초등 4-6학년 어휘발달지연아동과 일반아동의 설명담화 요약하여 쓰기와 실행기능 특성

Abstract

Vocabulary is an important skill in language development and affects reading and writing at school age. Children with vocabulary delay are found to have difficulty with these vocabulary skills and executive function. Execution function is the upper cognitive ability that influence the development of vocabulary, reading and writing. It is also the ability needed to understand and express long linguistic discourses. In particular, expository discourse contains knowledge and concepts so that requires high linguistic and cognitive abilities. An effective method to assess expository discourse in both macrostructure and microstructure is to summarize. Therefore, this study examined to write summary of expository discourses and how it is related to the executive function in fourth to six grader with/without vocabulary delay.

The followings are research questions: 1) Is there a significant difference in scores of organization in summary by written depending on the type of group and expository discourse? 2) Is there a significant difference in scores of coherence in summary by written depending on the type of group and expository discourse? 3) Are there any significant differences in scores of language markers in summary by written depending on the type of group and expository discourse? 4) Is there a significant difference in scores of executive function depending on the group? 5) What is the relevance between the scores for summarization (organization, coherence, language markers) and executive function (inhibition, working memory, planning) scores depending on the type of expository discourse for each group?

Total 24 students in grades 4-6 participated in this study. There were 14 children with vocabulary delay, and 10 typically developing children. All children should have intelligence quotient score of 80 or above in K-CTONI-2. Children also should scored 10 above (percentile score) in decoding test in Korean Language-based Reading Assessment (KOLRA). Typically developing children should obtain higher than -1 of standard deviation on Receptive &Expressive Vocabulary Test (REVT). Children with vocabulary delay should obtain lower than 10%ile on REVT. As well, all children have no history of visual and hearing impairment and neurological and emotional problem.

For explanatory discourse, comparison/contrast and cause/effect types were used, and children were asked to read and summarize each type of text. The scoring was made by modifying and supplementing the summarization scoring system by Kim & Yoon (2018). The scoring was divided into three categories: organization, coherence, and language markers. Three categories comprises of 12 factors. Organizations included four factors which were filling in the graphic organization, summarizing using graphic organizer, aware of expository discourse types, and total score. Coherence included four factors which were main sentence, closeness between sentences, cohesive devices, and total score. Language makers were NDW, MLT-w, MLT-m, and MNT. In terms of executive function, inhibition, working memory, and planning were examined, and were evaluated with STROOP and Digit Span and Block Design test of K-WISC-Ⅲ, respectively.

The following is the result and discussion of this study. First, all scores of four factors in organization were lower in the vocabulary delayed children than in the typically developing children: filling in the graphic organization, summarizing using graphic organizer, aware of expository discourse types, and total score. And there was no difference in scores between comparison/contrast and cause/effect types of expository discourse. Second, scores of three factors in coherence were lower in the vocabulary delayed children than in the typically developing children: main sentence, closeness between sentences, and total score. And only cohesive devices score was higher in comparison/contrast than cause/effect type of expository discourse. Third, MNT in language markers was lower in the vocabulary delayed children than in the typically developing children. And MLT-m and MNT were higher in cause/effect than comparison/contrast type of expository discourse. Fourth, scores of two factors in executive function were lower in the vocabulary delayed children than in the typically developing children: working memory and planning. Fifth, in the group of children with vocabulary delay, working memory and planning were correlated with organization (aware of expository discourse types, total) and coherence (closeness between sentences). In the typically developing children group, it was found that the working memory of executive function was correlated with organization (the graphic organization, aware of expository discourse types) and coherence(total). The results of this study suggest that summarization by witten for macrostructure and microstucture of expository discourse and executive function may be used for useful assessment and intervention for school-aged children with language problems.