Literature Review: Annotated Bibliography
Bellon, M.L. & Ogletree, B.T.
(2000). Repeated Storybook reading as an instructional
method. Intervention in School & Clinic 36
(2), 75-82.
Storybook reading can facilitate
language and literacy development in children. Key components of interventions
include redundancy, semantic complexity, and narrative structures of story
grammar. Redundancy: Storybook repetition may assist the child in understanding
and using language surrounding the actions, events and concepts of stories.
These story elements are critical to language and literacy development. Semantic
Complexity refers to the concrete and abstract nature in the meaning of
language: indication, labeling, description, interpretation, inference and
meta-language. These levels build
upon each other and as semantic complexity emerges, a natural result is more
complex linguistic structures. Use of complex language to talk about the story
suggests an understanding of the various relationships and perspectives that
create the narrative structure of the story.
Story Grammar: A rule system
that describes the regularity of these rules within a text. Understanding story
grammar can result in gains in oral and written language abilities for young
children. The following guidelines
should be referred to when selecting storybooks for repeated readings:
Relevance, predictability, illustrations, language level and adaptability to
dramatic play.
Bradshaw, M.,
Hoffman, P.R., & Norris, J.A. (1998).
Efficacy of expansions and cloze
procedures in the development of interpretations by
preschool children exhibiting
delayed language development. Language, Speech and
Hearing Services in Schools, 29
(2), 85-96.
Recent intervention studies have demonstrated that adult-provided expansions of child utterances during repeated storybook readings could result in more complex language use by the child. The present study evaluated the efficacy of providing semantically contingent expansions and cloze procedures to facilitate the production of interpretations within repeated readings of a storybook. The present study sought to provide an extension of prior studies by targeting a higher level of semantic displacement, interpretations through the use of a series of questions, cloze procedures, and expansions of child utterances that lead the child from labeling to describing to interpreting information in a storybook.
Cunninghan, P.M., Moore, S.A.,
Cunningham, J.W., & Moore, D.W., (2000). Reading
and writing in elementary schools. New York, NY:
Longman.
Dramatization is a powerful
medium for constructing interpretations of favorite stories. Dramatic story
retellings and reenactments consist of activities such as puppetry, story
acting, lap stories, flannel boards, acetate stories and readers theatre.
Memorization of lines may be appropriate in certain situations, however having
students produce dialog as needed seems to promote a better understanding of
passages. Reading numerous versions of the same story and acting each out can be
beneficial to literacy development. Higher order thinking is required as
children compare variants.
Dennis, G., & Walter, E.
(1995). The effects of repeated read-alouds on story
comprehension as assessed through story
retellings. Reading Improvement, 32 (3),
140-153.
The purpose of this study was to determine whether reading aloud the same story to first grade students would significantly increase their story comprehension as measured by oral retellings. It was hypothesized that first grade subjects, after listening to the same story over a four-week period, would significantly increase on their story comprehension as measured by oral retellings which followed the reading sessions. The difference between the first and third retellings was significant, and the third retellings had more details and were more complete overall as compared to the first and second. This indicates that comprehension improved as a result of the repeated readings and practice with retelling. Some educational implications can be made because this study supports the findings of previous research: First grade students regardless of their academic ability can benefit from repeated read-alouds and Educators can use story retellings with repeated read-alouds to assess the listening comprehension of students.
DeTemple, J., & Tabors, P.O.
(1996). Children's story retelling as a predictor of early
reading achievement.
ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 403 543.
This study was conducted to explore the relationship between early language experiences and later literacy and school achievement. They investigated the relationship between early book reading experiences and later narrative skills and whether these narrative skills were related to school measures of literacy and language. Results indicated that book reading experiences at home at age 3 ½ were positively related to story telling ability at age 5 ½. Mothers' reactions to texts were positively associated with story sense and non-pictured information. Story retelling was associated with first grade reading and language skills. Story sense, emergent literacy and PPVT were found to be useful predictors of first grade reading abilities. The researchers state that the best single kindergarten predictor of reading is emergent literacy. And the best model for first grade reading achievement combines emergent literacy, story sense, and a positive home literacy environment.
