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Article published In: Journal of Narrative and Life History
Vol. 5:4 (1995) ► pp.285–313

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Narrative Competence and Storytelling Performance: How Children Tell Stories in Different Contexts

 | Department of Linguistics, Tel Aviv University
Published online: 4 August 2015
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https://doi.org/10.1075/jnlh.5.4.01nar
Abstract This study addresses some of the multiple factors that play a role in children's developing narrative abilities. It starts by reviewing approaches to narrative analysis that have had an impact on the study of children's narratives since the 1970s. Such analyses are reevaluated from a developmental perspective, based on crosslinguistic findings from picturebook narratives. The generality of these results is then examined by comparing narratives produced by children in different elicitation settings, based on findings from a large-scale Hebrew-language sample. Finally, an attempt is made to integrate these findings along different dimensions involved in developing narrative knowledge, as manifested by children at different phases of development: in recruiting linguistic forms for narrative functions, in combining foreground plotline events with affective evaluation and background circumstances, and in perceiving what it means to tell a story in task-appropriate ways. The development of narrative abilities is shown to yield a complex web of interrelations between abstract narrative competence and how this is realized in storytelling performance. (Linguistics)
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2019. Narrative Competence of Adult L2 Russian Learners. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research 48:3 ► pp. 617 ff. DOI logo
Kupersmitt, Judy R. & Sharon Armon-Lotem
2019. The linguistic expression of causal relations in picture-based narratives: A comparative study of bilingual and monolingual children with TLD and DLD. First Language 39:3 ► pp. 319 ff. DOI logo
Lorenzo, Francisco, Adrián Granados & Inmaculada Ávila
2019. The development of cognitive academic language proficiency in multilingual education: Evidence of a longitudinal study on the language of history. Journal of English for Academic Purposes 41 ► pp. 100767 ff. DOI logo
Milanowicz, Anna
2019. A Short Etude on Irony in Storytelling. Psychology of Language and Communication 23:1 ► pp. 14 ff. DOI logo
Lucero, Audrey
2018. The Development of Bilingual Narrative Retelling Among Spanish–English Dual Language Learners Over Two Years. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools 49:3 ► pp. 607 ff. DOI logo
Zamani, Peyman, Zahra Soleymani, Vahid Rashedi, Farhad Farahani, Gohar Lotf & Mohammad Rezaei
2018. Spoken and Written Narrative in Persian-Speaking Students Who Received Cochlear Implant and/or Hearing Aid. Clinical and Experimental Otorhinolaryngology 11:4 ► pp. 250 ff. DOI logo
Ashby, Shealyn A., Marie Moore Channell & Leonard Abbeduto
2017. Inferential language use by youth with Down syndrome during narration. Research in Developmental Disabilities 71 ► pp. 98 ff. DOI logo
Grove, Nicola & Bencie Woll
2017. Assessing language skills in adult key word signers with intellectual disabilities: Insights from sign linguistics. Research in Developmental Disabilities 62 ► pp. 174 ff. DOI logo
Willenberg, Ingrid
2017. ‘Once upon a time in Bearland’: Longitudinal development of fictional narratives in South African children. First Language 37:2 ► pp. 150 ff. DOI logo
Linnik, Anastasia, Roelien Bastiaanse & Barbara Höhle
2016. Discourse production in aphasia: a current review of theoretical and methodological challenges. Aphasiology 30:7 ► pp. 765 ff. DOI logo
Pinto, Giuliana, Christian Tarchi & Lucia Bigozzi
2016. Peer Interaction Does Not Always Improve Children’s Mental State Talk Production in Oral Narratives. A Study in 6- to 10-Year-Old Italian Children. Frontiers in Psychology 7 DOI logo
Pinto, Giuliana, Christian Tarchi & Lucia Bigozzi
2020. Improving children’s textual competence in kindergarten through genre awareness. European Journal of Psychology of Education 35:1 ► pp. 137 ff. DOI logo
Roubaud, Marie-Noëlle, Christina Romain, F. Neveu, G. Bergounioux, M.-H. Côté, J.-M. Fournier, L. Hriba & S. Prévost
2016. L’organisation du récit oral chez l’enfant de 3 à 6 ans : une étude comparative. SHS Web of Conferences 27 ► pp. 07015 ff. DOI logo
Seroussi, Batia
2016. Lexical development in Hebrew. In Acquisition and Development of Hebrew [Trends in Language Acquisition Research, 19], ► pp. 175 ff. DOI logo
Sümer, Beyza
2016. Scene-setting and referent introduction in sign and spoken languages. In The Acquisition of Turkish in Childhood [Trends in Language Acquisition Research, 20], ► pp. 193 ff. DOI logo
Channell, Marie Moore, Andrea S. McDuffie, Lauren M. Bullard & Leonard Abbeduto
2015. Narrative language competence in children and adolescents with Down syndrome. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience 9 DOI logo
Kupersmitt, Judy R.
