The information score as a measure of oral discourse comprehension in the early school years

Purpose: Oral discourse comprehension is a fundamental skill that is predictive of future reading comprehension. The ability to identify important semantic propositions, in a narrative text, and their attachment to a mental model is an essential component of discourse comprehension. This study aimed to pilot a measure of free-recall in a narrative retell across three age groups to explore development. A secondary aim compared measures of free-recall and cued-recall. Method: One hundred and thirty-two (132) typically developing children aged 4-7 years provided a retell of the Squirrel Story narrative and completed the Narrative Comprehension Assessment (NCA). The Squirrel Story Information Score (SSIS) was used as a novel measure of free-recall calculated from the narrative retells. The NCA, which involves literal and inferential comprehension questions, was used as a measure of cued-recall. Scoring reliability was calculated to ensure test-retest validity. Result: Correlation analysis found excellent reliability of the SSIS measure. The difference between 4 and 5 year olds, and 5 and 6 year olds, was significant, with a large effect size. The difference between the 5 and 6 year olds was not significant. A large positive correlation was found between the measures of SSIS and NCA. Conclusion: The measure of SSIS proved sensitive to developmental progression, with a positive relationship found between the measures of free-recall and cued-recall. Variability between the measures highlights the need to consider both measures to ensure an accurate representation of discourse comprehension skills.