Danielson, K.E. & LaBonty,
J. (1994). Integrating reading and writing through children's
literature. Boston,
MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Children should be involved as
much as possible in shared reading experiences. Shared reading activities that
can facilitate involvement should include: familiar stories and poems, reading
aloud, storytelling, poetry and songs and puppetry. The teacher should model
puppetry and the appropriate use of props during storytelling. For example, the
teacher could have a cape and goodie basket while reading Little Red Riding
Hood. After shared reading, children can make their own puppets to retell the
story to a friend or to make up a new story. Books for puppetry involvement
should include much dialog and repetition.
Early Childhood Language Arts
(1992). Boston, MA Allyn & Bacon.
Some of the many benefits of
including drama into an early childhood program include: its ability to adapt to
the proficiency level of the child, its relevance as it builds upon prior
knowledge and experiences, its natural progression from physical responses to
symbolism thus making the abstraction of language concrete, its invitation to
expressive and imaginative uses of language, and its social nature regarding
cooperation, problem solving, leadership, sharing, character identification,
empathy and insight. Seven types of
drama that can be part of a Language Arts curriculum are reenactment of
imaginary scenes and everyday events, role playing, puppet shows, story
dramatization, narrated theater, choral speaking/story songs and scripted drama.
Teachers need to master the use of semantically contingent speech and build
positive talk environments. Creative dramatics, choral speaking and the Language
Experience Approach as essential components in a positive talk environment and
are important ways of fostering communicative competence in all children.
Evans, D.D., & Strong, C.J.
(1996). What's the story? Teaching Excetional Children,
96
(28), 25-62.
When selecting storybooks they
should be of interest to students, have a clear and sequential story structure,
and include illustrations that support the storyline. Story narratives should
enable students to retell story events, recall characters and sequence of events
and tell a personal-experience narrative. The ability to narrate stories
underlies both social and academic development. When narrating stories the
speaker uses language for an extended period. He or she is expected to include
introductory and closing statements, to present the events in an orderly
sequence and to maintain a monologue for a passive listener. Classroom narrative
experiences support both the expressive and receptive language development.
Story retellings and reenactments involve students in the story and can
significantly improve comprehension. To increase student's language skills and
to promote literacy, use story listening, story retelling, story reenacting and
the recounting of personal experience. Active
participation with stories results in increased language development and an
increased interest in books and in learning to read.
Freeman, E. (1996). Childrens Books: Stories. Reading Teacher, 50 (1), 52-60.
“Stories are a primary mode of
human thinking and a way of constructing reality for ourselves.” Many old
stories bear retelling and each new interpretation offers fresh perspectives of
language, settings or illustrations. Different versions of the same story can be
read and retold and compared/contrasted by the students.
Gambrell, L.B., Koskinen, P.S.
& Kapinus, B.A. Retelling and the reading
comprehension of proficient and less proficient readers. Journal
of Educational
Research 84
(6), p. 356-362.
Gambrell, Koskinen & Kapinus
examined Retelling and the reading comprehension of proficient and
less-proficient readers. They found that retelling is an effective instructional
strategy for enhancing the comprehension of proficient and less-proficient
readers. According to Gambrel et al.,(1984) “The verbal reconstruction of the
text helps readers to organize and to deploy their processing capacities more
effectively”.
Gillam, R.B., & Rebehak, C.M.
(1997). Oral reading and story retelling of students with
specific language impairment. Language, Speech, and Hearing
Services in Schools, 28 (1),
30-43.
Children with SLI present
difficulties with aspects of language with the kinds of cues in differing print
contexts. Analysis of oral reading
and miscues can provide information regarding student's reading strategies.
Story retelling is a part of the Reading Miscue Inventory Procedure. Retelling
provides students with the opportunity to use their own language to reflect on
and repeat the story they just read aloud. Unaided retellings reveal how
students modify and integrate the story's vocabulary, language, and
prepositions. Additionally, this procedure provides data for comparing reading
and spoken language abilities. Several
researchers have used oral reading and retelling analysis to compare the reading
processes of advanced and struggling readers. *Complete abstract attached.
Goodman, Y. Retellings of
literature and the comprehension process (1982). Theory Into
Practice 21 (4), p. 301-308.
Retellings after reading provide
another opportunity for the reader to construct the text. They extend and
enhance the readers comprehending and comprehension processes while providing
evidence for and insights into understanding the two processes. Although no
method can completely represent comprehension, retellings constrain the
reader's ability to represent what has been comprehended. Readers
indicate through miscue analysis and their retellings that they use complex
predicting and confirming strategies when they are concerned with unfamiliar
concepts in a text. All readers use information from the text for their
retellings. Differences among retellings stem from varying schemata and
experiences brought to the reading. The more relevant the story is to the
reader, the more accurate the retelling will be.
