Collective narrative memory being 3-4 years old

Abstract

What do 3- years old children remind of a literary story they have just heard? How do they try to retell the episodes collectively? To answer these questions in this article. Based on the classic theoretical background on the subject (narrative schemes applied, cognitive development in the preoperational stage, influential variables in remembering stories), we analyse the results of the retellings, with and without pictures, of 5 stories told by Pre-Kindergarten teachers to a group of 18 children. An exhaustive examination of children's utterances reveals what kind of episodes and passages from the stories are remembered, omitted, and invented. So, it sheds some light on the relationship between remembering and recreating at these ages. Moreover, we emphasise the importance of verbal, paraverbal and nonverbal factors in fixing the stories components in children's memories.