Mayo, L (2025). Narrative identity formation: Rethinking speech-language pathologists’ (SLPs) impact through a critical lens. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 34, 3025-3033. https://doi.org/10.1044/2025_AJSLP-24-00460
Narrative language refers to the ability to tell stories. Narratives are a common communicative activity and also are an excellent language task often used by SLPs to assess language skills. Narrative structure has been described as 'story grammar', that is the sequence of essential narrative components in a story including elements such as character, setting, initiating event, problem, resolution. Many assessment tools and interventions are based on story grammar structure.
Mayo offers a critical lens to this practice. She argues that there is a presumption that story grammar elements are universal but that they actually represent Westernized narrative structure. Using tools based on Westernized narrative structure to assess a child whose cultural and linguistic context is non-Westernized could result in misinterpretation and misidentification. Mayo calls for SLPs to co-construct narratives with children and to consider the child’s cultural and linguistic context.
Mayo does acknowledge the challenges here. Further research is needed to understand different narrative styles. But SLPs can take a ‘code switching’ rather than a ‘code overwriting’ approach where they support the child’s narrative identity but also prepare them for academic success in a system that prioritizes Western narrative style.
No comments:
Post a Comment