TEACHING STORYTELLING - A MICROGENETIC ANALYSIS OF DEVELOPING NARRATIVE COMPETENCE

The development of competency in narrative composition is acknowledged to be a complex process of central importance in the educational ente rprise. Recent work suggests that growth in story knowledge is largely dependent on finding a fit among three elements: culturally influence d story schemas, children's developmental constraints, and instruction programs. The aim of this study was to examine an instruction program carried out with five 4-year-olds and designed to facilitate growth a long an identified developmental pathway through socially situated cog nitive scaffolding. The framework emphasized the coordination of prior knowledge with understandings gained in the instruction context. We c hose a microgenetic method of analysis in order to look beyond outcome s and examine the actual process of instruction, exposing general tren ds in the data and providing insight into which instructional conditio ns lead to which specific changes in individuals' performance. The mic rogenetic method not only revealed the program's successes and shortco mings but also uncovered unanticipated strategies of participants, off ering insight into issues related to the ways in which narrative knowl edge builds. Our findings support the notion that learning does not oc cur in a straightforward, linear fashion but rather follows an irregul ar course, dropping off when, for example, task demands exceed process ing capacity and surging forward when conceptually appropriate scaffol ding is provided.