jones, and ChiXapkaid (2008) note that omitting culturally relevant techniques and materials “communicates a lack of recognition (and lack of value) for dimensions of an individual’s social identity,” which may cause a child to “doubt his or her ability to perform in a school setting” and put them at risk for school failure (p. 2). Knowing the influence of culture during the production of narratives will allow clinicians to make distinctions that can affect their clinical decision making. A way of incorporating both mainstream culture narratives and personal narratives is by including wordless picture books in clinical practice to prevent any bias coming from the dominant culture’s expectations and beliefs (Gorman, 2011).

Characteristics of Valued Narratives by Culture

It is important to note that these cultural features of narratives are broad generalizations. The individual experience and preference of the child, additional cultural influences, what type of story is being related, and the materials and people involved will all influence the child’s story. Research has found that children will tell different types of stories in different contexts and that personal narratives differ between cultures more often than storybook narratives (Gorman et al., 2011).

European North American: 

• Narratives tend to be topic-centered.

• Events are chronologically ordered. 

• The story includes one high point and a resolution.

• Production of narratives is fluent.

• Referents and conjunctions included. (Bliss & McCabe, 2011)

• The focus is on an individual/protagonist. (Gorman et al., 2011)

African-American:

• Narratives tend to be topic-associating (events are presented semantically rather than chronologically) or performative (presented as a performance).

• Topic maintenance is manifested in thematic maintenance.

• Stories are told in an interactive style.

• Direct quotes are often included. (Gorman et al., 2011)

• Evaluative elements (to express the speaker’s thoughts)

• Lengthy descriptions. 

• Several experiences are linked to one theme or person and included in one engaging narrative. (Bliss & McCabe, 2008)

Central and South American: 

[A diverse population that covers a wide geographic area]

• Narratives are conversation-focused.

• Connections between family members and events are included. 

• Topic maintenance is broad- events are linked with family members as the focus rather than the event/s themselves.

• Habitual/background activities are included rather than the description of a specific past event. 

• Evaluation and description are emphasized over event sequencing.

• Referencing may be different (i.e., use of ellipses) than what is considered appropriate to English speakers because Spanish does not require previously identified agents of sentences.

• Conjunctions included.

• Fluent production may be disrupted by second-language use. (Bliss & McCabe, 2008)

Japanese:

• Narratives use broad topic maintenance, generally linking 2-3 similar events. 

• There is a focus on a collection of similar experiences rather than one event with a resolution. 

• Often minimal information is included, as there is a value of brevity and concise turn-taking, especially for children. 

• Events are sequenced.

• Referencing may be different (i.e., omission of pronouns) because of the emphasis on brevity. 

• Conjunctions included.

• The microstructure is similar to European North Americans. 

• Fluent production may be disrupted by second-language use. (Bliss & McCabe, 2008)

Mandarin Chinese-speaking:

• Narratives use broad topic maintenance, generally linking 2-3 similar events.

• Often minimal information is included, as there is a value of brevity and concise turn-taking, especially for children. 

• One-third of the stories end at the high point. (Bliss & McCabe, 2008)

• Often have “themes related to social engagement, morals, and authority”- closer to a collectivist orientation rather than an individualist European North American orientation. (Gorman et al., 2011)

Korean:

• Narratives use broad topic maintenance, generally linking 2-3 similar events.

• Often minimal information is included, as there is a value of brevity and concise turn-taking, especially for children. 

• Fewer explicit evaluations than European North American narratives. (Gorman et al., 2011)

Southern Italian:

• Gestures can be used to replace speech or indicate the planning of speech.

• Pragmatic gestures are ubiquitous and provide essential contributions to the story.

• Illocutionary intent is often associated with certain gestures. (Kendon, 1995)

Israeli:

• Narrative events are an important part of family participation.

• Children have substantial storytelling rights within the family.

• Stories favor tales distant in time but close to home.

• Stories focus on shared events that are centered around the family.

• Use a collective “us” protagonist.

• Strive toward joint ownership in narratives.  (Blum-Kulka, 1993)

Examples of culturally & linguistically diverse children’s stories

Student Contributors: Miranda Pace & Lizzy Lydon, Spring 2013.

Updated May 2023