Dobne razlike u izražavanju uzročnih odnosa u pričama hrvatske djece

A successful narration relies on the ability of an individual to express a coherent sequence of temporally and causally related events organised around a specific theme, and this skill typically develops in early preschool age. Narrative coherence can be assessed by sequences or elements of story grammar. According to the causal network model, story grammar is viewed as an interconnected network of causal relationships, including enabling, physical, motivational, and psychological relationships. The importance of causal coherence has been recognised in many studies dealing with narrative discourse from the developmentalperspective. However, previous studies have reported inconsistent results with respect to the use of different types of causal relationships in the narratives of children of different ages. In the present study, we aimed to examine the differences between preschool and school children in their ability to express causal relationships, both overall and specific, in the narratives that they produce. Participants were monolingual Croatian-speaking children with typical language development, who were stratified into two groups: preschool (n = 41, mean age = 6;3 years) and school children (n = 50, mean age = 8;4 years). Narratives were collected using the Multilingual Assessment Instrument for Narratives (MAIN), which was adapted to Croatian. The results show significant differences between the two groups of children in the overall proportion of causal relationships expressed, as well as specifically in the proportion of motivational relationships. There were no significant differences between the groups in production of enabling, physical, or psychological relationships. School children expressed more causal relationships overall than preschool children, as well as specifically more motivational relationships. As far as we know, this study is the first to investigate causality in the narratives of monolingual Croatian-speaking children using the causal network model. Our results only partially confirm the findings of previous studies, suggesting the need for further research to better understand the development of causal coherence in children’s narrative discourse.Uspješno pripovijedanje temelji se na sposobnosti oblikovanja koherentnoga slijeda vremenski i uzročno povezanih događaja organiziranih oko određene teme. Te se sposobnosti počinju razvijati u ranoj predškolskoj dobi. Koherentnost priče može se procijeniti nizovima elemenata gramatike priče. Prema modelu uzročne mreže gramatika priče promatra se kao međusobno povezana mreža uzročnih odnosa kao što su omogućavajući, fizički, motivacijski i psihološki odnosi. Važnost uzročne koherencije prepoznata je u mnogim istraživanjima koja se bave pripovjednim diskursom iz perspektive jezičnoga usvajanja. Međutim, prijašnja istraživanja pokazuju oprječne rezultate glede uporabe vrsta uzročnih odnosa u pričama djece različite dobi. Cilj ovoga istraživanja bio je ispitati razlike između predškolske i školske djece u ukupnoj proizvodnji uzročnih odnosa i proizvodnji različitih vrsta uzročnih odnosa. U istraživanju su sudjelovala hrvatska jednojezična djeca prosječne dobi 6;3 (n = 41) i 8;4 (n = 50). Priče su prikupljene Višejezičnim instrumentom za ispitivanje pripovijedanja (MAIN) koji je preveden i prilagođen na hrvatski jezik. Rezultati su pokazali statistički značajnu razliku između dviju skupina djece u ukupnom udjelu uzročnih odnosa i u udjelu motivacijskoga odnosa, no nije proanađena značajna razlika u udjelima omogućavajućega, fizičkoga i psihičkog odnosa. Djece školske dobi proizvela su više motivacijskih odnosa i općenito više uzročnih odnosa u usporedbi s djecom predškolske dobi. Ovo je prvo istraživanje u kojem je ispitana uzročnost u pričama hrvatske jednojezične djece rabeći model uzročne mreže. Dobiveni rezultati samo su djelomično potvrdili spoznaje prethodnih istraživanja, što upućuje na to da su potrebna daljnja istraživanja da bi se bolje razumio razvoj uzročne koherencije u dječjem pripovjednom diskursu

The Relationship between Personality and Creative Self-Beliefs at Different Levels of Personality Hierarchy

