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“Play is story in action” – Do preschool children produce narratives during role play?
Jester, M.
Different methods have been used to elicit oral narratives; however, it is unclear which method is the most effective for children to display their narrative competence. This study examined whether preschool children with and without SLI produce elements of narrative macrostructure in a dyadic role play activity. Upon satisfying inclusion criteria, 20 children with SLI and 18 with typical development (TD), between 48-71 months of age, participated in the role play activity. Sessions were transcribed and the children’s utterances were coded for narrative macrostructure (Stein & Glenn, 1979). All children narrated and enacted stories; however, children with SLI were significantly less likely to produce complete episodes and their narratives were less cohesive than those of children with TD. Role play may not be an ideal eliciting context. However, it could be a context for facilitating narrative development in children with SLI because story grammar is enacted and is, therefore, more explicit than inferring temporal or causal relations of story events from looking at picture books. |
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