Story Comprehension and Storytelling Production among Chinese Kindergarteners in Different Family Contexts

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine kindergarten children’s story comprehension and production in relation to emergent literacy in a sample of final-year kindergarten children. This study employed a quantitative descriptive cross-sectional survey design involving 104 final-year kindergarten children in Chengdu, China, to examine emergent literacy and differences in story comprehension and production across family backgrounds. Kindergarten children’s scores on story comprehension and production received a mean score of 3.64 (SD= 0.60) and total emergent literacy score of 51.13 (SD= 8.30). When comparing the four emergent literacy domains, there were no significant differences found, F (3, 309) = 2.364, p = .071, partial ?² = .022. However, scores for story comprehension and production did differ across the three family structures significantly, F (2, 101) = 5.51, p < .01, partial ?² = .098. Furthermore, scores for the four emergent literacy domains differed significantly for paternal and maternal education on the four sub-tests received higher average scores when their parents had obtained postsecondary education compared to parents with high school education or less, F (2, 101) = 18.26, p < .001, partial ?² = .265, and F (2, 101) = 14.28, p < .001, partial ?² = .220, respectively. There were also significant differences found for paternal and maternal occupation, F (6, 97) = 8.982, p < .001, partial ?² = .357, and F (6, 97) = 6.615, p < .001, partial ?² = .290, respectively. In summary, the results of this study revealed that kindergarten children's performance on measures of story comprehension and production varied as a function of several family characteristics. Implications of the study include support of children’s storytelling in kindergarten and at home, using scaffolded narrative and reading practices, in a variety of family forms and with parents of differing educational backgrounds.