2015. Moving on and off the timeline in narratives of personal experience written in three languages: A form-function developmental study. Linguistics 53:6 DOI logo
Kupersmitt, Judy R.
2016. When Causation Meets Motion: Motion Events at the Interface Between Coherence and Cohesion in Narrative Development. In Written and Spoken Language Development across the Lifespan [Literacy Studies, 11], ► pp. 227 ff. DOI logo
Tribushinina, Elena, Elena Dubinkina & Ted Sanders
2015. Can connective use differentiate between children with and without specific language impairment?. First Language 35:1 ► pp. 3 ff. DOI logo
Burris, Silas E. & Danielle D. Brown
2014. When all children comprehend: increasing the external validity of narrative comprehension development research. Frontiers in Psychology 5 DOI logo
Katzenberger, Irit & Sara Meilijson
2014. Hebrew language assessment measure for preschool children: A comparison between typically developing children and children with specific language impairment. Language Testing 31:1 ► pp. 19 ff. DOI logo
Kupersmitt, Judy, Rachel Yifat & Shoshana Blum-Kulka
2014. The development of coherence and cohesion in monolingual and sequential bilingual children’s narratives. Narrative Inquiry 24:1 ► pp. 40 ff. DOI logo
Leikin, Mark, Raphiq Ibrahim & Hazar Eghbaria
2014. The influence of diglossia in Arabic on narrative ability: evidence from analysis of the linguistic and narrative structure of discourse among pre-school children. Reading and Writing 27:4 ► pp. 733 ff. DOI logo
Longobardi, Emiddia, Pietro Spataro, Marialuisa Renna & Clelia Rossi-Arnaud
2014. Comparing fictional, personal, and hypothetical narratives in primary school: story grammar and mental state language. European Journal of Psychology of Education 29:2 ► pp. 257 ff. DOI logo
Ravid, Dorit, Dina Naoum & Suheir Nasser
2014. Narrative Development In Arabic: Story Re-Telling. In Handbook of Arabic Literacy [Literacy Studies, 9], ► pp. 153 ff. DOI logo
Yazdanpanah, Zahra
2012. The effect of explicit teaching of story structure on EFL learners’ use of communication strategy. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 32 ► pp. 391 ff. DOI logo
Baron, Marie-Pierre, Hélène Makdissi & Andrée Boisclair
2011. Développement discursif de l’enfant sourd : récit et morphosyntaxe. Éducation et francophonie 39:1 ► pp. 26 ff. DOI logo
Reese, Elaine, Alison Sparks & Sebastian Suggate
2011. Assessing Children's Narratives. In Research Methods in Child Language, ► pp. 133 ff. DOI logo
Justice, Laura M., Ryan Bowles, Khara Pence & Carolyn Gosse
2010. A scalable tool for assessing children's language abilities within a narrative context: The NAP (Narrative Assessment Protocol). Early Childhood Research Quarterly 25:2 ► pp. 218 ff. DOI logo
Nir, Bracha & Ruth A. Berman
2010. Complex syntax as a window on contrastive rhetoric. Journal of Pragmatics 42:3 ► pp. 744 ff. DOI logo
TAYLOR, NICOLE, WILBERTA DONOVAN, SALLY MILES & LEWIS LEAVITT
2009. Maternal control strategies, maternal language usage and children's language usage at two years. Journal of Child Language 36:2 ► pp. 381 ff. DOI logo
Veneziano, Edy & Christian Hudelot
2009. Explaining Events in Narratives: The Impact of Scaffolding in 4 To 12 Year Old Children. Psychology of Language and Communication 13:1 DOI logo
McCabe, Allyssa, Lynn Bliss, Gabriela Barra & MariBeth Bennett
2008. Comparison of Personal Versus Fictional Narratives of Children With Language Impairment. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology 17:2 ► pp. 194 ff. DOI logo
Berman, Ruth A. & Bracha Nir-sagiv
2007. Comparing Narrative and Expository Text Construction Across Adolescence: A Developmental Paradox. Discourse Processes 43:2 ► pp. 79 ff. DOI logo
Berman, Ruth A. & Bracha Nir-sagiv
2007. Comparing Narrative and Expository Text Construction Across Adolescence: A Developmental Paradox. Discourse Processes 43:2 ► pp. 79 ff. DOI logo
Miles, Sally, Robin Chapman & Heidi Sindberg
2006. Sampling Context Affects MLU in the Language of Adolescents With Down Syndrome. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research 49:2 ► pp. 325 ff. DOI logo
Tannenbaum, Michal, Netta Abugov & Dorit Ravid
2006. Hebrew-language Narratives of Yiddish-speaking Ultra-Orthodox Girls in Israel. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 27:6 ► pp. 472 ff. DOI logo
Blum-Kulka, Shoshana
