Narrating a video story in three-to six-year-olds: Story comprehension and story retelling

The purpose of this study was to investigate the development of and relationship among information received, story comprehension, and story retelling abilities in three- to six-year-old preschool children in a video story retelling task. Twenty-five three- to six-year-old children were asked to watch a short cartoon video and the children’s performance in story comprehension and story-telling during and after the video were analyzed. The results revealed that five- and six-year-old children had significantly better abilities in information received, story comprehension and story retelling than three-year-old children. Children’s performance in information received, story comprehension, and story retelling were also found to be significantly interrelated. Besides, structural elements of initiating events and consequences occurred most frequently in story retelling. Discussion about the results and suggestions for future research are provided.