Creating Affiliative Story-Sharing Communities in Preschool Classrooms: The Impact of Peer Groups on Narrative Development (Poster 21)

• In Event: Saturday Poster Session 3:05 pm
  In Poster Session: Learning and Motivation in Social and Cultural Contexts 3

Abstract

While sociocultural and interactionist accounts of narrative development acknowledge the importance of social scaffolding, less is known about how group dynamics and processes operate to create powerful learning environments in classrooms. This paper presents findings from two separate studies examining how peer group-level factors, specifically group laughter and peer interactions, contributed to narrative gains in the context of small-group, story-sharing circles implemented in a prekindergarten summer camp. Preliminary results indicate that story-sharing circles with a higher proportion of children making narrative gains had more instances of group laughter and approximately 2.5 times more instances of peer talk. Thus, narrative skills were especially scaffolded in circles with higher peer engagement, indicating a group-level effect of peer contexts on narrative development.

Authors

• Kiren S. Khan, Rhodes College

• Liza Ashe, Rhodes College

• Adelynn Mitchell, Rhodes College

• Abby Hultquist, Rhodes College