Inference generation, an emerging skill in preschool-aged children, is critical for story comprehension and often requires instruction and practice to develop. Drama-based instruction (DBI) is a promising strategy for supporting preschool students’ inferencing skills, emotion understanding, and overall story comprehension. The current study examined the effects of a DBI story time intervention on preschool students’ recall of story character feeling states. As part of the larger intervention, 196 students (ages 3-5) were randomly assigned by classroom to participate in DBI or traditional story time. After story time, students completed a brief story retelling task (free and prompted recall of the story). Recordings of students’ story retellings were coded for embodied behavior (i.e., gesture, facial expression, vocal change, and body movement) specific to character feelings. Embodied behaviors supported student recall of story character feelings and emotion words. DBI intervention students used more embodiment, specifically gesture, when recalling story character feelings compared to their control group peers. Finally, hearing a DBI story supported students’ emotion word recall, particularly for 3- and 4-year-old students. The findings from this study offer evidence for incorporating drama-based teaching strategies into story time to promote students’ inferencing skills regarding story character internal states and subsequent story comprehension.

中文翻译：

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故事时间的戏剧支持学龄前儿童对故事人物情感状态的理解

推理生成是学龄前儿童的一项新兴技能，对于故事理解至关重要，通常需要指导和练习才能发展。基于戏剧的教学 (DBI) 是一种很有前途的策略，可以支持学龄前学生的推理能力、情感理解和整体故事理解。当前的研究检验了 DBI 故事时间干预对学龄前学生回忆故事人物情感状态的影响。作为更大规模干预的一部分，196 名学生（3-5 岁）被按班级随机分配参加 DBI 或传统故事时间。故事时间结束后，学生完成一个简短的故事复述任务（自由并提示回忆故事）。学生复述故事的录音根据人物情感的具体表现行为（即手势、面部表情、声音变化和身体动作）进行编码。具身行为支持学生回忆故事人物的感受和情感词汇。与对照组同龄人相比，DBI 干预学生在回忆故事人物感受时使用了更多的具体化，特别是手势。最后，听 DBI 故事有助于学生回忆情感词汇，特别是对于 3 岁和 4 岁的学生。这项研究的结果为将基于戏剧的教学策略融入故事时间提供了证据，以提高学生对故事人物内部状态和随后故事理解的推理能力。