The study evaluated narrative production in seven severe to profoundly hearing impaired adolescents in an attempt to determine whether syntactic prowess would predict which subjects would be more adept at narrative production, in terms of the story grammar conventions used, and the cohesive devices used when narrating a story to a naive listener.…

A story mapping strategy was used to effectively improve reading comprehension in heterogeneous groups of third/fourth graders, including five learning disabled and low achieving students. Group averages maintained above 80 percent when students were no longer required to use the strategy. (Author/DB)

Examines whether intermediate level severely and profoundly hearing-impaired children can internalize story structure through nonexplicit instruction and then use this knowledge to understand narrative text. Finds that the instructional intervention is effective in providing these children with a conceptual framework for understanding the content…

Story retelling in which the child retells a story he has read has been used to effectively assess and improve reading comprehension, knowledge of story schema, and communication skills in elementary students with hearing impairments at the Kendall Demonstration Elementary School in Washington, D.C. (DB)

Examines the responses of second-grade students asked to listen to pseudonarration for information or to listen to the text as a story. Finds that, regardless of purpose given, the students focused on the story idea units more than the informational idea units. Discusses implications of these findings for research and practice. (RS)

Describes story ladders, a technique used to illustrate the development of story and to act as a catalyst for writing. (SR)

Determines the potential benefits of using literature webbing in books with predictable narratives. Finds webbing to be an effective means for improving comprehension, reading ability, and story structure knowledge. (RS)

Describes a game that provides opportunities for students to share their thoughts about the key features of stories and their interconnections while also emphasizing story content. (SR)

The Colorado Process Analysis of the Written Language of Hearing-Impaired Children assesses the semantic characteristics of expressive written language narratives prepared by beginning writers. The validity of the instrument was examined with 284 children (ages 7-21), indicating that the model does identify characteristics that are critical to the…

Argues against the idea that story is the primary way that children come to literacy. Presents a case study that shows that, given the chance to interact with information books, young children are not only capable of reading them but eager to do so. (MG)

Stories were elicited from 20 closed-head-injured children (ages 100 to 194 months) and matched nonneurologically impaired accident victims. No significant differences were found between the groups on any of the measures of narrative ability (story grammar and intersentential cohesion). (Author/DB)

Discusses the use of story models for hypertext design. Relevant research is reviewed; interactive fiction is examined; advantages of the story format in instructional design are described; and a taxonomy of five types of story structures for hypertext design is presented. (Contains 56 references.) (LRW)

Investigates young children's opportunities to socially construct literacy during "story extension time." Finds that story extension time afforded the children with occasions to accomplish key purposes of literacy development and construct concepts about literacy. Notes children took the following identifiable stances toward the tasks:…

Purpose: This study investigated the effect of language on Spanish-English bilingual children's production of narrative samples elicited in two ways. Method: Twelve bilingual (Spanish-English-speaking) children ranging in age from 4;0 (years;months) to 6;11 who were fluent speakers of English as a second language produced two narratives--one…

This study investigates the possibility that multimedia authorship may help students become more proficient writers. Four classes of 8th-grade students in an urban setting participated in the study, which took place over seven successive class periods. Students were given a 7-paragraph article on teen smoking to use in developing a nonlinear…