A comparison of narrative abilities in Malay school-age typically developing children and children with developmental language disorder

Research on narrative skills in the Malay language is scarce for both typically developing (TD) and children with Developmental Language Disorders (DLD). This study examines the differences in narrative abilities of Malay-speaking school-age children with and without DLD. Fifteen Malay-speaking TD children and 15 children with DLD told four stories elicited using the Multilingual Assessment Instrument for Narrative (MAIN). Group comparisons were conducted in narrative production (story retelling and story generation) as well as in comprehension. We also examined the differences in both groups' story complexity (e.g. the combination of goals (G), attempts (A) and outcomes (O)). General microstructure features such as the total number of words (TNW), total number of sentences (TNS) and total number of different words (NDW) were also investigated. TD children outperformed children with DLD in both narrative production and comprehension performances. TD children constructed a higher combination of G, A, and O components than children with DLD. Children with DLD frequently produced G, A, and O in isolation in comparison to TD children. In language productivity and lexical complexity, TD children had a significantly higher frequency in TNW and NDW than children with DLD, resulting in longer narratives and higher uses of different words than children with DLD. Distinct differences are found in the narrative profile of TD children and children with DLD. The results are relatively consistent with the findings of similar studies that utilised and adapted the MAIN in other languages. Clinical implications and recommendations are discussed.