The use of questions to scaffold narrative coherence and cohesion
- 11 October 2017
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Wiley in Journal of Research in Reading
- Vol. 42 (1) , 1-17
Abstract
We examined the quality of 4‐ to 6‐year‐olds' production of narratives from picture sequences. Children (N = 81) first viewed a narrative picture sequence and then completed the narrative production task in each of two orders: either before or after answering a set of questions about the core elements of the story. Narratives elicited after questions were more coherent than those produced before the questions. In contrast, task order did not influence the cohesion of narratives nor the accuracy of responses to questions. An independent measure of memory was related to the gains in narrative coherence after answering questions. The results are discussed in relation to the role of questions as a guide to the structural elements of a narrative and a scaffold for understanding.Keywords
Funding Information
- BASAL funds for Centers of Excellence
- Project FB 0003
- Associative Research Program of CONICYT
- Conicyt-Fondecyt Project N° (11140887)
This publication has 43 references indexed in Scilit:
- The Value of Applied Research: Retrieval Practice Improves Classroom Learning and Recommendations from a Teacher, a Principal, and a ScientistEducational Psychology Review, 2012
- The Precursors of Reading Ability in Young Readers: Evidence From a Four-Year Longitudinal StudyScientific Studies of Reading, 2012
- The Development of Children's Oral Narratives Across ContextsEarly Education and Development, 2010
- Preschool teachers’ literal and inferential questions and children's responses during whole-class shared readingEarly Childhood Research Quarterly, 2010
- Shared book reading: When and how questions affect young children's word learning.Journal of Educational Psychology, 2009
- Emerging Procedures in Narrative AssessmentTopics in Language Disorders, 2008
- Social interaction in the acquisition of knowledgeEducational Psychology Review, 1993
- Interrelationships among prereading and oral language skills in kindergartners from two social classesEarly Childhood Research Quarterly, 1987
- Complex sentences: acquisition of syntactic connectives and the semantic relations they encodeJournal of Child Language, 1980
- Does Answering Higher-Level Questions While Reading Facilitate Productive Learning?Review of Educational Research, 1979