Evaluation

The NRP found seventeen studies that experimentally examined story structure The set of a story's episodes, a story line (plot) instruction.

Grade Level

Instruction research on story structure The set of a story's episodes, a story line (plot) begins in grade 3, n=2, but increases in the grade 4, n=8 (4 studies on poor readers).  This trend continues into grade 5, n=7 (on poor readers), and grade 6, n=2 (on poor readers).

Experimenter Tests

The main kinds of tests used to evaluate experimental training on story structure The set of a story's episodes, a story line (plot) are recall (n=10 successes and 1 failure in grade 5, normal readers, question answering on the stories, (n=8 successes, and 1 failure in grade 5, on normal readers), identifying the elements of a story structure The set of a story's episodes, a story line (plot) (n=5 successes and 2 failures: 1 grade 3 and 1 grade 5, both normal readers).  All studies on poor readers report successful improvement on Experimenter Tests.

Standardized Tests

Three studies report the use of standardized tests following training in story structure The set of a story's episodes, a story line (plot) .  There were 2 successes and 1 failure (grade 5, normal readers).

Summary Evaluation of Story Structure Instruction.

The instruction of the content and organization of stories improves comprehension of stories as measured by the ability of the reader to answer questions and recall what was read.  This improvement is more marked for less able readers.  More able readers may already know what a story is about and therefore do not benefit as much from the training.  However, this kind of instruction aids both kinds of readers.