Abstract
Twenty male and 20 female 4-year-olds viewed a 19-minute Sesame Street video tape once a week for three weeks to determine whether comprehension of the plot of the video tape would improve if the children were given ample time to process the tape, and if they participated in one of two previewing instruction conditions. Findings indicated that repeated viewing of the tape was the most important factor in children's ability to comprehend the plot. Previewing instructions and gender did not influence plot comprehension. It is suggested that repeated viewing allowed the children to process the formal features of the tape and use them to construct a framework within which to interpret the plot of the show. Additional findings are discussed in terms of children's script representation and how such representation is acquired.
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Partial funding of the project was provided by a Center of Excellence Award from the State of Tennessee to the Department of Psychology at The University of Memphis. The authors wish to thank Michelle Crain and Steve DePaola for their assistance in data collection and analyses, and Robert Cohen, Barry Gholson and Roger Kreuz for their comments on an earlier version of this manuscript.
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Sell, M.A., Ray, G.E. & Lovelace, L. Preschool children's comprehension of aSesame Street video tape: The effects of repeated viewing and previewing instructions. ETR&D 43, 49–60 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02300455
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02300455