E.S. Oshchepkova*, T.V. Akhutina**
Moscow State University, Moscow, 119991 Russia
E-mail: *oshchepkova_es@iling-ran.ru, **akhutina@mail.ru
Received January 31, 2022
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Full text PDF
DOI: 10.26907/2541-7738.2022.1-2.68-86
For citation: Oshchepkova E.S., Akhutina T.V. The connection between executive functions and syntax development in 8-year-old children. Uchenye Zapiski Kazanskogo Universiteta. Seriya Gumanitarnye Nauki, 2022, vol. 164, no. 1–2, pp. 68–86. doi: 10.26907/2541-7738.2022.1-2.68-86. (In Russian)
Abstract
This article considers how children's neuropsychological development, in particular executive functions, influences their speech acquisition. The study involved 71 students of the second grade (average age 8.8 years, standard deviation 0.29) in one of the lyceums in Moscow. The children were asked to do tasks based on a battery of neuropsychological methods, including making up a story using a series of pictures “Garbage”. The results of the neuropsychological tests were used to calculate the following parameters: firstly, the index of the executive functions (3.1) and the index of serial organization (3.2); secondly, the auditory information processing index (2.2) and the left hemispheric index (L); and, thirdly, the visuospatial information processing index (2.4) and the right hemispheric index (R). According to these indices, strong and weak groups were formed 1) for executive functions, 2) for left hemisphere, and 3) for right hemisphere functions. The stories created by the children were used to analyze their speech production ability, as well as both general textual and syntactic parameters. The data obtained revealed that, depending on the level of development of executive functions, children's stories differ in a number of parameters. The latter include general text features (semantic completeness, semantic adequacy (the presence of incompleteness and distortions), the construction of the semantic program of the story, the number of words in the story) and syntactic and grammatical features (the number of simple and complex sentences, the average sentence length, etc.).
Keywords: neuropsychological development, speech development, creation of narratives, storytelling based on a series of pictures, syntactic complexity of speech
References
- Akhutina T.V. Neurolinguistics of the norm. I Mezhdunar. konf. pamyati A.R. Luriya: Sb. dokl. [Proc. I Int. Conf. in Memory of A.R. Luriya]. Khomskaya E.D., Akhutina T.V. (Eds.). Moscow, Fak. Psikhol. MGU, 1998, pp. 289–298. (In Russian)
- Akhutina T.V. Neuropsychology of individual differences in children as a basis for using neuropsychological methods in school. I Mezhdunar. konf. pamyati A.R. Luriya: Sb. dokl. [Proc. I Int. Conf. in Memory of A.R. Luriya]. Khomskaya E.D., Akhutina T.V. (Eds.). Moscow, Fak. Psikhol. MGU, 1998, pp. 201–208. (In Russian)
- Akhutina T.V. Rechevoi ontogenez s tochki zreniya neiropsikhologii normy [Speech Ontogenesis in Terms of Neuropsychology of the Norm]. Belyakova L.I. (Ed.). Moscow, Prometei, 2005, pp. 5–11. (In Russian)
- Melikyan V.Yu. Visuospatial information processing in healthy and mentally retarded children. Cand. Psychol. Diss. Moscow, 2002. 183 p. (In Russian)
- Fotekova T.A. Razvitie vysshikh psikhicheskikh funktsii v shkol'nom vozraste [Development of Higher Mental Functions at School Age]. Abakan, Izd. Khakas. Gos. Univ. im. N.F. Katanova, 2004. 161 p. (In Russian)
- Schretlen D.J., Munro C.A., Anthony J.C., Pearlson G.D. Examining the range of normal intraindividual variability in neuropsychological test performance. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 2003, vol. 9, no. 6, pp. 864–870. doi: 10.1017/S1355617703960061.
