Assessing narrative comprehension in young pre-school children

Abstract

The assessment of narrative comprehension among young pre-school children is important for early identification of children with language impairment. However, such narrative comprehension assessment tools are currently unavailable in Hong Kong. This study aimed to develop an oral narrative comprehension measure, the Chinese Joint Story Retell test (CJSR), for young pre-school children by adapting the Joint Story Retell test originally developed in Canada. Results showed that performance of CJSR was age-sensitive to the younger population of pre-school children and displayed convergent validity with a traditional comprehension measure. Although further investigation on the measure is necessary, this study suggested that CJSR is a potentially valid and appropriate measure for assessing narrative comprehension of younger pre-school children.