ABSTRACT

This study investigated the differences in 3, 4, and 5 year-olds’ developmental level of narratives, use ofcohesive devices and mental state terms between aspects of the narratives of personal experience athome and shared experience in the kindergarten. The subjects are 56 3-, 4-, and 5- year-olds in Seoul.The results are as follows: First, the developmental level of narratives for 3-, 4-, and 5 year-olds inpersonal experience was lower than that of shared experience, showing a statistically significantdifference. This implies that teachers should encourage young children to yield narratives which expresstheir thoughts and feelings during daily experience. Second, the use of logical cohesive devices inpersonal experience was lower than that of shared experience, showing a statistically significantdifference. It is suggested that children use more cohesive devices and de-contextualized language intheir narratives when teachers provide language models while interacting with interesting andmeaningful educational activities. Third, the use of mental state terms in personal experience was lowerthan that of shared experience, showing a statistically significant difference. This shows the importanceof community activities and teacher’s communicative interactions in conversation involving interestingexperiences with peers. Further research about this aspect is proposed.

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