| Narrative retelling tasks are commonly used in assessment and intervention of children
with language and literacy impairments (LLI). While stimulus modality and verbal modeling
have received some prior attention in the literature, their impact on narrative output in children
with LLI remains limited and warrants further investigation. The present study compared the
effects of animated versus static story stimuli on narrative retell quality in school-age children
with LLI, including those with developmental language disorder (DLD), dyslexia, or both, and
examined whether the provision of a verbal model differentially impacted narrative production.
Participants included 29 children ages 8 to 12 years, comprising two groups based on whether a
verbal model was provided: a no verbal model group (NVM; n = 14) and a verbal model group
(VM; n = 15). Children viewed both animated and static visual stimuli and retold each story to a
listener. Narrative language samples were analyzed for macrostructure and microstructure
elements, including productivity, accuracy, complexity, and vocabulary diversity. Results
revealed no significant differences between animated and static stimulus conditions. However,
the VM group produced longer retells, approaching significance with a large effect size.
Significant between-group differences emerged for grammatical accuracy, with the NVM group
producing fewer errors than the VM group. Word and verb diversity were significantly greater in
the VM group, indicating richer vocabulary usage, with large effect sizes. These findings suggest
providing a verbal model enhances narrative output in children with LLI. Clinical implications
for assessment and intervention and recommendations for future research are discussed.
Keywords: narrative language, static and animated stimuli, verbal models, developmental
language disorder, dyslexia, school-age children |