Unit:
Κατεύθυνση ΓλωσσολογίαLibrary of the School of Philosophy
Supervisors info:
Σπυριδούλα Βαρλοκώστα, Καθηγήτρια, Τμήμα Φιλολογίας, Εθνικό και Καποδιστριακό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών
Διονύσιος Γούτσος, Καθηγητής, Τμήμα Φιλολογίας, Εθνικό και Καποδιστριακό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών
Ελένη Παναρέτου, Αναπληρώτρια Καθηγήτρια, Τμήμα Φιλολογίας, Εθνικό και Καποδιστριακό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών
Original Title:
Μικροδομή και Μακροδομή στις Αφηγήσεις Αυτιστικών και Χαρισματικών Παιδιών
Translated title:
Microstructure and Macrostructure in the Narratives of Autistic and Gifted children
Summary:
While many studies during the last years have examined the language skills of children with atypical language development, the examination of giftedness has been not been explored in detail. Previous studies show many similarities between gifted and autistic children both in terms of language and social skills. However, there is no study examining these similarities thoroughly. Thus, the aim of the current study, is to fill in this gap by examining and comparing the narrative abilities of 20 autistic and 20 gifted Greek- speaking children, both in terms of macrostructure and microstructure. Their narrative ability was tested through the Edmonton Narrative Norms Instrument. The results of the present study showed that gifted children not only produce more complex structural narratives than autistic children, but also that they use more words that indicate speaker's judgment and that they have better performance in subordinate clauses. Furthermore, it was found that gender, socio-economic status and autism indicators are important factors in predicting the narrative abilities of children in both groups. In conclusion, this study has theoretical implications by filling in a research gap and expanding previous findings as well as practical ones by providing important information that can promote more adequate diagnostic criteria about giftedness and autism.
Main subject category:
Language – Literature
Keywords:
autism, giftedness, narrative ability, psycholinguistics
Number of references:
147
