Abstract
[Comprehension and Memorization of Narratives by Preschool Aged Children: Effect from Social Origin]
Twenty middle-class children (4 and 5 years old) and twenty lower-class children (4 and 5 years old) were shown two picture stories consisting of 30 pictures without text. The children were asked .to describe each picture, and. after seeing all the pictures of ihe story, to recall the story without the pictures. The data analysis concentrated upon ilie comparison between the performances of groups contrasted according to social origin The results show in the recall an inferiority of the 5 year old lower-class children This inferiority cannot be attributed to a worse comprehension of the story, since the results obtained from the groups when describing the pictures did not differ significatively. Further, to explain this by a specific deficit in production is to be dismissed. Our results are then compared with predictions drawn from the schema-based theory and to those drawn from the theory of relative importance of semantic information. The results are compatible with the theory of relative importance and not with the schema-based theory. In conclusion, the assumption is thaï the differences according to the social origin refer to the characteristics of semantic structures.