2005. ‘I Will Tell You the Whole True Story Now’: Sequencing the Past, Present and Future in Children’s Conversational Narratives. In Perspectives on Language and Language Development, ► pp. 275 ff. DOI logo
Kaufman, Dorit
2005. Acquisition, Attrition, and Revitalization of Hebrew in Immigrant Children. In Perspectives on Language and Language Development, ► pp. 407 ff. DOI logo
Ravid, Dorit
2005. Emergence of Linguistic Complexity in Later Language Development: Evidence from Expository Text Construction. In Perspectives on Language and Language Development, ► pp. 337 ff. DOI logo
Berman, Ruth A. & Irit Katzenberger
2004. Form and Function in Introducing Narrative and Expository Texts: A Developmental Perspective. Discourse Processes 38:1 ► pp. 57 ff. DOI logo
Curenton, Stephanie M. & Laura M. Justice
2004. African American and Caucasian Preschoolers’ Use of Decontextualized Language. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools 35:3 ► pp. 240 ff. DOI logo
Hertz-Lazarowitze, Rachel
2004. Storybook writing in first grade. Reading and Writing 17:3 ► pp. 267 ff. DOI logo
Klitzing, K.von & N Lutz-Latil
2003. La narration chez les enfants traumatisés. Neuropsychiatrie de l'Enfance et de l'Adolescence 51:2 ► pp. 75 ff. DOI logo
Küntay, Aylin C. & İbrahim Şenay
2003. Narratives beget narratives. Journal of Pragmatics 35:4 ► pp. 559 ff. DOI logo
Gutierrez, Kris D. & Lynda Stone
2002. Hypermediating Literacy Activity. In Contemporary Perspectives on Literacy in Early Childhood Education, ► pp. 25 ff. DOI logo
Kuntay, Aylin C.
2002. Development of the Expression of Indefiniteness: Presenting New Referents in Turkish Picture-Series Stories. Discourse Processes 33:1 ► pp. 77 ff. DOI logo
Kuntay, Aylin C.
2004. Lists as Alternative Discourse Structures to Narratives in Preschool Children's Conversations. Discourse Processes 38:1 ► pp. 95 ff. DOI logo
Küntay, Aylin C.
2009. Microgenesis of narrative competence during preschool interactions: Effects of the relational context. In Perspectives on Human Development, Family, and Culture, ► pp. 178 ff. DOI logo
Miles, Sally & Robin S. Chapman
2002. Narrative Content as Described by Individuals With Down Syndrome and Typically Developing Children. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research 45:1 ► pp. 175 ff. DOI logo
Boudreau, Donna
2001. The Development of Narrative Abilities in Children. Perspectives on Language Learning and Education 8:2 ► pp. 2 ff. DOI logo
Crosson, Jillian & Ann Geers
2001. Analysis of Narrative Ability in Children with Cochlear Implants. Ear and Hearing 22:5 ► pp. 381 ff. DOI logo
Parke, Tim
2001. Words and Turns: Bilingual and Monolingual Children Construct a Story. Linguistics and Education 12:4 ► pp. 409 ff. DOI logo
Boudreau, Donna M. & Robin S. Chapman
2000. The Relationship Between Event Representation and Linguistic Skill in Narratives of Children and Adolescents With Down Syndrome. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research 43:5 ► pp. 1146 ff. DOI logo
Berman, Ruth A.
1997. Narrative Theory and Narrative Development: The Labovian Impact. Journal of Narrative and Life History 7:1-4 ► pp. 235 ff. DOI logo
BERMAN, RUTH A.
2008. The psycholinguistics of developing text construction. Journal of Child Language 35:4 ► pp. 735 ff. DOI logo
Berman, Ruth A.
2009. Trends in Research on Narrative Development. In Language Acquisition, ► pp. 294 ff. DOI logo
Berman, Ruth A.
2017. Developing construals of a narrative event sequence. In Social Environment and Cognition in Language Development [Trends in Language Acquisition Research, 21], ► pp. 199 ff. DOI logo
Küntay, Aylin C. & Susan M. Ervin-Tripp
1997. Narrative Structure and Conversational Circumstances. Journal of Narrative and Life History 7:1-4 ► pp. 113 ff. DOI logo
McCabe, Allyssa
1996. Relating events in narrative: a crosslinguistic developmental study. Journal of Child Language 23:3 ► pp. 715 ff. DOI logo
Pesco, Diane & Martha Crago
1996. "We Went Home, Told the Whole Story to Our Friends": Narratives by Children in an Algonquin Community. Journal of Narrative and Life History 6:4 ► pp. 293 ff. DOI logo
[no author supplied]
2005. General Bibliography. In A Companion to Linguistic Anthropology, ► pp. 518 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 13 november 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

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