Retellings provide a large amount of data for researchers to gain insight
into a reader's comprehension process and also provide an opportunity for the
reader to present his/her ideas to the world and to rehearse, integrate, modify
and add to comprehension. Presenting
one's concepts and generalizations to others allows the presenter to hear
reflections from others and build shared meanings. Readers who cannot remember
the label for something will have the opportunity to show what they know through
explanations. They will have the time to organize and think through what they
have read. Teachers need to provide
opportunities for readers to relate, rethink, and continue to make sense of the
story-to continue comprehending.
Gummersall, D.M., & Strong,
C.J. (1999). Assessment of complex sentence production
in a narrative context. Language,
Speech, & Hearing Services in Schools, 30 (2),
152-167.
The use of complex sentence structure plays an important role in children's' academic and social development. Through the use of storybook reading and retelling, children can hear and practice varying levels of syntactic complexity. Can teacher directed modeling (in the form of sentence imitation and picture cues) enhance the syntactic complexity of young children's story retellings? Gummersall and Strong researched the effects of these specific modeling strategies on story retelling. Their findings indicate that modeling and practice had a positive effect above and beyond amount of exposure.
Irwin, P.A., & Mitchell, J.N.
(1983). A procedure for assessing the richness of retellings.
Journal of Reading, 26, 394-395.
The following is a five- point scale for assessing the richness of retellings.
5-Student includes all mail ideas and supporting details; sequences properly; infers beyond the text; relates text to own life; understands text organization; summarizes; gives opinion and justifies it; MAY ask additional questions; very cohesive and complete retelling.
4-Student includes most main ideas and supporting details; sequences properly; relates text to own life; understands text organization; summarizes; gives opinion and justifies it; cohesive and complete retelling.
3-Student includes some main ideas and details; sequences most material; understands text organization; gives opinion; fairly complete retelling.
2- Student includes a few main ideas and details; some difficulty sequencing; may give irrelevant information; gives opinion; incomplete retelling.
1-Student gives details only;
poor sequencing; irrelevant information; very incomplete retelling.
King-DeBaun, P. (1999). Using Stories to Promote Beginning Communication/Language and
Emergent Literacy Learning. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No.
441313.)
Story repetition is a productive
strategy in supporting language and literacy development. Given a choice, young
children prefer to hear favorite stories than a new book a day approach. Story
reenactments are very important in literacy development as they give children
the opportunity to establish and practice powerful strategies that they will use
later on in mature readings. A practical application of repeated readings
includes the use of stories for enrichment and enjoyment, a theme- based
approach so connections can be made, and child involvement from the beginning.
Children can begin by chanting chorus parts of stories and move towards
retelling parts or the whole story as they become more familiar with it. Stories
themselves should repeat, be predictable and contain simple graphics.
Scaffolding decreases as the shift moves from teacher/peer reading and modeling
to child retelling independently.
Leslie, L. & Caldwell, J. (2001). Qualitative Reading Inventory –3 (QRI-3). NewYork,NY:
Longman.
This easy-to-use collection effectively assesses
reading ability at emergent though high school levels. It includes both
narrative and expository passages at each grade level, questions to assess prior
knowledge, and word lists. Instructors can measure comprehension by retelling
passages, implicit and explicit questions, and other devices. Based on the
latest reading research, this comprehensive inventory focuses assessment on
specific questions regarding word identification, fluency, and comprehension. It
also provides suggestions for intervention instruction, procedures for
assessment of strategic reading, and inclusion of results in classroom
portfolios.
Machado, J.M., (1999.) Early childhood experiences in language arts. (6th ed.). Albany,
NY: Delmar.
Young children enjoy hearing the same stories again and again and try to stretch out what is enjoyable. The request arises as a natural developmental demand of high significance and an integral part of book exposure. By knowing what comes next they feel competent. Research has shown that children develop a better sense of story schema, plot structure, anticipation of events, memory of the story, and story language through repeated readings of the same story as compared to the same number of different stories. When young children “read” to adults the child is telling the story as he/she remembers it in his/her own words. Some children display a deep understanding of central story meanings before they are able to decode the words themselves. Story experiences can be enhanced through the use of visuals including slides, posters, flannel board pieces, and stuffed animals.
