Young children's moral reasoning: assessing their responses to story dilemmas

Storybook reading is an important incentive for cognitive and language development of young children (Mol & Bus, 2011). Preschool children are involved in storybook reading by listening to the stories and gain information... [ view full abstract ]

Storybook reading is an important incentive for cognitive and language development of young children (Mol & Bus, 2011). Preschool children are involved in storybook reading by listening to the stories and gain information about the structure of the story, characters and themes through the interaction with an adult (Beaty & Pratt, 2003; Morrows, 2009; Thompkins, 2005). Each time children are exposed to a new storybook, they come across new protagonists, plots and themes which might help them to improve their moral reasoning (Stein & Trabasso, 1982; Walker & Lombrozo, in press). The aim of the present study, is to examine preschoolers’ moral reasoning through retellings of two storybooks which provide different moral messages for the same situation. The participants were 20 children aged 5 to 6 years old from two different public kindergartens. The data collected through using the storybooks titled “Ant and the Grasshopper” by La Fontaine and “Frederick” by Leo Lionni. First, each book was read twice to whole group of children during the book reading time. The order of the books was randomized for each classroom. After the reading process, story comprehension was assessed by asking children to retell the stories in individual sessions. The children’s narratives and oral responses were recorded. The data will be examined under two main dimensions: story elements and children moral reasoning process. The findings will be discussed in relation to the relevant literature.

Key words:  Early childhood, Storybooks, Storybook reading, Children literature, Moral reasoning.