Understanding the glue of narrative structure: Children's on- and off-line inferences about characters’ goals |
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Authors: | Julie S Lynch Paul van den Broek |
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Institution: | 1. Department of Psychology, Saginaw Valley State University, University Center, MI 48710, United States;2. Department of Educational Psychology, University of Minnesota, United States |
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Abstract: | Because characters’ goals play a key role in the structure of narratives, the ability to make inferences about goals is essential to narrative comprehension. Despite their importance, no previous studies have examined the process by which children make these goal inferences. In the current study, we examined 6- and 8-year-old children's goal inference making processes through think-aloud protocols. We also examined the product of comprehension, the mental representation of text, through free recall and comprehension questions. The results revealed that children of both ages regularly made appropriate goal inferences while listening to narratives. In addition, the number of goal inferences predicted children's recall of the stories. Thus, children as young as 6 years old are sensitive to the vital role of characters’ goals in narrative structure, and they can engage in sophisticated cognitive processing while they listen to narratives to form coherent mental representations of them. |
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Keywords: | Narrative comprehension Discourse Processing |
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