Adrienne Grimshaw
Retelling
EDRG 4020
Retelling can be used as a form of assessment. To use this strategy ask the student to retell a story after they have read it. As the student retells the story the examiner can either take notes on a blank sheet of paper or fill out a prepared assessment form. As a result of the retelling assessment the examiner should be able to understand the student’s comprehension in relation to the text. The Retelling strategy has three stages:
First Stage: Free Recall; This is where the student retells the story without any help. During this stage the examiner will observe what parts of the story the student left out or felt were important.
Second Stage: Prompted Recall; This is where the examiner asks questions about the parts of the story that the student left out in the first stage. During this stage the examiner will be able to observe whether the parts left out were due to memory or lack of understanding.
Third Stage: IAA(Inference, Analysis, Application) Questioning; This is where the examiner asks questions that require the student to make inferences, draw conclusions, and use the information.
Here are the steps in the Retelling
assessment:
1. Choose a material that is on the student’s instructional level, usually a short story.
2. Introduce the task to the student. Tell the student that you are going to read them a story and that afterwards you are going to ask them to retell it and ask them some questions. Before you read the story ask the student to predict what is going to happen and ask them some background information.
3. Conduct the assessment. After the student has read the material use the three stages of retelling as listed above.
4. Use the results. Use the assessment information to determine what instruction the student needs.
5. Repeat the process.