- Akhutina T.V., Pylaeva N. Preodolenie trudnostei ucheniya: neiropsikhologicheskii podkhod [Overcoming the Hardships of Learning: Neuropsychological Approach]. Moscow, Akademiya, 2015. 320 p. (In Russian)
- Romanova A.A. Individual and typological characteristics of speech in children aged 6–8 years. Diploma Work. Moscow, Mosk. Gos. Univ., 2007. 98 p. (In Russian)
- Vygotsky L.S. Myshlenie i rech': psikhologicheskie issledovaniya [Thinking and Speech: Psychological Studies]. Moscow, Leningrad, Sotsekgiz, 1934. 352 p. (In Russian)
- Kondrashova N.A. (Ed.) Prazhskii lingvisticheskii kruzhok: Sb. st. [Prague Linguistic Circle: A Collection of Articles]. Moscow, Progress, 1967. 559 p. (In Russian)
- Jakobson R.O. Izbrannye raboty [Selected Works]. Moscow, Progress, 1985. 455 p. (In Russian)
- Jakobson R.O. Two types of aphasia and two aspects of language. In: Jakobson R.O. Yazyk i bessoznatel'noe [Language and the Unconscious]. Moscow, Gnozis, 1996, pp. 27–52. (In Russian)
- Luriya A.R. Osnovnye problemy neirolingvistiki [Basic Problems of Neurolinguistics]. Moscow, Izd. Mosk. Univ., 1975. 352 p. (In Russian)
- Fotekova T.A. Neiropsikhologiya dizontogeneza: Osobennosti vysshikh psikhicheskikh funktsii pri obshchem nedorazvitii rechi i zaderzhke psikhicheskogo razvitiya [Neuropsychology of Dysontogenesis: Peculiarities of Higher Mental Functions in General Speech Underdevelopment and Mental Retardation]. Abakan, Izd. Khakas. Gos. Univ. im. N.F. Katanova, 2009. 171 p. (In Russian)
- Akhutina T.V., Matveeva E.Yu., Romanova A.A. Applying Luria's principle of syndrome analysis for processing neuropsychological data on children with developmental disorders. Vestnik Moskovskogo Universiteta. Seriya 14: Psikhologiya, 2012, no. 2, pp. 84–95. (In Russian)
- Voronova M.N., Korneev A.A., Akhutina T.V. Longitudinal study of the development of higher mental functions in primary school children. Vestnik Moskovskogo Universiteta. Seriya 14: Psikhologiya, 2013, no. 4, pp. 48–64. (In Russian)
- Luriya A.R. Osnovy neiropsikhologii [Foundations of Neuropsychology]. Moscow, Izd. Mosk. Univ., 1973. 380 p. (In Russian)
- Kornev A.N. Osnovy logopatologii detskogo vozrasta: klinicheskie i psikhologicheskie aspekty [Principles of Children's Speech Pathology: Clinical and Psychological Aspects]. St. Petersburg, Rech', 2006. 380 p. (In Russian)
- Bezrukikh M.M., Khromova S.K., Zel'dovich Ya.I. Features of speech development in 6–7 to 9–10-year-old children with different motor and sensory laterality profiles. Novye Issledovaniya, 2009, no. 3, pp. 5–14. (In Russian)
- Tseitlin S.N. Yazyk i rebenok: Lingvistika detskoi rechi [Language and a Child: Linguistics of Child Speech]. Moscow, VLADOS, 2000. 238 p. (In Russian)
- Slaughter V., Peterson C.C., Mackintosh E. Mind what mother says: Narrative input and theory of mind in typical children and those on the autism spectrum. Child Development, 2007, vol. 78, no. 3, pp. 839–858. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2007.01036.x.
- Aleksandrov D.A., Akhutina T.V., Bugrimenko E.A. Bednost' i razvitie rebenka [Poverty and Child Development]. Moscow, Rukopisnye Pamyatniki Drevnei Rusi, 2015. 391 p. (In Russian)
- Kuchirko Y.A., Schatz J.L., Fletcher K.K., Tamis-Lemonda C.S. Do, say, learn: The functions of mothers' speech to infants. Journal of Child Language, 2020, vol. 47, no. 1, pp. 64–84. doi: 10.1017/S0305000919000308.
- Dobrova G.R. Variativnost' rechevogo razvitiya detei [Variations in Children's Speech Development]. Moscow, Yazyki Slavyanskoi Kul't., 2018. 264 p. (In Russian)
- Luriya A.R., Yudovich F.Ya. Rech' i razvitie psikhicheskikh protsessov u rebenka [Speech and the Development of Mental Processes in the Child]. Moscow, APN RSFSR, 1956. 94 p. (In Russian)
- Veraksa A., Bukhalenkova D., Kartushina N., Oshchepkova E. The relationship between executive functions and language production in 5–6-year-old children: Insights from working memory and storytelling. Behavioral Sciences, 2020, vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 52–64. doi: 10.3390/bs10020052.
- Aznar A., Tenenbaum H.R. Spanish parents' emotion talk and their children's understanding of emotion. Frontiers in Psychology, 2013, vol. 4, art. 670, pp. 1–11. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00670.
- Ornaghi V., Grazzani I. The relationship between emotional-state language and emotion understanding: A study with school-age children. Cognition and Emotion, 2013, vol. 27, no. 2, pp. 356–366. doi: 10.1080/02699931.2012.711745.
- Bates E., Bretherfon I., Beeghly-Smith M., McNew S. Social bases of language development: A reassessment. Advances in Child Development and Behavior, 1982, vol. 16, pp. 7–75. doi: 10.1016/S0065-2407(08)60067-1.
- Nelson K. Structure and strategy in learning to talk. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 1973, vol. 38, nos. 1–2, pp. 1–135. doi: 10.2307/1165788.
