Enhancing preschoolers’ understanding about story structure.
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31686/ijier.vol9.iss9.3340Keywords:
Narration, fictional stories, preschool, intervention programAbstract
The purpose of this study is to examine the effect on preschool aged children of an intervention reinforcing comprehension of the structural framework of stories, so that they can produce their own stories. The sample consisted of 78 children, ages 4-6. The sample was separated into two groups, one experimental and one control group. The children in the experimental group were taught how to create original fictional stories through a multilevel intervention programme. During sessions, well-structured books were used that had very well-structured contents and an instructional strategy was implemented on five levels (creating prior knowledge, discussion, modelling, monitoring the process and producing stories). The children in the control group were read the same books and a discussion followed on the interesting parts of the stories. The results showed that the intervention programme significantly improved the children’s ability to understand the structural elements of a story and to generate comprehensible and organised fictional stories.
References
Allen, M., Kertoy, M., Sherblom, J., et al. (1994). Children’s narrative productions: A comparison of personal event and fictional stories. Applied Psycholinguistics, 15, 149-176. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0142716400005300 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0142716400005300
Ardila, A., Rosseli, M., Matute, E. & Inozemtseva, O. (2011). Gender differences in cognitive development. Developmental Psychology, 47, 974-990. DOI: 10.1037/a0023819 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/a0023819
Berman, R. & Slobin, D. (1994). Relating events in narrative: A cross linguistic developmental study. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Buckner, J. & Fivush, R. (1998). Gender and self in children's autobiographical narratives. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 12, 407-429. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1099-0720(199808)12:4<407::AID-ACP575>3.0.CO;2-7
Curenton, S. (2011). Understanding the landscapes of stories: the association between preschoolers’’ narrative comprehension and production skills and cognitive abilities. Early Child Development and Care, 181, 791-808. https://doi.org/10.1080/03004430.2010.490946 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03004430.2010.490946
Dennen, V. & Burner, K. (2008). Cognitive apprenticeship model in educational practice. In M. Spector, M. Driscoll, D. Merrill and J. Merrienboer (Eds.). Handbook of Research on Educational Communications and Technology (pp. 425-439). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbau.
Grolig, L., Cohrdes, C., Tiffin-Richards, S. & Schroeder, S. (2020). Narrative dialogic reading with wordless picture books: A cluster-randomized intervention study. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 51, 191-203. http://dx.doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/dcmpw DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2019.11.002
Hansen, J. (2004). “Tell me a story” Developmentally appropriate retelling strategies. New Jersey: International Reading Association.
Heilmann, J., Miller, J., Nockerts, A. & Dunaway, C. (2010). Properties of the Narrative Scoring Scheme using narrative retells in young school-age children. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 19, 154-166. https://doi.org/10.1044/1058-0360(2009/08-0024) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1044/1058-0360(2009/08-0024)
Kang, H., Lundeberg, M., Wolter, B., delMas, R., & Herreid, C. (2012). Gender differences in student performance in large lecture classrooms using personal response systems (‘clickers’) with narrative case studies. Learning, Media and Technology, 37, 53-76. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17439884.2011.556123 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/17439884.2011.556123
Küntay, A. & Nakamura, K. (2004). Linguistic strategies serving evaluative functions: A comparison between Japanese and Turkish narratives. In S. Strοmqvist, & L. Verhoeven (Eds.), Relating events in narrative: Typological and contextual perspective (pp. 329–358). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Lepola, J., Lynch, J., Laakkonen, E., Silvén, M. & Niemi, P. (2012). The role of inference making and other language skills in the development of narrative listening comprehension in 4–6 year-old children. Reading Research Quarterly, 47, 259–282. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/rrq.020 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/rrq.020
Lever, R. & Sénéchal, M. (2011). Discussing stories: On how a dialogic reading intervention improves kindergartners’ oral narrative construction. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 108, 1–24. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2010.07.002 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2010.07.002
Lillard, A., Lerner, M., Hopkins, E., Dore, R., Smith, E. & Palmquist, C. (2013). The impact of pretend play on children's development: A review of the evidence. Psycho-logical Bulletin, 139, 1–34. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0029321 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/a0029321
Meier, A. (2020). Early growth trajectories of narrative language development=sex differences in microstructural and macrostructural skills. Thesis. Master of Arts. Michigan State University.
