Becoming a teller of tales: associations between children's fictional narratives and parent-child reminiscence narratives

Previous research has revealed a connection between the contributions parents make while reminiscing and their children’s narratives for personally experienced events. The current research expands the literature by focusing on the connection between parental reminiscing and children’s production of fictional narratives. After 4- to 9-year-olds and their parents reminisced about past shared events, the children (with an experimenter) produced narratives based on wordless picture books. The results revealed that the overall quality of the fictional narratives was correlated with parents’ provision statements that emphasized orientation and evaluation in the reminiscence narrative. For younger children, correlations held for reminiscence narratives about recent events. For older children, correlations held for reminiscence narratives about events from the distant past. The results are consistent with the suggestion that children learn general storytelling skills from adult models.     

Persuasive Effects of Fictional Narratives Increase Over Time

Fact-related information contained in fictional narratives may induce substantial changes in readers' real-world beliefs. Current models of persuasion through fiction assume that these effects occur because readers are psychologically transported into the fictional world of the narrative. Contrary to general dual-process models of persuasion, models of persuasion through fiction also imply that persuasive effects of fictional narratives are persistent and even increase over time (absolute sleeper effect). In an experiment designed to test this prediction, 81 participants read either a fictional story that contained true as well as false assertions about real-world topics or a control story. There were large short-term persuasive effects of false information, and these effects were even larger for a group with a 2-week assessment delay. Belief certainty was weakened immediately after reading but returned to baseline level after 2 weeks, indicating that beliefs acquired by reading fictional narratives are integrated into real-world knowledge.     

The Development of Narrative Comprehension and Its Relation to Other Early Reading Skills

The first goal of this study was to examine young children's developing narrative comprehension abilities using theory-based, authentic measures of comprehension processes. The second goal was to examine the relations among young children's comprehension abilities and other early reading skills. Children ages 4 and 6 listened to or watched two authentic narratives. We measured their comprehension of these narratives as well as vocabulary and skills associated with word decoding. The results revealed that even the younger children were sensitive to the underlying structure of the narratives and that this sensitivity increased with age. Measures of narrative comprehension were not consistently correlated with skills associated with word decoding, such as phonological awareness. The results are discussed in terms of theoretical models of comprehension and of reading development. Practical implications of the findings are also explored.     

Psychometric Properties of the Book Readings for An Affective Classroom Education (BRACE) Coding System

Abstract

In the present study, the relation between children’s emotion knowledge and preschool teachers’ book reading behaviors during shared book reading in the classroom was examined. A new coding system, the Book Readings for an Affective Classroom Education (BRACE), was developed to capture teachers’ macro-level book reading behaviors (i.e., dialogic reading) and micro-level use of emotion language (i.e., emotion coaching) during shared book reading. Results showed good reliability and validity of the BRACE. Further, teachers’ dialogic reading and emotion coaching behaviors during shared book reading positively predicted child emotion knowledge in Spring (T2), after controlling for children’s initial level of emotion knowledge in Fall (T1). In addition, a significant interaction between teachers’ book reading style and child emotion knowledge at T1 on emotion knowledge at T2 indicated that teachers’ effective book reading style was especially beneficial to children who had lower emotion knowledge at the beginning of the school year.     

Dialogic reading and morphology training in Chinese children: effects on language and literacy

This study investigates the effects of parent-child shared book reading and metalinguistic training on the language and literacy skills of 148 kindergartners in Hong Kong. Children were pretested on Chinese character recognition, vocabulary, morphological awareness, and reading interest and then assigned randomly to 1 of 4 conditions: the dialogic reading with morphology training (DR + MT), dialogic reading (DR), typical reading, or control condition. After a 12-week intervention period, the DR intervention yielded greater gains in vocabulary, and the DR + MT intervention yielded greater improvement in character recognition and morphological awareness. Both interventions enhanced children's reading interest. Results confirm that different home literacy approaches influence children's oral and written language skills differently: Shared book reading promotes language development, whereas parents' explicit metalinguistic training within a shared book reading context better prepares children for learning to read.     

Instructing Parents to Use Dialogic Reading Strategies with Preschool Children

Abstract

Caregiver use of dialogic reading (DR) strategies in home, preschool, and daycare settings has been shown to facilitate development of oral language and emergent literacy skills in toddlers and preschool age children. Training in the use of DR strategies may be provided ‘live’ or via videotape. Using a randomized, control group, repeated measures design with 18 caregiver-child dyads, we investigated (a) caregivers' ability to learn to use DR strategies with their young children through videotape training in community health centers, and (b) children's verbalizations during shared book reading. Caregivers learned to use DR strategies through the videotape training and maintained their use of DR strategies 12 weeks later. In addition, an intervention effect was observed related to levels of child on-task verbalizations such that children of parents who learned DR strategies talked more about books during shared book reading relative to their baseline and to the control group children, whose parents did not view the DR training video.     

