Children's Story Retelling and Comprehension Using a New Narrative Resource

Abstract

This study used the Strong Narrative Assessment Procedure (SNAP) to examine story retelling in children. The skills assessed include story grammar, comprehension, story length, and retelling errors. The 6i participants (grade 2-6) we.re randomly assigned to one of three stories that were then seen and heard. Each child. responded. to lo comprehension questions after retelling the story. Analysis of the transcripts revealed an age effect in retelling Internal Responses, and an age-related trend in reporting Attempts. As well, girls outperformed boys when answering inferential comprehension questions. Importantly, the results show that the SNAP stimulus stories are not equivalent, thus limiting their usefulness for test-retest purposes. These results support expected age differences in story structure as well as the relatively stronger verbal working memory in girls. Issues that relate to the use of the SNAP for assessing children's narrative skills are discussed.