In recent decades, research has shown that one set of individual factors contributing to creative self-beliefs are personality traits, with openness showing the strongest relationship. However, these associations have been studied at higher levels of the personality hierarchy and mostly in non-musician samples. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between personality (measured at factor and facet levels) and two types of creative self-beliefs, trait-like creative self-efficacy (tCSE) and creative personal identity (CPI), in a sample of a cappella singers. A total of 128 individuals (64% women) participated in the study. Participants were members of 18 conveniently sampled traditional Croatian a cappella groups. Personality factors and facets were measured with the BFI-2 questionnaire (Soto & John, 2017), while creative self-beliefs were measured with the Short Scale of Creative Self (Karwowski et al., 2018). At the factor level, openness had the highest correlation with both tCSE and CPI. At the facet level, the highest correlations with tCSE were found for creative imagination, an openness facet, and energy level, an extraversion facet, while with CPI for all openness facets, creative imagination, aesthetic sensitivity and intellectual curiosity. In linear regression analyses, the only significant predictors of CPI were openness at the factor level and creative imagination at the facet level. Significant predictors of tCSE were openness and neuroticism at the factor level and creative imagination and sociability at the facet level. Personality facets explained more variance in both types of creative self-beliefs than factors

Attributions of Controllability and Helping Intentions among Students: Moderating Effects of Certain Characteristics of the Helper

Previous studies have shown that individual and social factors can moderate the relationship between attributions of controllability, emotions, and helping. The aim of this study was to test the attribution-emotion-helping relationship in the Croatian academic context and to investigate the moderating effects of some student variables, i.e., the helper’s academic field, personal absence from class, and the habit of taking notes in class. We conducted a survey experiment with vignettes describing a student who wants to borrow lecture notes. Participants also estimated how often they take lecture notes and how often they had skipped class in the previous semester. The data were collected from 298 students from three faculties of the University of Zagreb. Although Croatian students generally showed a high willingness to help a classmate in need and the effect of controllability on helping intentions was weak, the results supported the attribution-emotion model. However, the results suggest that some student characteristics may attenuate the relationship between controllability, emotions, and helping. The indirect effect of controllability on helping intentions through sympathy was weaker for participants who frequently skipped classes and rarely had their own lecture notes

Attributions of Controllability and Helping Intentions among Students: Moderating Effects of Certain Characteristics of the Helper

Previous studies have shown that individual and social factors can moderate the relationship between attributions of controllability, emotions, and helping. The aim of this study was to test the attribution-emotion-helping relationship in the Croatian academic context and to investigate the moderating effects of some student variables, i.e., the helper’s academic field, personal absence from class, and the habit of taking notes in class. We conducted a survey experiment with vignettes describing a student who wants to borrow lecture notes. Participants also estimated how often they take lecture notes and how often they had skipped class in the previous semester. The data were collected from 298 students from three faculties of the University of Zagreb. Although Croatian students generally showed a high willingness to help a classmate in need and the effect of controllability on helping intentions was weak, the results supported the attribution-emotion model. However, the results suggest that some student characteristics may attenuate the relationship between controllability, emotions, and helping. The indirect effect of controllability on helping intentions through sympathy was weaker for participants who frequently skipped classes and rarely had their own lecture notes

Atribucije kontrole i namjera pružanja pomoći među studentima: moderacijski učinci nekih karakteristika pomagača

Previous studies have shown that individual and social factors can moderate the relationship between attributions of controllability, emotions, and helping. The aim of this study was to test the attribution-emotion-helping relationship in the Croatian academic context and to investigate the moderating effects of some student variables, i.e., the helper’s academic field, personal absence from class, and the habit of taking notes in class. We conducted a survey experiment with vignettes describing a student who wants to borrow lecture notes. Participants also estimated how often they take lecture notes and how often they had skipped class in the previous semester. The data were collected from 298 students from three faculties of the University of Zagreb. Although Croatian students generally showed a high willingness to help a classmate in need and the effect of controllability on helping intentions was weak, the results supported the attribution-emotion model. However, the results suggest that some student characteristics may attenuate the relationship between controllability, emotions, and helping. The indirect effect of controllability on helping intentions through sympathy was weaker for participants who frequently skipped classes and rarely had their own lecture notes.Ranija su istraživanja pokazala da individualni i socijalni čimbenici mogu moderirati odnos između atribucija kontrole, emocija i pomaganja. Cilj je ovoga istraživanja bio ispitati odnos između atribucija, emocija i pomagačkih namjera u hrvatskome akademskom okruženju te provjeriti moderiraju li taj odnos neke karakteristike pomagača (sudionikovo studijsko usmjerenje, osobno izostajanje s nastave te navika vođenja bilješki na predavanjima). Proveden je eksperiment s vinjetama koje su opisivale studenta koji želi posuditi bilješke s predavanja. Sudionici su također procijenili u kojoj su mjeri izostajali s nastave prošli semestar te koliko često imaju vlastite bilješke s predavanja. Podaci su prikupljeni od 298 studenata s triju fakulteta Sveučilišta u Zagrebu. Iako su hrvatski studenti općenito pokazali visoku spremnost za pružanje pomoći kolegi te je kontrola uzroka potrebne pomoći imala slab učinak na pomagačke namjere, dobiveni su rezultati u skladu s atribucijskim modelom. Međutim, rezultati također ukazuju na to da neke karakteristike studenata mogu moderirati odnos između atribucija kontrole, emocija i pomaganja. Indirektni učinak kontrole na pomagačke namjere preko pobuđenoga suosjećanja bio je slabiji kod sudionika koji često izostaju s nastave te onih koji rijetko imaju vlastite bilješke s predavanja

