Visiting doctors' offices: A comparison of Korean and Taiwanese preschool children's narrative development

Research Findings: This study aimed to explain age and cultural differences in the narrative development of 3-, 4-, and 5-year-old Korean and Taiwanese children. The participants comprised 140 children of middle-class, two-parent families, half from each cultural group. Children were individually interviewed about their experience of visiting doctors' offices. The measured variables were the total number of clauses, the total number of conjunctions, the total number of internal state terms, and the developmental level of the narrative structure. The results suggested that age was related to all 4 variables. Different narrative skills exhibited different developmental trajectories in the early phase of narrative development. Also, Taiwanese children were more likely to incorporate internal state terms into their narratives than were Korean children. Finally, there appeared to be a developmental leap in Korean 5-year-olds' performance of narrative structures. Compared with Taiwanese children, the development of narrative structures for Korean 5-year-olds was more advanced. Practice or Policy: Results are discussed in relation to the effects of local educational and childrearing practices. Implications for school readiness and theories are included.