Evaluative language development in narratives of Mexican children from 3 to 12 years

Abstract

This study reports on the development of evaluation in elicited oral narratives from 40 Mexican children aged three to twelve years. Each participant produced seven narratives. A series of illustrations from wordless picture books was used as elicitation material. We defi ned evaluation as the expression of the position of the narrator through comments about the events and characters, and the emotions of the characters in the story. The analysis included the construction of categories taking into account both the literature on evaluation in narratives, and the data itself. Results show that quantity of evaluative expressions and their level of discourse elaboration vary across ages.