Narrative Macrostructure in Monolingual Spanish and Catalan-Spanish Bilingual Preschoolers: A Comparative Study

Introduction: Some studies suggest that bilingual children may achieve lower linguistic outcomes compared to monolinguals at certain developmental stages, although other research does not find significant differences. In this context, the assessment of narrative skills stands out as a less biased method of evaluation.

Objectives: This study presents the results obtained through the application of the MAIN (Multilingual Assessment Instrument for Narratives) narrative assessment instrument in monolingual (Spanish) and bilingual (Catalan-Spanish) preschool children. The main objective was to compare performance in terms of narrative macrostructure.

Methods: 60 children aged 4 to 5 years were assessed, 30 Catalan-Spanish bilinguals (M=64 months) and 30 Spanish monolinguals (M=62 months), using the "Gato" and "Perro" stories from MAIN in a retelling modality. Narrative macrostructure was analyzed, including narrative structure, structural complexity, internal state terms, and comprehension. In addition to comparing performance on these aspects between monolinguals and bilinguals, performance was compared between the two languages of the bilingual children.

Results: A similar performance was observed in all aspects of narrative macrostructure for both groups. However, when analyzing performance in the two languages of the bilingual children, a statistically significant difference was found in comprehension, where performance was better in Spanish than in Catalan.

Conclusions: The findings align with previous research using MAIN in different languages, showing that there is no significant influence of linguistic condition (monolingualism or bilingualism) on macrostructural performance. On the other hand, the bilingual group seems to have a stronger narrative comprehension in Spanish compared to their comprehension in Catalan. However, it is essential to consider the specific context of bilingual children when assessing their narrative skills, as the results are not always generalizable to all bilingual populations.