The Relationship Between Indigenous Cultural Practices and Executive Functions and Language Production

• In Event: Friday Roundtable Session 11:25 am
  In Roundtable Session: Research on Indigenous Issues in Education: Students With Exceptionalities; Cultural Practices and Language Production; Health Education; Reading Achievement; and Teachers’ Beliefs About Indigenous Children (Table 7)

Abstract

This study investigates the relationship between Indigenous oral story telling and development of executive functions and oral language development of 5–6-year-old Indigenous children of Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bangladesh. Indigenous communities have rich oral story-telling tradition, and storytelling has been a traditional teaching tool. Children from 12 villages were randomly assigned and treatment group children were told 12 stories, 2 stories every week, for 6 weeks. Children listened to the stories and retell them. Stories were evaluated on their macrostructure nad microstructure.Three executive function skills, working memory, inhibitory control, and cognitive flexibility, and oral comprehension were assessed before and after the study. Analysis show strong and positive relationship between Indigenous oral storytelling and executive function and oral langauge development.

Author

• Maung Ting Nyeu, University of California - Santa Barbara