Third grade readers' comprehension of a flashback in a narrative

Abstract

This investigation examined the effect of inferencing, recall of details, and the ordering of events as a function of minimal and maximal cueing of a flashback and as a function of real life time sequence in a narrative. A sample of ninety-two third grade readers from the 5th, 6th, and 7th stanines of Reading Comprehension on the California Achievement Test were randomly assigned to one of three conditions of a narrative from a basal reader text. The narrative was manipulated to include a minimally-cued flashback (the original), a maximally-cued flashback, and a temporally sequenced version that followed real life time order. Readers silently read the narrative, then retold the story, and answered probe questions relevant to the flashback target information. Each reader then ordered event cards to match the temporal order of the narrative version just read. Results of the study showed no significant differences for inferencing across the three narrative conditions. Recall of details was also statistically insignificant by narrative conditions. The readers' ordering of event cards to reflect the temporal sequence of the assigned narrative condition showed positive significance at the .001 level. Students reading flashback conditions of the narrative reorganized the order of the narrative to reflect a more predictable well-formed story.