Can dyslexia be treated? Treatment-specific and generalized treatment effects in dyslexic children's response to remediation

A total of 178 reading disabled children were randomly assigned to one of three treatment conditions providing training in word recognition and decoding skills (DS), oral and written language (OWLS), or classroom survival skills (CSS. an alternative treatment control). Pre- and post-treatment comparisons on an array of standardized and experimental measures indicated that the two experimental treatments (DS, OWLS) resulted in improvement on selected tests significantly greater than that resulting from a third treatment intervention which controlled for treatment time and individual attention (CSS). Effects specific to each experimental treatment were identified, as well as some generalized treatment advantages shared by both experimental groups at post-test. These results indicate that some of the deficits associated with developmental dyslexia are amenable to treatment. Greater generalization of treatment effects was observed following the DS than the OWLS treatment. While DS-instructed children exhibited better word recognition skills, however, their knowledge of grapheme-phoneme correspondence rules was not improved. Several OWLS-specific effects observed on experimental reading and language measures were not replicated on standardized tests which purport to measure the same skills. These results are discussed with respect to (i) possible mechanisms by which disabled readers may acquire word recognition skills, (ii) their failure to acquire and use grapheme-phoneme correspondence rules, and (iii) a possible reduced tendency in the present population to generalize newly acquired specific knowledge to related knowledge domains.     

How knowing and doing inform an autobiography: relations among preschoolers' theory of mind,narrative, and event memory skills

Research on the development of autobiographical memory in children has revealed the importance of two seemingly separate but related factors: Theory of mind, or the ability to know what another can and cannot know, and narrative skill, or the ability to tell a coherently structured story. The present research study with 22 preschoolers examined the extent to which each factor predicts two separate components of autobiographical memory ability: (1) the content of memory and (2) the structure of the memory narrative. As hypothesized, we found that theory of mind skills predicted the ‘how’ or structure of the children's fictional story narratives, whereas narrative skills predicted the ‘how much’ or content of the children's memory. Implications for the development of autobiographical memory are discussed. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Joint Reading of Informational Science Text Versus Narrative Stories: How Does each Affect Language and Literacy Abilities Among Kindergarteners?

The effectiveness of a literacy intervention program based on a joint interactive reading of informational science texts in increasing children’s science vocabulary, language and literacy skills, delivered by the kindergarten teacher, was examined in 34 Hebrew-speaking kindergarten children exhibiting different levels of emergent literacy skills. The impact of the informational science text intervention was compared to that of a similar program based on narrative stories. Post-intervention, both groups improved their domain-specific vocabulary – science or narrative – but the change in domain-specific vocabulary learning was lower in the informational science group as opposed to the narrative group. Improvement was also found with regard to general vocabulary, print concepts, and listening comprehension following both interventions. Change in scientific vocabulary was positively related with change in morphological awareness, change in print concepts, and listening comprehension. No such findings were found with regard to narrative vocabulary. The study suggests that a short informational science intervention program can enhance science vocabulary and literacy skills in kindergarten children and should be used more often in kindergartens.     

Text Genre and Science Content: Ease of Reading,Comprehension, and Reader Preference

This study examined ease of reading, comprehension, and recall and preference for the same scientific content under two conditions: an informational text and a fictional narrative text. Seventy-four third and fourth graders were assessed individually around the reading of fictional narrative and informational texts that were about either snails or sand. Students’ accuracy and rate of reading were comparable across the two genres. However, students answered more comprehension questions correctly and recalled more key concepts in response to informational text than fictional narrative text. Moreover, students did not express a clear preference for one type of text over the other.     

TV as storyteller: How exposure to television narratives impacts at‐risk preschoolers' story knowledge and narrative skills

Educational media serve as informal educators within the home by supplementing young children's development. Substantial evidence documents the contributions of educational television to preschoolers' acquisition of a variety of skills; however, television's natural capacity as storyteller and the role it plays in preschoolers' early literacy development has been largely overlooked. This study examined the effects of viewing different TV program types on 311 at‐risk preschoolers' story knowledge and narrative skills. Children were assigned to one of 4 viewing conditions (i.e. watching up to 40 episodes of a particular program type): no viewing; expository; embedded narrative; or traditional narrative. Story knowledge scores were higher for those viewing either narrative type. In contrast, viewing specific narrative types differentially affected the component skills of narrative competence. Story retelling and identification of explicit story events were higher after repeat viewing of embedded narratives while generating implicit story content was higher after repeat viewing of traditional narratives.     