The Relationship between Personality and Creative Self-Beliefs at Different Levels of Personality Hierarchy

In recent decades, research has shown that one set of individual factors contributing to creative self-beliefs are personality traits, with openness showing the strongest relationship. However, these associations have been studied at higher levels of the personality hierarchy and mostly in non-musician samples. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between personality (measured at factor and facet levels) and two types of creative self-beliefs, trait-like creative self-efficacy (tCSE) and creative personal identity (CPI), in a sample of a cappella singers. A total of 128 individuals (64% women) participated in the study. Participants were members of 18 conveniently sampled traditional Croatian a cappella groups. Personality factors and facets were measured with the BFI-2 questionnaire (Soto & John, 2017), while creative self-beliefs were measured with the Short Scale of Creative Self (Karwowski et al., 2018). At the factor level, openness had the highest correlation with both tCSE and CPI. At the facet level, the highest correlations with tCSE were found for creative imagination, an openness facet, and energy level, an extraversion facet, while with CPI for all openness facets, creative imagination, aesthetic sensitivity and intellectual curiosity. In linear regression analyses, the only significant predictors of CPI were openness at the factor level and creative imagination at the facet level. Significant predictors of tCSE were openness and neuroticism at the factor level and creative imagination and sociability at the facet level. Personality facets explained more variance in both types of creative self-beliefs than factors

Lexical diversity in written texts of persons with developmental language disorder

Razvojni jezični poremećaj (RJP) jedna je od najučestalijih teškoća koja se javlja u jezičnom usvajanju tijekom predškolske i školske dobi, a posljedično se zadržava i u kasnijoj životnoj dobi. Odstupanja u jezičnim sposobnostima osoba s RJP-om mogu se pratiti na svim jezičnim razinama, uključujući i rječnik. Cilj ovog istraživanja bio je ispitati razlike između osoba s RJP-om i osoba urednoga jezičnog razvoja (UJR) u rječničkoj raznolikosti. Za razliku od ranijih istraživanja koja su ispitivala rječničku raznolikost u govorenome diskursu mlađih osoba, ovim se istraživanjem željelo na uzorku osoba širega raspona kronološke dobi provjeriti je li ova razlika prisutna i u tekstovima koji nastaju kao rezultat pisanoga diskursa. Za istraživanje su iz Hrvatskoga korpusa neprofesionalnoga pisanog jezika (Kuvač Kraljević, Hržica i Kologranić Belić, u tisku) izdvojeni jezični uzorci govornika s RJP-om (n=20) i govornika UJR-a (n=19) uparenih prema spolu i kronološkoj dobi. Jezični su uzorci elicitirani pomoću pripovjednoga slikovnog predloška Priča o plaži koji čini dio testnoga materijala Expression, Reception and Recall of Narrative Instrument (ERRNI; Bishop, 2004). Za svakoga su sudionika izračunate četiri mjere rječničke raznolikosti: broj različitih riječi (NDW) i omjer različnica i pojavnica (TTR), pomični prosječni omjer različnica i pojavnica (MATTR) i indeks leksičke raznolikosti D. Podatci su obrađeni t-testom za nezavisne uzorke. Dobiveni rezultati ukazuju na statistički značajno nižu razinu rječničke raznolikosti osoba s RJP-om od osoba UJR-a na svim mjerama. Na temelju dobivenih rezultata može se zaključiti kako testirane mjere rječničke raznolikosti mogu razlikovati osobe različitoga jezičnog statusa u zahtjevnim zadatcima pisanoga pripovjednog diskursa. Dobiveni se rezultati razlikuju od ranijih istraživanja u kojima se tvrdi da su razlike u rječničkoj raznolikosti posredni rezultat sintaktičke složenosti (pregled: Charest i Skoczylaz, 2019), a ova se razlika objašnjava utjecajem žanra, primjenom preciznijih mjera te dobi sudionika.Developmental language disorder (DLD) is one of the most common language disorders in preschool and school age, and it also persists later in life. Children with DLD show a range of expressive and/or receptive difficulties in language, including vocabulary acquisition. The goal of this research was to explore the differences between persons with developmental language disorder and persons with typical language development (TLD) in lexical diversity. Earlier research focused on spoken discourse of younger speakers. In the present research, written discourse of speakers covering a broad age range was explored. Twenty participants with DLD and 19 with TLD were selected from the Croatian Corpus of Non-professional Written Language (Kuvač Kraljević, Hržica and Kologranić Belić, in press). They produced narrative language samples based on the Expression, Reception and Recall of Narrative Instrument (ERRNI; Bishop, 2004). To measure lexical diversity, four measures were calculated: the number of different words (NDW) and type-token ratio (TTR) on a restricted number of words, the moving average type-token ration (MATTR) and lexical diversity D on full-length samples. The independent samples t-test was used to compare the two groups. Participants with DLD had significantly lower results on all four measures. This leads to the conclusion that all four measures can differentiate groups of participants with different language status. Persons with DLD showed difficulties in using vocabulary when producing written narratives, which is a demanding language production task