Matthew, K. (1997). A comparison of influence of interactive CD-ROM storybooks. Journal
of Research on Computing in Education,29 (3), 263-276.
Activities that take place after
reading foster students comprehension and retention by clarifying ideas
presented in text. Process measures such as open-ended questions and story
retelling, provide insight into the students interactions with the text, by
which personal meaning making and inferences are created. These two assessment
strategies provide more natural and authentic data as compared to standardized
test items. The look and feel of
books have changed as well as how they are being written. Some books now are
being written only in electronic format. Others are still available in print and
on CD, however the mixture of visual, tactile, and listening modalities on the
CD allow students to learn through their preferred method. Changes in book
format have led to questions and discussions regarding their impact on literacy.
Does text presentation effect reading comprehension?
The purpose of this study was to determine whether student's reading
comprehension increases when reading electronic texts.
Moss,
B. (1997). A qualitative assessment of first graders' retelling of
expository text.
Reading Research and Instruction 37
(1), 1-13.
The
purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which first graders were able
to comprehend expository text as measured through an oral retelling of an
informational trade book. Researchers used Irwin and Mitchell's 5- point
richness of retelling scale. Results indicated that the majority of participants
were capable of understanding and retelling expository text.
Moss, B. (1993). Using Retellings to assess children's comprehension of expository text.
(ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 392 2058).
A study examined how well children in grades K-5 comprehended expository texts. Researchers used Irwin and Mitchell's 5- point richness of retelling scale. Results indicated that the majority of children in varying grade levels were able to review the text after hearing it read aloud.
Moss, B., Leone, S., & Dipillo, M. (1997). Exploring the literature of fact: Linking reading
and writing through information trade books.
Written retellings allow children to play an active role in reconstructing expository texts. They require children to reconstruct materials they have read in their own form, which requires clear understanding of what has been read. They serve as an assessment tool as teachers can see how much information was retained after reading or listening to a text. Additionally, they give teachers insights about children's knowledge of genre and their ability to organize information. Moreover, they allow children to record their thoughts about the connections between their own lives and the books they are reading. Prior to formal retelling students should be engaged in the following:
Responding to stories can help develop problem solving and critical thinking skills essential to student's survival in the information age. Teachers can facilitate independence by providing scaffolded experiences with expository texts.
Neuman, S.B., & Roskos, K.A. (1993). Language and literacy learning in the early years: An
integrated approach. Fort Worth, PA: Harcourt.
Stories are an essential link to
literacy. For young children, the world of stories can be as important to them
as anything else in their lives. It is through the discussion about stories that
their understandings and interpretations can be extended. It is the interactive
process that gives story reading its powerful influence on young children.
Neuman, S.B., & Copple, C. & Bredekamp, S. (2001). Phonological awareness in young
children. Early Childhood Today, 15 (6), 11-14.
Learning to read requires that
children have considerable awareness of the sound structure of spoken language.
This begins in infancy as children become increasingly sensitive to the sounds
of speech around them. Teachers of young children must give careful attention to
children's development of phonological awareness. Hearing repeated readings of
the same text allows children to notice sound patterns and begin to pick up
letter-sound relationships.
Oja, L. (1996). Using story frames to develop reading comprehension in the classroom.
(ERIC Document Reprodiuction Service Number ED 395 281).
Repeated readings, story
retellings and dramatic reenactments allow students to become more aware of
stories and more familiar with the structure of the stories.
Another comprehension strategy that can facilitate summarization skills
in older children is the use of story frames. A story frame is a type of graphic
organizer that uses phrases such as, “This story begins with”, “And
then”, “Next”, “Following
that”, or “The problem is solved when”. The main purpose is to encourage
students to rethink some aspect of the story.
Students use this as a guide to direct their attention to story structure
and how the content fits the structure. This strategy is useful to foster
summarizing skills and other analytic approaches to literature and allows
students to monitor their own comprehension. The more engaged and enthusiastic
students are about the content, the more effective the strategy will be.
Searfoss, L.W., & Readence, J.E. (1994). Helping children learn to read. (4th ed.). Boston,
MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Story retelling is an
appropriate assessment tool for use with ESL students. General inquiries provide
more opportunities for children to express everything that they remember, which
may be more than they are able to do when specific questions are asked.