- Locke J.L. A theory of neurolinguistic development. Brain and Language, 1997, vol. 58, no. 2, pp. 265–326. doi: 10.1006/brln.1997.1791.
- Fotekova T.A. Verbal and nonverbal functions in general speech underdevelopment and mental retardation: A neuropsychological analysis. Doct. Philol. Diss. Moscow, 2003. 382 p. (In Russian)
- Oshchepkova E.S. Assessment of children's speech development: A review of foreign methods. Voprosy Psikholingvistiki, 2020, no. 2, pp. 110–123. (In Russian)
- Burmistrova N.A., Gorobets E.A. Adaptation of the Grammatical Judgments subtest for the BVL_RU neurolinguistic questionnaire. In: Nauchnoe nasledie V.A. Bogoroditskogo i sovremennyi vector issledovanii Kazanskoi lingvisticheskoi shkoly [V.A. Bogoroditskii's Scientific Heritage and the Modern Research Vector of the Kazan School of Linguistics], 2018, vol. 2, pp. 33–36. (In Russian)
- Fotekova T.A., Akhutina T.V. Diagnostika rechevykh narushenii shkol'nikov s ispol'zovaniem neiropsikhologicheskikh metodov [Diagnosing Speech Disorders in Schoolchildren Using Neuropsychological Methods]. Moscow, Airis-Press, 2007. 174 p. (In Russian)
- Veraksa A.N., Almazova O.V., Oshchepkova E.S., Bukhalenkova D.A. Assessment of speech development in senior preschool age: The battery of neuropsychological tests and norms. Klinicheskaya i Spetsial'naya Psikhologiya, 2021, vol. 10, no. 3, pp. 256–282. doi: 10.17759/cpse.2021100313.
- Akhutina T.V. (Ed.) Metody neiropsikhologicheskogo obsledovaniya detei 6–9 let [Methods for Neuropsychological Examination of Children Aged 6–9 Years Old]. Moscow, Sekachev 2016. 280 p. (In Russian)
- Glozman Zh.M. Neiropsikhologicheskaya diagnostika detei shkol'nogo vozrasta [Neuropsychological Diagnosis of Schoolchildren]. Moscow, Nauchn. Issled. Tsentr Det. Neiropsikhol. im. A.R. Luriya, 2014. 177 p. (In Russian)
- Kornev A.N., Balčiūnienė I. Reading and creating oral texts by children with dyslexia: A deficit of language or resources? Peterburgskii Psikhologicheskii Zhurnal, 2014, no. 9, pp. 44–70. (In Russian)
- Gagarina N., Klop D., Kunnari S., Tantele K., Välimaa T., Bohnacker U., Walters J. MAIN: Multilingual assessment instrument for narratives – revised. ZAS Papers in Linguistics, 2019, vol. 63, pp. 1–35. doi: 10.21248/zaspil.63.2019.516.
- Luriya A.R. Lektsii po obshchei psikhologii [Lectures on General Psychology]. St. Petersburg, Piter, 2004. 320 p. (In Russian)
- Rosselli M., Ardila A., Matute E., Vélez-Uribe I. Language development across the life span: A neuropsychological/neuroimaging perspective. Neuroscience Journal, 2014, vol. 2014, art. 585237, pp. 1–21. doi: 10.1155/2014/585237.
- Marini A., Urgesi C. Please get to the point! A cortical correlate of linguistic informativeness. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 2012, vol. 24, no. 11, pp. 2211–2222. doi: 10.1162/jocn_a_00283.
- Akhutina T.V., Korneev A.A., Matveeva E.Yu., Gusev A.N., Kremlev A.E. The development of integral indices for a computerized neuropsychological test battery for children. Russian Journal of Cognitive Science, 2019, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 4–19.
- Akhutina T.V., Korneev A.A., Matveeva E.Yu. Two strategies used by primary school students to understand reversible sentences. Voprosy Psikholingvistiki, 2017, no. 1, pp. 10–29. (In Russian)
- Fotekova T.A. Dynamics of the functions of reception, processing, and storage of information in students with normal and distorted development. Shkola Zdorov'ya, 2002, no. 3, pp. 27–35. (In Russian)
- Akhutina T.V., Pylaeva N.M. Overcoming Learning Disabilities: A Vygotskian-Lurian Neuropsychological Approach. Cambridge, Cambridge Univ. Press, 2012. 318 p.
- Akhutina T.V. Neirolingvisticheskii analiz leksiki, semantiki i pragmatiki [Neurolinguistic Analysis of Vocabulary, Semantics, and Pragmatics]. Moscow, Yazyki Slavyan. Kul't., 2014. 424 p. (In Russian)
![](http://kpfu.ru/docs/F46869432187/img608337246.jpg)
The content is available under the license Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.