The Impact of Different Media on Children's Story Comprehension

Abstract

This experiment investigates the impact of different media presentations on children's story comprehension. The purpose of the study was to analyze whether a combined media approach might influence the way in which a story is remembered and understood. Forty‐four third graders were randomly assigned to one of three story medium combinations: a) televised story followed three days later with a repeated presentation in the same medium; b) televised story‐illustrated storybook; and c) illustrated storybook followed by illustrated storybook. Retellings, analyzed by Morrow's adapted measure of story structure, expressive language, and cued recall indicated no significant differences between groups. Findings suggest that the communication medium alone by which a narrative is conveyed might have little importance for comprehension.