Media influence and knowledge of traditional stories in the written productions of primary school students. Evaluative research

Writing and literature are linked to the fundamental objectives of primary education. In this study, students’ written narratives are evaluated on the basis of two pretexts under the form of pictures referring to two traditional stories from children’s literature. To this end, the objectives specify the link with the original story and the themes the students write about. The study is approached from the methodology of evaluative research, its typology being specified in a diagnostic evaluation by means of a qualitative analysis of 1,191 productions created in educational establishments in the Autonomous Community of Murcia (Spain) of Primary School. The results show that most of these students have the ability to create innovative stories, but only a small percentage are grouped at the highest levels. The themes extracted from the narratives provide an insight into the interests of the participants, which leads us to connect with the essential principle of meaningful learning.