Fictional narratives change beliefs: replications of Prentice,Gerrig, and Bailis (1997) with mixed corroboration

We report three exact replications of experiments aimed at illuminating how fictional narratives influence beliefs (Prentice, Gerrig, & Bailis, 1997). Students read fictional stories that contained weak, unsupported assertions and which took place either at their home school or at an away school. Prentice et al. found that students were influenced to accept the assertions, even those blatantly false, but that this effect on beliefs was limited to the away-school setting. We questioned the limiting of the narrative effect to remote settings. Our studies consistently reproduced the first finding, heightened acceptance of statements occurring in the conversations of narrative protagonists, but we failed to reproduce the moderating effect of school location. In an attempt to understand these discrepancies, we measured likely moderating factors such as readers’ need for cognition and their extent of scrutiny of the narratives.     

Literacy programs efficacy for developing children’s early reading skills in familiar language in Zambia

This study investigated the comparative efficacy of a phonics-based reading program and a language experience approach based literacy program to develop reading skills among Zambian early childhood school learners. The learners (n = 1 986; Grade 2 level; females = 50.1%) took either the phonics-based reading program (n = 1 593) or the alternative language experience approach based program (n = 393). They were all assessed for reading skills utilising the Early Grade Reading Assessment test (EGRA) in four languages (Cinyanja, Icibemba, Kiikaonde, and Silozi). Results suggest that learners in phonics-based literacy program were significantly better in letter-sound knowledge in all the four languages. Additionally, they were significantly better in reading skills (non-word reading, oral passage reading, and reading comprehension), yet only in Icibemba and Silozi, as compared to those who took the alternative program. Results reveal that children in the Primary Literacy Program (PLP) had significantly better performance in most reading skills than in the Primary Reading Program (PRP). However, the effect sizes were small or medium. The high floor effect in all reading-related measures is an indication that by following either PRP or the recently implemented PLP, most children do not acquire basic reading skill of the transparently written language they are familiar with. Instruction of the sounds of letters requires special attention where digital training tools (such as GraphoGame) may provide the most effective help to both teachers and children.     

Adults’ and children’s monitoring of story events in the service of comprehension

When reading narratives, adults monitor shifts in time, space, characters, goals, and causation. Shifts in any of these dimensions affect both moment-by-moment reading and memory organization. The extant developmental literature suggests that middle school children have relatively sophisticated understandings of each of these dimensions but does not indicate whether they spontaneously monitor these dimensions during reading experiences. In four experiments, we examined the processing of event shifts by adults and children, using both an explicit verb-clustering task and a reading time task. The results indicate that middle school children’s and adults’ post-reading memory is organized using these dimensions but that children do not monitor dimensions during moment-by-moment reading in the same manner as adults. These differences were not a function of differentially difficult texts for children and adults, or between-group differences. The findings have implications for models of adult and child text processing and for understanding children’s developing narrative comprehension.     

Shared reading interaction in families with and without genetic risk for dyslexia: implications for toddlers’ language development

Shared reading represents a unique context for language learning. Little is known, however, about the quality of shared reading and its developmental implications in families with reading disabilities. In the present study, these questions were addressed in the context of a longitudinal follow‐up. Maternal interactional behaviors and children's participation in a book reading situation were analyzed at 14 months of age in a subsample involving 39 mothers who were diagnosed as reading disabled and had a familial background of reading difficulties (the RD group) and 89 normally reading mothers (the NR group) and their children. Information on the children's concurrent and subsequent vocabulary comprehension and production was obtained at 14 and 18 months. The results indicated that the children who displayed a high interest and engagement in shared reading at 14 months had more advanced language skills 4 months later. Also found was support for a link between maternal strategies and children's subsequent vocabulary comprehension and production. In accordance with the literature, maternal activation was more strongly related to the children's language development than the mere describing of the elements in the book. No differences emerged between the NR and RD groups in the frequencies of maternal interactional behaviors, children's participation in shared reading, or their language skills at this early age; maternal orienting of the children's attention was, however, found to be positively related to later language development in the NR group, while in the RD group the association was negative. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Improving reading and writing learning in underprivileged pluri‐ethnic settings

