Representation of Complex Goal Structures in Narrative Comprehension

Richards, Eric; Singer, Murray

doi:10.1207/s15326950dp3102_01

Cited by 31 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 58 publications

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“…Orrantia et al ( 2014 ) showed 11-year-olds were more efficient than 9-year-olds at connecting character goals with actions based on faster reading times (see also Albrecht and Myers, 1995 ). Other studies use reading times to compare the availability of neutral, completed or achieved, and failed goal information in memory (Lutz and Radvansky, 1997 ; Richards and Singer, 2001 ). Obviously, reading times are inappropriate for young non-readers; however, eye-tracking methods measuring looking times during picture book narrations may provide insight into processing that emerges prior to formal reading (Evans and Saint-Aubin, 2005 ).…”

Section: Narrative Comprehension Assessmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

When all children comprehend: increasing the external validity of narrative comprehension development research

Burris

Brown

2014

Front. Psychol.

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Narratives, also called stories, can be found in conversations, children's play interactions, reading material, and television programs. From infancy to adulthood, narrative comprehension processes interpret events and inform our understanding of physical and social environments. These processes have been extensively studied to ascertain the multifaceted nature of narrative comprehension. From this research we know that three overlapping processes (i.e., knowledge integration, goal structure understanding, and causal inference generation) proposed by the constructionist paradigm are necessary for narrative comprehension, narrative comprehension has a predictive relationship with children's later reading performance, and comprehension processes are generalizable to other contexts. Much of the previous research has emphasized internal and predictive validity; thus, limiting the generalizability of previous findings. We are concerned these limitations may be excluding underrepresented populations from benefits and implications identified by early comprehension processes research. This review identifies gaps in extant literature regarding external validity and argues for increased emphasis on externally valid research. We highlight limited research on narrative comprehension processes in children from low-income and minority populations, and argue for changes in comprehension assessments. Specifically, we argue both on- and off-line assessments should be used across various narrative types (e.g., picture books, televised narratives) with traditionally underserved and underrepresented populations. We propose increasing the generalizability of narrative comprehension processes research can inform persistent reading achievement gaps, and have practical implications for how children learn from narratives.

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Section: Narrative Comprehension Assessmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

When all children comprehend: increasing the external validity of narrative comprehension development research

Burris

Brown

2014

Front. Psychol.

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“…The ability to recount simple narratives, with collaborative help, emerges early in an individual's life, usually appearing before the age of 3 (McCabe, 1996;McCabe & Peterson, 1991;Miller, 1994;Nelson, 1999;Nelson et al, 2001;Peterson & McCabe, 1983;Wigglesworth & Stavans, 2001). Thereafter, children develop increasing capacity to independently comprehend and construct well-formed narratives (Kemper, 1984;Richards & Singer, 2001). Between ages 6 and 8, they have typically mastered the structural schema for a basic story episode (McKeough, 1992a;Stein & Glenn, 1979).…”

Section: Development Of the Structural Complexity Of Narrative Thoughtmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transformation in narrative thought during adolescence: The structure and content of story compositions.

McKeough¹,

Genereux²

2003

Journal of Educational Psychology

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Mount Royal CollegeNarrative understanding has been identified as a primary mode of human thought that informs us about the nature, causes, and consequences of human actions and interactions and, as such, underlies social knowledge. The development of narrative thought was investigated by analyzing the structural complexity and social-psychological understanding displayed in the story compositions of 151 adolescents aged 10 to 18 years. A clear developmental progression was observed in structural complexity in terms of plot structure and the construction of flashbacks. Also observed was a clear developmental trend in social-psychological content from an intentional understanding of human behavior in terms of immediate feelings, thoughts, and goals to an interpretive understanding in terms of personal history, long-standing psychological traits, and broader contextual factors. Gender differences were also noted, with girls outperforming boys on some measures.

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“…Goals also serve a pivotal role in establishing the overall structure of a narrative. The vast majority of narratives incorporate at least several related episodes, connected through their goals (Richards & Singer, 2001). Usually, the goals and their respective episodes are related hierarchically (Yussen & Ozcan, 1996): A primary goal is established, but its achievement requires the protagonist to pursue one or more subgoals.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Development of Comprehension of Main Ideas in Narratives: Evidence From the Selection of Titles.

Broek

Lynch

Näslund

et al. 2003

Journal of Educational Psychology

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The authors investigated readers' ability to identify main ideas in narrative texts and the development of this ability. In particular, the authors explored students' sensitivity to the goal structure of narratives. Third-, 6th-, 9th-, and 11th-grade students read narratives in which goal statements were systematically varied on 2 structural dimensions: position in the text's hierarchical structure and number of connections to other statements. As a measure of main idea comprehension, students selected titles for the narratives from among the goals or associated outcomes. Hierarchical position, but not number of connections, influenced title choices. Even the youngest students were able to identify the main ideas, but they did so less consistently than did older students. These findings have implications for theories of text comprehension development and for educational practice.

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Representation of Complex Goal Structures in Narrative Comprehension

Cited by 31 publications

References 58 publications

When all children comprehend: increasing the external validity of narrative comprehension development research

When all children comprehend: increasing the external validity of narrative comprehension development research

Transformation in narrative thought during adolescence: The structure and content of story compositions.

The Development of Comprehension of Main Ideas in Narratives: Evidence From the Selection of Titles.

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