This study concerns the mechanisms involving temporal update in discourse comprehension, comparing traditional approaches based on "Aktionsart" and Iconicity against an approach based on narrative expectations. Our experiments suggest that readers pay more attention to fine-grained discourse properties (such as salient temporal…

This study examined the change in complexity of kindergarteners' writing after implementing writing instruction based on story elements. Writing samples from six students of three ability levels were collected over a 6-week period. Writing samples included students' oral language, pictures, and written text and were analyzed using two rubrics…

This study investigated differences in the structure of stories created by children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and their comparison peers. Children created one story without pictorial cues and one with pictorial cues available. Without cues, children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder told fewer stories based on a…

Objective: This study compared the effects of open-ended versus specific questions, and various types of open-ended questions, in eliciting story-grammar detail in child abuse interviews. Methods: The sample included 34 police interviews with child witnesses aged 5-15 years ("M" age = 9 years, 9 months). The interviewers' questions and their…

The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between children's use of reading strategies and language cues while reading and their comprehension after reading two texts: "Cherries and Cherry Pits" (Williams, 1986) and "There's Something in My Attic" (Mayer, 1988). The data were drawn from a larger study of the…

This study investigated the influence of sourcing and relatedness on the integration of events embedded in simple stories. Participants read pairs of "breaking news stories" from either 1 or 2 news agencies that were believed to be from the Internet. The stories within each pair were either related by virtue of shared situational dimensions (e.g.,…