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Chapter 5. Enhancing mental state language and emotion understanding of toddlers’ social cognition

The role of narrative and conversation
  • Ilaria Grazzani , Veronica Ornaghi , Alessia Agliati , Elisa Brazzelli and Maria Lucarelli
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Narrative, Literacy and Other Skills
This chapter is in the book Narrative, Literacy and Other Skills

Abstract

This study investigated whether conversing about emotions in day-care center enhanced toddlers’ spontaneous use of mental state language and emotion understanding, both of which are key components of social cognition. In the course of a three-month intervention, the children assigned to the experimental condition (N = 29) participated daily in bookreading sessions of stories with high emotional content. Bookreadings were followed by a conversation, held in small groups, about the emotional states featured in the stories. The children assigned to the control condition (N = 28), after listening to the same stories, engaged in free play. At post-test, children in the experimental condition significantly outperformed the control group on measures of mental state language and emotion understanding, even after controlling for verbal abilities and age. These findings suggest the value of having children as young as 2–3 years participate in conversational activities about emotional experiences and inner states.

Abstract

This study investigated whether conversing about emotions in day-care center enhanced toddlers’ spontaneous use of mental state language and emotion understanding, both of which are key components of social cognition. In the course of a three-month intervention, the children assigned to the experimental condition (N = 29) participated daily in bookreading sessions of stories with high emotional content. Bookreadings were followed by a conversation, held in small groups, about the emotional states featured in the stories. The children assigned to the control condition (N = 28), after listening to the same stories, engaged in free play. At post-test, children in the experimental condition significantly outperformed the control group on measures of mental state language and emotion understanding, even after controlling for verbal abilities and age. These findings suggest the value of having children as young as 2–3 years participate in conversational activities about emotional experiences and inner states.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Acknowledgements ix
  4. List of contributors xi
  5. About the authors xv
  6. Introduction to narrative, literacy and other skills 1
  7. Part I. The importance of oral narratives for literacy, language and socio-cognitive skills
  8. Chapter 1. The developing language foundation for reading comprehension 21
  9. Chapter 2. Storybooks to promote emergent literacy in kindergarten classrooms 43
  10. Chapter 3. Do children’s oral retellings of narrative and informational texts predict scores on a standardized reading comprehension test? 69
  11. Chapter 4. Does emotional narrative context influence retention of newly learned words? 91
  12. Chapter 5. Enhancing mental state language and emotion understanding of toddlers’ social cognition 109
  13. Chapter 6. The effects of bookreading with and without mental state themes on preschoolers’ theory of mind 129
  14. Chapter 7. Using narrative thinking in argumentative writing 151
  15. Part II. Promoting narrative skills
  16. Chapter 8. New frontiers in facilitating narrative skills in children and adolescents 173
  17. Chapter 9. Precursors of narrative abilities 201
  18. Chapter 10. Enriching parent-child discourse during book sharing 223
  19. Chapter 11. Investigating the effectiveness of the Our Story App to increase children’s narrative skills 245
  20. Chapter 12. Using a storytelling/story-acting practice to promote narrative and other decontextualized language skills in disadvantaged children 263
  21. Chapter 13. Promoting narratives through a short conversational intervention in typically-developing and high-functioning children with ASD 285
  22. Subject index 313
https://doi.org/10.1075/sin.25.06gra

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Acknowledgements ix
  4. List of contributors xi
  5. About the authors xv
  6. Introduction to narrative, literacy and other skills 1
  7. Part I. The importance of oral narratives for literacy, language and socio-cognitive skills
  8. Chapter 1. The developing language foundation for reading comprehension 21
  9. Chapter 2. Storybooks to promote emergent literacy in kindergarten classrooms 43
  10. Chapter 3. Do children’s oral retellings of narrative and informational texts predict scores on a standardized reading comprehension test? 69
  11. Chapter 4. Does emotional narrative context influence retention of newly learned words? 91
  12. Chapter 5. Enhancing mental state language and emotion understanding of toddlers’ social cognition 109
  13. Chapter 6. The effects of bookreading with and without mental state themes on preschoolers’ theory of mind 129
  14. Chapter 7. Using narrative thinking in argumentative writing 151
  15. Part II. Promoting narrative skills
  16. Chapter 8. New frontiers in facilitating narrative skills in children and adolescents 173
  17. Chapter 9. Precursors of narrative abilities 201
  18. Chapter 10. Enriching parent-child discourse during book sharing 223
  19. Chapter 11. Investigating the effectiveness of the Our Story App to increase children’s narrative skills 245
  20. Chapter 12. Using a storytelling/story-acting practice to promote narrative and other decontextualized language skills in disadvantaged children 263
  21. Chapter 13. Promoting narratives through a short conversational intervention in typically-developing and high-functioning children with ASD 285
  22. Subject index 313
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