Literature Review: Story Retelling

Since reading is a meaning-making process, how then can we best

teach, expand and assess comprehension gained from a reading
experiences? A non-traditional method is through the use of story
retellings. Retellings are post reading or post listening recalls in
which readers or listeners tell what they remember (Morrow, 1996).
But why retellings as opposed to multiple-choice, matching, fill in
the blank or even open response questions? Story Retelling is a
procedure that enables a child to play a large role in reconstructing
stories. It underlies both social and academic development. When
narrating stories, the speaker uses language for an extended period
of time. This active participation with stories results in increased
language development, comprehension and an interest in books and in
learning to read (Evans & Strong 1996). Retellings after reading
provide another opportunity for the reader to reconstruct the text.
They extend and enhance the readers’ comprehending and
comprehension processes while providing evidence for and insights
into understanding the two processes. Although no method can
completely represent comprehension, retellings constrain the
reader’s ability to represent what has been comprehended. Miscue
analysis and story retellings indicate that readers’ use complex
predicting and confirming strategies when they are concerned with
unfamiliar concepts in a text (Goodman, 1982). This is significant
because such strategies are essential for effective comprehension
to occur.

Although all readers use information from the text for their
retellings, they can differ greatly. The differences among retellings
stem from varying schemata and experiences brought to the
reading. The more relevant the story is to the reader, the more
accurate the retelling will be. Bransford (1994) states, “Relatively
subtle differences in schemata can have important effects on the
interpretations readers make”. Retellings provide a large amount of
data for researchers to gain insight into a reader’s comprehension
process. They also provide an opportunity for the reader to present
his/her ideas to the world and to rehearse, integrate, modify and
add to comprehension. Presenting one’s concepts and
generalizations to others allows the presenter to hear reflections
from others and build shared meanings (Goodman, 1982). This is
important because reading is a meaning construction process.
Meanings are shared and negotiated between the learner, the text,
the teacher and the classroom community (Ruddell & Unrau, 1994).
Additionally, readers who cannot remember the label for something
will have the opportunity to show what they know through
explanations. They will have the time to organize and think through
what they have read or heard. Teachers need to provide
opportunities for readers to relate, rethink, and continue to make
sense of the story-to continue comprehending past the actual
reading event (Goodman, 1982). Story retelling provides a natural
outlet for these processes to occur even before children can
“decode” the words on their own.

Numerous studies exist to support the use of story retelling as a

comprehension measure. Moss (1997) examined the extent to which
first graders were able to comprehend expository text as measured
through oral retellings of an informational trade book. Results
indicated that the majority of participants were capable of
understanding and retelling expository text based on their
retellings scored using Irwin & Mitchell’s 5 point retelling scale.
Prior to that, Moss (1993), examined how well children in grades K-5
comprehended expository texts. Results indicated that the majority
of children in varying grade levels were able to review the text
after hearing it read aloud indicating retelling as an appropriate
measure to assess comprehension of expository texts. Morrow
(1985, 1986) carried out three different studies to determine
specific instructional benefits of story retelling. In all three
studies, the experimental group showed significant improvement in
oral language complexity, comprehension of story, and sense of
story structure.

Story retelling has also proven to be an appropriate

comprehension measure for students with varying learning abilities.
Gambrell, Koskinen & Kapinus examined Retelling and the reading
comprehension of proficient and less-proficient readers. They
found that retelling is an effective instructional strategy for
enhancing the comprehension of proficient and less-proficient
readers. According to Gambrel et al., (1984) “The verbal
reconstruction of the text helps readers to organize and to deploy
their processing capacities more effectively”. Searfoss and
Readence (1994) state that story retelling is an appropriate
assessment tool for use with ESL students. General inquiries
provide more opportunities for children to express everything that
they remember, which may be more than they are able to do when
specific questions are asked. Here, children are required to do
most of the talking, consider what they have read, and formulate
their thoughts to express a true understanding of what they have
read.

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Updated May 07, 2003.