Nicolopoulou, A., Cortina, K., Ilgaz, H., Cates, C. & de Sá, A. (2015). Using a narrative-and play-based activity to promote low-income preschoolers’ oral language, emergent literacy, and social competence. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 31, 147–16. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2015.01.006 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2015.01.006
Nicolopoulou, A. & Ilgaz, H. (2006). Further explorations on the development of main character in preschoolers' spontaneous stories. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Jean Piaget Society. Baltimore. MD.
Nicolopoulou, A. & Richner, E. (2007). From actors to agents to persons: The development of character representation in young children's narratives. Child Development, 78, 412-429. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2007.01006.x DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2007.01006.x
Pesco, D. & Gagne, A. (2015). Scaffolding narrative skills: A meta-analysis of instruction in early childhood settings. Early Education and Development, 28, 773-793. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10409289.2015.1060800 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10409289.2015.1060800
Petersen, D., Gillam, S., & Gillam, R. (2008). Emerging procedures in narrative assessment: The index of narrative complexity. Topics in Language Disorders, 28, 111–126. http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/01.TLD.0000318933.46925.86 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1097/01.TLD.0000318933.46925.86
Reese, E., Suggate, S., Long, J. & Schaughency, E. (2010). Children’s oral narrative and reading skills in the first 3 years of reading instruction. Reading and Writing, 23, 627–644. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11145-009-9175-9 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-009-9175-9
Ross, M. & Holmberg, D. (1990). Recounting the past: Gender differences in the recall of events in the history of a close relationship. In M. Zanna and J. Olson (Eds.). Self-inference processes: The Ontario Symposium (pp. 135-152). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Silva, M., Strasser, K. & Cain, K. (2014). Early narrative skills in Chilean preschool: Questions scaffold the production of coherent narratives. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 29, 205–213. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0885200614000076 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2014.02.002
Sideridis, G., Antoniou, F., Mouzaki, A. & Simos, P. (2015). RAVEN’S: Coloured Progressive Matrices and Vocabulary test. Athens: Motivo.
Soodla, P. & Kikas, E. (2010). Macrostructure in the narratives of Estonian children with typical development and language impairment. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 53(3), 1321-33. DOI: 10.1044/1092-4388(2010/08-0113) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1044/1092-4388(2010/08-0113)
Pinto, G., Tarchi, C., & Bigozzi, L. (2015). The relationship between oral and written narratives: A three‐year longitudinal study of narrative cohesion, coherence, and structure. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 85(4), 551–569. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjep.12091 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/bjep.12091
Thomas, N., Colin, C., & Leybaert, J. (2019). Impact of interactive reading intervention on narratives skills on children with low socio-economic background, European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 27:6, 837-859, DOI:10.1080/1350293X.2019.1678924 https://doi.org/10.1080/1350293X.2019.1678924 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/1350293X.2019.1678924
Van Dam, F. (2010). Development of cohesion in normal children’s narratives. Master in Logopedic Sciences. University of Utrecht, Germany.
Veneziano, E., LeNormand, M-T., Plummet, M-H. & Deschamps, J-E. (2020). Improving narrative skills in 5- to 8-year-old French-speaking children: The positive effects of a short conversational intervention. First Language, 3, 225-250. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0142723720901614 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0142723720901614
Vretudaki, E. & Tafa, E. (2017). Strategies for developing kindergarten children’s narrative skills. Paper presented at the 20th European Conference on Literacy. Spain: Madrid.
Verzolla BL, Isotani SM, Perissinotto J. (2012). Analysis of oral narratives of preschool children before and after language stimulation. Jornal da Sociedade Brasileira de Fonoaudiologia. 1, 62-68. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1590/S2179-64912012000100011
Zanchi, P. & Zampini, L. (2020). The Narrative Competence Task. A Standardized Test to Assess Children’s Narrative Skills. European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 1-8. doi.org/10.1027/1015-5759/a000569 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1027/1015-5759/a000569
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2021 Hellen Vretudaki
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Copyrights for articles published in IJIER journals are retained by the authors, with first publication rights granted to the journal. The journal/publisher is not responsible for subsequent uses of the work. It is the author's responsibility to bring an infringement action if so desired by the author for more visit Copyright & License.
How to Cite
Accepted 2021-08-12
Published 2021-09-01