Children are required to do most of the talking, consider what they have
read, and formulate their thoughts to express a true understanding of what they
have read. ESL students should be given the opportunities to retell in both
languages.
Sorrell, A.L., (1996). Triadic Approach to Reading Comprehension Strategy Instruction.
(ERIC Document Reproduction Service Number 400 670).
Retelling can be used as a post
reading activity that can assess comprehension and improve recall of major story
points. SPOT and RAP are story retelling strategies that cue students for
remembering the different parts of the story:
S setting R read
P problem A ask yourself what you read
O order of events P put in your own words
T tail end
Soundy, C.S., (1993).
Let the Story begin! Open the box and set out the props.
Childhood Education, 69 (3), 146-149.
Current emphasis on the use of
story props moves away from teacher–directed activities and towards student
independent self-generated activities in cooperative settings. Models of
appropriate practice that are beginning to emerge are diversified response
activities including musical accompaniments, choral readings, creative
dramatics, and story reenactments. These experiences call for natural child-like
communication and provide a means for children to discuss the events in books.
Recent research in emergent literacy had explored instructional
strategies that encourage the reconstruction of meaning. Studies of retelling
activities with kindergarten children report positive benefits. Some important
guidelines when planning retelling activities include: small group settings,
peer interaction, uncomplicated picture books, picture books with dialog,
picture books with common objects, predictable books, and verbal involvement as
well as hand and body involvement. Progress
is measured by the increase in total number of words and t-units in the
retellings.
Sutter, J., & Johnson, C.
(1995). Advanced verb form production in story retelling.
Journal of Speech and Hearing Research,
38 (5), 1067-1081.
Research has shown that some syntactic forms, such as adverbs greatly increase in frequency (conversationally and it writings) over the elementary school years. Therefore, the researchers felt investigations of syntactic development would be appropriate. Many storybooks involve the use of these forms and can be assessed by retellings. This study investigated the rate at which 60 elementary school children produced three advanced verb forms- past progressive, past perfect progressive, and past perfect when asked to retell literate narratives. Older children performed significantly better and borrowed more advanced verb forms when retelling the story segments. This research shows that children do borrow forms, and the ability to do so increases with age.
Synovitz, L.B. (1999). Using Puppetry in a coordinated school health program. Journal of
School Health, 63 (4), 145-148.
Puppetry is a creative
methodology that stimulates learning through play. It should be considered for
use as an educational and clinical tool because it provides a creative learning
strategy that allows freedom of expression while learning through play.
Puppetry helps to foster social, emotional, cognitive, and literacy
development by promoting storytelling abilities creative thinking and problem
solving. The use of puppetry can be
both teacher and student centered. Puppetry provides an imaginative teaching and
therapeutic methodology that should be encouraged for use by counselors, nurses,
health educators and elementary school teachers.
Taberski, S. (1997). Motivating readers: How read-alouds show comprehension strategies.
Instructor, 107 (8), 24-26.
Reading aloud to students on a
regular basis can instill in them a desire to read themselves.
It will also help them to internalize language skills that they can apply
to their own reading. Daily read-alouds
serve to model appropriate reading behaviors such as how to understand what is
being read. Three strategies outlined in detail ate Reading and thinking,
character mapping, and story mapping. (In order to retell stories, read and
comprehend independently and produce original stories, children need to be
familiar with the above techniques.)
Taberski, S. (1997). Motivating readers: Three assessment strategies that direct your
teaching. Instructor, 107 (3), 83-85.
Story retelling is a
comprehension assessment that informs instruction. Retellings are efficient as
they allow teachers to assess comprehension quickly and effectively while
children spend more time reading. Students
who provide the main idea, important details and use the pictures as cues show
adequate comprehension ability.
Wood, K., & Jones, J.
(1998). Tips for teaching. Preventing School Failure, 43 (1), 37-39.
A group retelling strategy can be beneficial. It maximizes class participation and gives everyone a chance to engage in the learning process. It is more personal and meaningful that reading a passage and answering generic questions. Students read the information, contribute their recollections, take notes and see print on the board thus experience a multi-modal language experience. Students who have difficulty with the initial reading can benefit from pictures, charts and discussions with their peers. Speaking in front of a small group can be less intimidating for some students. Discussions can also serve to trigger associations made while reading that were forgotten.
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