NEW STRATEGY - STORY GRAMMAR

More and more is known about how readers comprehend written discourse. It is generally agreed that reading comprehension is an active process in which readers use the knowledge they already possess to construct new meaning as they interact with the text. In addition to background knowledge, to facilitate learning from text good readers use their knowledge of the author's organizational pattern.

Stories follow a definite organizational pattern that runs from a beginning - usually "Once upon a time...", through the middle - a series of events, to the end - "They lived happily ever after...." This pattern is often described in grammatical terms as a set of rules. Stories consist of a setting, which is made up of the characters, and the time and place. Stories also have a plot which is made up of one or more episodes. Generally episodes consist of a beginning or initiating event, some kind of response in which the main character sets a goal or tries to solve a problem, followed by attempts to solve the problem or reach the goal. Finally, stories are brought to closure with a final outcome and resolution.

It is important to help readers learn how to search for and remember these key elements of story. Research (Applebee, 1978) indicates that students with knowledge of a story's structural elements can understand and recall stories better than those who do not.

The Directed Inquiry questions help emphasize these story elements - Who are the main characters? Where does the story take place? What is the main character's problem or goal? What action does the main character take? In Session Four, connections are made between the Directed Inquiry technique and a new strategy for enhancing memory for text: How stories are structured.

1. to show that stories have a grammar/definite organizational pattern.
   
   
2. to demonstrate that knowledge of how stories are structured can be used to:
   
   a) increase comprehension while reading and
   b) facilitate recall after reading.