ANALYSIS OF SYNTACTIC COMPLEXITY OF CHILDREN’S NARRATIVE DISCOURSE

Sintaktička složenost jedna je dimenzija proučavanja pripovjednog diskursa. Budući da rezultati dosadašnjih istraživanja nisu jednoznačni, nije jasno koliko su pojedine mjere sintaktičke složenosti osjetljive za razlikovanje jezičnih sposobnosti djece različite dobi te koje su mjere prikladne za uporabu u različitim jezicima. Cilj ovog istraživanja bio je ispitati razlike između šestogodišnjaka i osmogodišnjaka u sintaktičkoj složenosti pripovjednog diskursa rabeći četiri mjere sintaktičke složenosti. Očekivalo se da će se pripovjedni diskursi razlikovati u prosječnoj duljini C-jedinice, prosječnoj duljini klauze, gustoći klauza te broju različitih vrsta zavisnosloženih klauza, pri čemu će osmogodišnjaci pokazivati bolje rezultate na svim mjerama. Drugi je cilj bio opisati koje vrste zavisnosloženih klauza i u kojoj mjeri djeca različite dobi rabe prilikom pripovijedanja. Jezični uzorci izdvojeni su iz korpusa Croatian Frog Story Corpus (Trtanj, Kuvač Kraljević, Hržica 2017). Mjere sintaktičke složenosti izračunate su u programu CLAN, a podaci su obrađeni Mann-Whitney U testom. Dobivene su statistički značajne razlike između dviju dobnih skupina u prosječnoj duljini C-jedinice i prosječnoj duljini klauze, ali ne u gustoći klauza i broju različitih vrsta zavisnosloženih klauza. Očekivano, osmogodišnjaci proizvode pripovjedni diskurs s većom prosječnom duljinom C-jedinice i s većom prosječnom duljinom klauze u odnosu na šestogodišnjake. Pokazalo se i da se od zavisnosloženih klauza najčešće upotrebljavaju priložne. Sukladno ranijim istraživanjima, utvrđene su razlike u sintaktičkoj složenosti na prijelazu iz predškolske u školsku dob. Prosječna duljina C-jedinice i prosječna duljina klauze mjere su koje mogu razlikovati jezične sposobnosti šestogodišnjaka i osmogodišnjaka.One way to study narration is to study syntactic complexity. The results of previous studies on syntactic complexity are inconclusive, and it is not clear how sensitive these measures are to age differences when it comes to language abilities. The aim of this study was to examine the difference between six- and eight-year-olds with respect to the syntactic complexity of narratives using four measures. Eight-year-olds’ narratives were expected to be more syntactically complex, that is, the mean length of the C-unit and the mean length of clause, clausal density, and the number of different subordinate clause types were expected to be higher. Another aim of this study was to describe the use of subordinate clauses in each group. Fifty-eight narrative samples were selected from children’s corpus, and syntactic complexity measures were calculated using the CLAN software (MacWhinney 2000). The data were analysed using the Mann Whitney U test. The results of this study show that there are statistically significant differences between the two age groups with respect to the mean length of the C-unit and the mean length of clause. There are no significant differences between six- and eight-year-olds in terms of clausal density and the number of different subordinate clause types. This study also showed that adverbial clauses are the most frequently used clause type in both age groups. In line with the findings of previous studies, age differences with respect to the syntactic complexity of narratives were found between preschool and early school-age children. The mean length of the C-unit / clause differentiated the syntactic complexity of the two age groups

