Improving story complexity and cohesion: A developmental approach to teaching story composition.

The aim of the present study was to analyze the relative effectiveness of two first grade instruction programs: a developmental program that focused on the structural and social-psychological components of stories and their cohesion and a process oriented approach. A total of 43 children participate...

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Published in:Narrative Inquiry Vol. 15; no. 2; pp. 241 - 267
Main Authors: McKeough, Ann, Davis, Lynn, Forgeron, Nicole, Marini, Anthony, Tak Fung
Format: Article
Published: John Benjamins Publishing Co. 2005
Subjects:
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
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        atl: Improving story complexity and cohesion: A developmental approach to teaching story composition.
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          McKeough, Ann
          Davis, Lynn
          Forgeron, Nicole
          Marini, Anthony
          Tak Fung
        affil: SFRA Review
      su:
        Narratives
        Children
        Storytelling
        Oral communication
        Education
      sug:
        subj:
          Narratives
          Children
          Storytelling
          Oral communication
          Education
      ab: The aim of the present study was to analyze the relative effectiveness of two first grade instruction programs: a developmental program that focused on the structural and social-psychological components of stories and their cohesion and a process oriented approach. A total of 43 children participated in daily sessions over 3 months (experimental group N = 22, comparison group N = 21). Measures of conceptual language and oral narrative were obtained and participants' protocols were analyzed for plot and coherence. Statistical analyses showed that the developmental method was more effective than the process approach in advancing the complexity and cohesion of children's narratives. To explore the interactions between instruction and learning, a time series analysis was conducted with seven randomly selected experimental group participants. These results showed that gains did not follow a linear pattern and that performance was shaped by the cognitive complexity of task demands. Implications for the development of narrative thought and classroom instruction are discussed. (Narrative, Instruction, Development)
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype: Article
      src: R
    language: English
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