Story generation and narrative retells in children who are hard of hearing and hearing children

Walker, E. A., Harrison, M., Baumann, R., Moeller, M. P., Sorensen, E., Oleson, J. J., & McCreery, R. W. (2023). Story generation and narrative retells in children who are hard of hearing and hearing children. Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research, 66(9), 3550–3573. https://doi.org/10.1044/2023_jslhr-23-00084

Narrative ability refers to the ability to generate and retell stories and is a vital part of language and literacy development. Narrative ability is measured in 2 ways: Story generation is when a story is narrated with or without prompts such as pictures and story retelling is when a story is first narrated and then is to be retold in the similar manner.

Walker et al. (2023) investigated how children who are hard of hearing (HH) perform on story generation and retelling tasks compared to hearing children and examined which underlying factors best explain these differences. The researchers studied a large cohort of school-age children. The researchers examined whether factors such as grammar, vocabulary, and phonological memory mediated the relationship between hearing status and story generation or story retelling. This approach allowed them to determine whether the impact of hearing loss on storytelling was direct, or whether it operated indirectly through language development and auditory experience. Children who are hard of hearing scored lower overall than hearing children on both story generation and retell measures. Their narratives were often shorter, less syntactically complex, and contained fewer complete story elements. However, when language ability was considered as a mediator, the effect of hearing status on narrative skills was substantially reduced or even non-significant. This finding indicates that language ability is the key pathway linking hearing status to narrative performance. In other words, children who are hard of hearing do not struggle with storytelling because of hearing loss per se, but rather because hearing loss can influence the development of language skills that are foundational for narrative expression. Children with stronger expressive and receptive language abilities—whether hard of hearing or hearing—produced more coherent and detailed stories.

Walker et al. (2023)’s findings highlight that language proficiency mediates the relationship between hearing loss and narrative skill, suggesting that appropriate language support and early intervention will help children who are hard of hearing achieve better narrative skills. This research reinforces the need for comprehensive language-focused educational approaches to promote literacy and communication success in all children.

Blogger: Diya Nair is a second year PhD student under the supervision of Dr Lisa Archibald.