Recognition, Reconstruction, and Recall of Narrative Sequences by Preoperational Children

BROWN, ANN L. Recognition, Reconstruction, and Recall of Narrative Sequences by Preoperational Children. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1975, 46, 156-166. In a series of 4 studies, the ability of kindergarten and second-grade children to regenerate the order of events expressed in narrative sequences was examined using recognition, reconstruction, and recall as the response modes. The sequences were either composed by the children themselves or were arbitrary or logical sequences imposed by E. For all Ss, logical and self-composed sequences were retained better than arbitrary sequences. Second-grade Ss recalled and reconstructed the order of events equally well. Kindergarten Ss had difficulty maintaining the order of events when recalling but could reconstruct and recognize the correct order. The failure of preoperational children to maintain the correct order when retelling a story stems from general problems with recall tasks and immature expository powers rather than from an inability to comprehend and remember the ordered relations in sequences.