Kindergartner’s Oral Responses to Stories Either Told or Read to Them

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to determine if there was a statistically significant difference in the quantity of words generated by kindergartners when retelling a story read to them from a book (read aloud) as compared to when a story was told orally, without a book (storytelling). The subjects of this study were 42 kindergarten students attending an urban school district in Western New York. The students listened to a story read aloud from a book. They then retold the story to an adult. The retellings were recorded. The same students listened to another story told orally, by an experienced storyteller. They also retold the story. The appropriate oral language level was selected as a result of the Early Prevention of school Failure screening, which was administered in September of the school year. The strengths and needs for receptive and expressive language were examined to determine relationships between the differences in the children's retelling of the stories. There was a statistically significant difference favoring the retelling of a story told orally compared to a story read aloud when measured by quantity of words generated in the retelling. The results showed those children identified with below average needs in expressive and receptive language areas were better able to retell the story told orally, without a book.