Selection, Implementation and Testing of Language Sample Analysis Measures for the Web-Based Application MultiDis

Purpose: The MultiDis application is a new, web-based application designed for the analysis of spoken and written language samples, which provides information about the language abilities of children and adults, thus facilitating language assessment. The aim of this paper is to present the selection, implementation, and testing of language measures in the MultiDis application. We will present the application, the process of selecting the measures we implemented, the language resources needed to calculate them, and the results of testing. MultiDis is currently being developed for Croatian, but it could be scaled up for multilingual analysis

The effect of attribution process on helping behavior among students of different study orientation

Cilj istraživanja bio je provjeriti mogućnost generalizacije Weinerovog atribucijsko-emocionalnog modela pomagačkog ponašanja u hrvatskom kulturalnom kontekstu, te ispitati jesu li efekti mogućnosti kontrole razloga traženja pomoći na pomagačko ponašanje moderirani sudionikovim studijskim usmjerenjem, kooperativno-kompetitivnom orijentacijom, izostajanjem s nastave te navikom vođenja vlastitih bilješki s predavanja. U tu svrhu proveden je simulacijski eksperiment u kojem su korišteni Weinerovi scenariji s temom studenta koji želi posuditi bilješke, a sudionici su također ispunili Skalu kooperativno-kompetitivne orijentacije te procijenili koliko često izostaju s nastave i koliko često vode bilješke na predavanjima. Podaci su prikupljeni na 285 (od toga 64% muških) studenata psihologije te dva tehnička fakulteta u Zagrebu. Rezultati su pokazali da studenti osjećaju značajno više suosjećanja, manje ljutnje, te da su skloniji pomoći kada razlog nečije potrebe za pomoći nije podložan kontroli, u odnosu na situaciju kada jest. Pritom percipirana mogućnost kontrole na pomagačko ponašanje djeluje indirektno preko pobuđenih emocija. Dodatno su dobiveni značajni efekti studijskog usmjerenja, kooperativno-kompetitivne orijentacije te izostajanja s nastave, kao i interakcija izostanaka s mogućnošću kontrole – više pomažu studenti psihologije, kooperativniji, te studenti koji češće izostaju. Rezultati ukazuju na mogućnost generalizacije Weinerovog modela, te važnost ispitivanja dodatnih varijabli u okviru modela.The aim of research was to check the generality of Weiner's attribution-emotion model of helping behavior in Croatian cultural context, and examine if the effect of perceived controllability of the cause of need on helping behavior is moderated by participant's study orientation, cooperative-competitive orientation, skipping classes and practice of taking notes. We conducted a simulation experiment using Weiner's scanarios describing a student seeking to borrow class notes. Also participants were given Cooperative-competitive orientation scale, and they had to estimate how often they are skipping classes and how often they are taking class notes. Data were collected on 285 (64% were men) students of psychology and two technical studies. The results have shown that participants are experiencing more pity, less anger and are more likely to help when the cause of need is uncontrollable, comparing to situation when the cause is controllable. Moreover, it has been shown that the perceived controllability is influencing helping behavior indirectly through aroused emotions. In addition, results have shown the main effects of study orientation, cooperative-competitive orientation, skipping classes, and interaction of skipping classes with controllability – psychology students, cooperative and students who often skip classes are more likely to help. The results indicate generality of Weiner's model and the importance of investigating other variables within this context