Story comprehension in pre-readers: understanding goal structure and generating inferences when a story has competing goals

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to explore pre-readers’ comprehension of a story with competing character goals. Fifty-eight children in three age groups (2½–3 years; 3–4 years; and 4–5 years) were read a story in which the protagonist’s goal was unstated and conflicted with the goal of the secondary character. Understanding of explicit story content was tested through a joint story retell, during which children were prompted to supply 10 story elements. Children in the two older groups supplied more than half of the elements; those in the youngest group obtained a significantly lower score, supplying an average of two elements. Responses to questions suggested that a majority of participants in each age group had accurately inferred the protagonist’s goal. However, few children demonstrated that they had linked actions with goal, an indication that they had difficulty grasping the goal structure of a story with competing goals.

KEYWORDS:

• Story comprehension
• children
• language development
• literacy
• inferences

Acknowledgements

We express our appreciation to Joselynne Jaques, Melanie Beaudin, Sarah Pifher, Brooke Thornton, and Wenonah Campbell for their assistance with data collection. Wenonah Campbell also contributed to discussions that assisted in the development of this study. We thank anonymous reviewers for helpful comments on an earlier draft of the manuscript. Finally, we extend our gratitude to the parents and children for their participation.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on Contributors

Lynn Dempsey is an Associate Professor in the Department of Applied Linguistics, Brock University, in St. Catharines Ontario Canada. She holds a M.Sc. in Communication Sciences and Disorders and a Ph.D. in Rehabilitation Sciences both from Western University. She publishes and presents research in the areas of language development, literacy acquisition, and early language assessment and intervention.

Elizabeth Skarakis-Doyle is Professor of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Western University, in London Ontario Canada. Her research in the area of young children’s developing language comprehension, as well as in developmental pragmatics spans over three decades. She has over 175 scholarly presentations and peer-reviewed publications in the areas of language development, assessment, and treatment in normal and atypical preschool children. She has served on the editorial boards of numerous scholarly publications, including the Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research.

ORCID

Lynn Dempsey http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0333-9259

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Toronto Hospital for Sick Children Foundation [Grant Number XG01-081]; Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada [Doctoral Fellowship].