Background: Many studies carried out in first language contexts tend to demonstrate the positive effects of activity programmes aimed at (1) developing metaphonological abilities and (2) developing language skills through active story listening on learning to read and to spell by first‐grade students. Aims: This study seeks to extend previous findings by (a) including children, the majority of whom have French as a second language, who attend plurilingual schools and have not been included in previous studies, and (b) providing training based on three essential principles shared by the two kinds of programmes: integrating activities into realistic literacy practice contexts; encouraging active student participation through tasks which very often require problem solving; and tackling, one after the other, different kinds of operations or strategies. Sample: Three groups of students were created out a pool of 202 children enrolled in nine first‐grade classes in three underprivileged pluri‐ethnic schools. The control group was composed of 46 students who received typical, first‐grade methods for teaching reading and spelling. Experimental group 1 (DMPA), 91 students, received a training programme aimed at metaphonological abilities development. Experimental group 2 (DLS), 65 students, received a training intended to develop language skills through active story listening and production. Method: The students from the three groups were evaluated at the beginning (metaphonological task I, pre‐reading task) and at the end (metaphonological task II, word recognition task, text comprehension task, word spelling task) of their first year in elementary school. Results: The programme for the development of metaphonological abilities enabled DMPA group students to obtain significantly higher scores than the control group on metaphonological task II and word recognition task. The DMPA group children also did significantly better than the control and the DLS groups on the word spelling task. However, the DLS group, who benefited from language skills development activities, also progressed in that they obtained significantly better results than the control group in the word recognition task. Moreover, at the end of grade one, there was no difference in the scores obtained by the groups on a comprehension questionnaire administered after the reading of the narrative text. Conclusion: The word reading skills of first‐grade children in underprivileged pluriethnic settings can be improved through activities aimed at metaphonological abilities development or language skills development by means of active story listening and production. On the other hand, in order to develop word spelling abilities, the development of metaphonological abilities was more effective. Lastly, further research should seek to improve understanding of the absence of effects of either learning programme on narrative text comprehension.     

"I GET PROUD WHEN I READ": FIRST-GRADERS TALK ABOUT READING

This interpretive research addressed five first-graders' perceptions of reading and of being readers, asking the questions: What does reading or being a reader mean to a group of children who are at the end of first grade? What are they see as its purpose? How do they view themselves as readers? The data is presented in the form of narratives describing the children and their views, followed by a discussion of the children's reading identities and purposes for reading as condensed into five categories: practice, people, power, pleasure, and performance. Practice, a main purpose for the children, entailed reading longer words and books, learning more words, and developing decoding skills. Reading as a social process included connections to people, both while being taught to read and when sharing texts with others. Mastery of reading provided varied feelings of power and control either over general textual ideas or over the words themselves. Pleasure and humor were emphasized in relation to children's reading, while instrumental motives were attributed to adults and to teacher-directed activities. Performance allowed for a display of knowledge and skills, but brought fear of ridicule for some. The children's rich perceptions of the reading process and of themselves as readers can guide educators as they support children in becoming strong, positive, and lasting readers. More in-depth qualitative research needs to be done on children's perceptions of reading at all levels of schooling, especially with beginning and struggling readers.     

FICTIONAL FORM AND SYMPHONIC STRUCTURE: AN ESSAY IN COMPARATIVE AESTHETICS

It is agreed on all hands that both fictional narratives and the familiar genres of classical music possess an inner structure that both can be perceived and be appreciated aesthetically. It is my argument here that this inner structure plays a crucially different role in fictional narrative than it does in classical music, confining myself here to 'absolute music' (which is to say, pure instrumental music without text, programme, dramatic setting, or other 'extra-musical' content). The argument, basically, is that whereas the sophisticated listener to the absolute music repertory is keenly, consciously aware of the inner structure, the sophisticated reader of fictional narrative, the principal exemplar being the novel, is not so aware. Therefore, whereas musical structure directly contributes to aesthetic satisfaction, narrative structure contributes only indirectly (which is not to deny that, at times, the reader is consciously aware of narrative structure, and that, at such times, it does contribute directly to aesthetic satisfaction).     

Early language and the development of children's reading skills

There is considerable agreement that vocabulary plays a central role in reading acquisition, but there is less agreement about whether this association is direct or indirect through phonological and print-related knowledge. Longitudinal data from 77 African-American children were analyzed to examine the relationship between language skills, phonological knowledge and print processing skills at pre-kindergarten and kindergarten with reading at pre-kindergarten through second grade. Analyses indicated that home and child care experiences were related to reading indirectly through language and that language and phonological knowledge were both directly related to acquisition of reading skill. This study of African-American children and previous studies of lower- and middle-income children indicate both language and phonological skills play an important role in children becoming successful readers, and that experiences at home and in child care during in early childhood play a role in the acquisition of reading through their enhancement of early language and phonological skills.