A Curriculum-Based Measure of Language Comprehension for Preschoolers: Reliability and Validity of the Assessment of Story Comprehension

Abstract

Despite research demonstrating the importance of language comprehension to later reading abilities, curriculum-based measures to assess language comprehension abilities in preschoolers remain lacking. The Assessment of Story Comprehension (ASC) features brief, child-relevant stories and a series of literal and inferential questions with a focus on causal and predictive inference skills surrounding the main story grammar components and a novel vocabulary word. Following an overview of the iterative development process and pilot studies, this article presents preliminary evidence of the fidelity of administration, reliability of scoring, alternate form reliability, and validity of the ASC. In all, 237 preschoolers, ages 3 to 5 years old, participated in this study. Fidelity of administration and scoring reliability averaged over 90%. Concurrent validity with two established language measures revealed correlations ranging from .67 to .81. Test–retest reliability and internal consistency also indicated high levels of reliability for this new tool; however, alternate form reliability results suggest further work is needed. Preliminary results indicate that the ASC holds promise as a viable curriculum-based measure that early childhood educators can use for monitoring preschoolers’ progress in language comprehension.

Embedded Instruction Improves Vocabulary Learning During Automated Storybook Reading Among High-Risk Preschoolers

“…Proximal measures that tested responses to story questions targeted in the program showed clear effects, although some correct responding at pretesting after hearing the story once left limited room for improvement. To assess whether children could demonstrate generalized ability to answer questions about stories, the Assessment of Story Comprehension (ASC; Spencer, Goldstein, Kelley, Sherman, & McCune, 2015) was developed. Participants demonstrated improvement in their ability to answer inferential questions relative to a comparison group (Kelley et al, 2015).…”

Programas de leitura compartilhada de histórias e o uso de e-flashcard para a ampliação de vocabulário de crianças pré-escolares

“…Os resultados indicaram que o grupo controle não teve aumento significativo na aprendizagem de vocabulário receptivo, enquanto que os escores do grupo experimental foram superiores no pós-teste, em comparação com o pré-teste e com o grupo controle. Esses dados indicam que estratégias automatizadas de leitura/narração dialógica podem gerar aprendizagem de vocabulário em pré-escolares, como visto também em pesquisas semelhantes que utilizam o mesmo currículo do Story Friends (Kelley et al, 2020;Spencer et al, 2017).…”