Examination of story reading and story listening habits in learning disabilities and neurotypical students – focus on the ending of the story

Abstract

Our pilot research examines the differences between listening/watching fairy tales and completing fairy tales independently among neurotypical and learning disabled students. The theoretical background of the study highlights the importance of the ability to create internal imagery, the decisive role of parents and teachers in the development of imagination, and methods that promote imagination (Kádár 2012; Szekeres 2014; Boldizsár 2016). It covers the development of oral expressiveness and its influencing factors (Kass 2004; Kapitány–Laczkó 2017; Unger-Király – Vass 2021). The research is based on a quantitative methodology, using descriptive statistics. In the story completion, which uses a qualitative methodology, we did not resort to classical text analysis, but mainly used the quantitative comparison of words. The number of subjects in our research: neurotypical students 5th grade n = 58, learning disabilities students 4th, and 5th grade n = 54 people, total number of elements n = 112. Based on the completion of the student questionnaire and the free ending of the story, we sought to answer the question of what difference there is in the ending of the story among those who listen to the story, watch the story or process the content. To determine the differences, we looked at how many words and lines of thought the students in the given group used to finish the story, and whether the ending of the fairy tale contained new elements. The results of the research reflect that there is no one among the students who would not watch television and would only listen to stories. In connection with the analysis of the given aspects, changes can be detected mainly in terms of school type and develop-ment, there is no significant difference in terms of story listening habits.