Twenty language-disordered and 20 nonimpaired children, aged 9-11, performed story generation and story retelling tasks. For both groups, retold narratives were longer and contained more story grammar components and complete episode structures. Clause length differentiated story generation from story retelling for the language-disordered children…

Metacognitive strategy instruction was used to teach two deaf children (ages 11 and 12) with differing American Sign Language and English language skills to summarize stories in writing. The instructional program used a knowledge of text structure--specifically story structure--to improve literacy skills by enhancing the children's ability to…

Ten fourth grade language-learning-disabled children and 10 normal peers were shown a movie and subsequently asked to tell the story. Language-disabled subjects told less complex stories. It is concluded that normal subjects used a greater number of story grammar components within each narrative and remembered more aspects of the previously…

Describes how the author used many versions of the Cinderella story as a springboard for a variety of activities in her sixth-grade class, including discussion of fairy tale elements, aspects of story structure, summarizing, and problem-solving activities. (SR)

Comparison of the written stories of 96 learning-disabled and 96 non-learning-disabled students found significant differences at grades 3, 4, and 5 in students' inclusion of a complete story grammar. No differences were found at grade 6. (Author/DB)

Twenty learning-disabled students (grades 5 and 6) who received procedural facilitation for narrative composition, including story grammar cue cards and a metacognitive check-off procedure, produced better quality stories than a control group of 10 students. Including verbal reminders to develop characters did not affect story quality. (Author/JDD)

This study of the story composition abilities of 46 students (aged 11-14) with learning disabilities found that subjects had a rudimentary knowledge of story form, but this knowledge was less developed than that of their nondisabled peers. Subjects also had greater coherence problems in their writing and were less fluent writers. (Author/JDD)

This multiple baseline study investigated the effectiveness of direct instruction of an advanced story-map procedure on the reading comprehension performance of six middle school students with learning disabilities (LD). Results indicated an increase in story grammar and basal comprehension performance generalization to a novel passage, and…

Investigates fifth-grade children's expectations for stories in relation to knowledge of literature/reading ability. Shows "high readers" included more high-level story propositions and structurally important story information than did low readers; students who included structurally important story information scored higher on knowledge…

A study measured the effects that direct instruction in narrative text structure using a story map (called "macrostruction") had on the comprehension of average and above average sixth-grade readers. A 2 x 2 x 2 repeated measures design was used with time, text, and treatment as the independent variables. The number of story grammar idea…

Examines the use of the Herringbone technique as a writing tool with fourth-grade children. Notes that the Herringbone technique provides students with a structure for identifying and organizing important story elements and observing relationships when reading or writing. Demonstrates that the Herringbone strategy is a useful tool for effective…

Twenty language-impaired and 20 unimpaired children, aged 9-11, generated and retold stories and answered comprehension questions. The stories produced by language-disordered children contained fewer complete story episodes, fewer main and subordinate clauses per complete episode, and a lower frequency of use of story grammar components than those…

Literacy consultant Joan Groeber provides educators with a teacher-friendly, step-by-step guide for creating and using rubrics to assess a wide range of literacy skills. Groeber's approach helps ensure that students gain a clear understanding of teacher expectations and assume a greater responsibility for their own learning. Offering an overview…

A study involving three males (age 13) with learning disabilities investigated the effectiveness of using story mapping for teaching elements of the story form. The instructional procedure positively affected the number of story elements included in students' recall of stories when they were explicitly taught to use it in reading. (Author/CR)

The study of differences between 12 subjects with learning disabilities and 12 without, across 3 grade levels (intermediate, junior high, and senior high) and 2 story grammar tasks, found no developmental differences between disabled and nondisabled groups but did find significant differences in the amount and type of information recalled. (DB)