Cover not available

Article published In: Methodology of Narrative Study: What the first thirty years of Narrative Inquiry have revealed
Edited by Allyssa McCabe and Dorien Van De Mieroop
[Narrative Inquiry 31:1] 2021
► pp. 191–213

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
authorization required

The Two-Lens Approach

A holistic theoretical framework for studying the form, content, and context of children’s narratives

 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology
 | Lehigh University
Published online: 8 October 2020
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/ni.20071.woo
Abstract
Over the past 30 years we have seen a welcome growth in the understanding of narrative as a complex and broadly defined set of concepts. While the complexity of children’s narrative development has been brought to light by researchers and theorists across multiple fields of study, reflecting this growth by comprehensively analyzing narrative complexity still remains a challenge. One reason for this ongoing challenge is the isolated, disparate focus of the approaches, either in analyzing solely story structure, content, or function. Few approaches combine these disparate dimensions to comprehensively analyze children’s narratives. In response, we build on research from the past 30 years to develop the Two-Lens Approach, a holistic theoretical framework for analyzing the form, content, and context of children’s narratives. This paper presents and applies this approach in an effort to start closing the gaps among the field of narrative analysis and narrative theory.
Article outline
  • Conceptualization of narrative
  • Existing approaches in assessing narrative development
    • Assessing narrative structure
    • Assessing narrative language
    • Combining form and linguistic content
    • Beyond structure: Assessing narrative context and culture
  • Building on existing approaches to analyze narrative complexity
    • The Two-Lens Approach model
  • Story’s narrative dimensions
  • The reader’s two lenses: Formalist and interpretive
    • Formalist lens
    • Interpretive lens
  • Child’s contextual factors
  • Benefits of the Two-Lens Approach
  • The Two-Lens Approach in action: Case study with two stories
    • The story medium: StoryBlocks and the Learning Loops system
    • Profile of 7-year-old Dana
    • Dana’s StoryBlocks stories
    • Dana’s stories analyzed by the Two-Lens Approach
    • Interpreting Dana’s stories
  • Conclusions and future considerations
  • References
References (40)
References
Applebee, A. N. (1978). The child’s concept of story: Ages two to seventeen. The University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Aukrust, V. G., & Snow, C. E. (1998). Narratives and explanations during mealtime conversations in Norway and the US. Language in Society, 27(2), 221–246. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bamberg, M. G. (Ed.). (1997). Narrative development: Six approaches. Psychology Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Berman, R. A. (2004). The role of context in developing narrative abilities. In S. Stromqvist & L. Verhoeven (Eds.), Relating events in narrative Volume 2: Typological and contextual perspectives (Vol. 21, pp. 261–280).Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Berman, R. A., & Slobin, D. I. (1994). Relating events in narrative: A crosslinguistic developmental study (1st ed.). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bruner, J. (1986). Actual minds, possible worlds. Harvard University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1987). Life as narrative. Social Research, 54(1), 11–32.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1991). The narrative construction of reality. Critical Inquiry, 18(1), 1–21. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2003). The narrative construction of reality. In M. Mateas & P. Sengers (Eds.), Narrative intelligence (1st ed., pp. 41–62). John Benjamins Publishing Company. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cooper, P. M. (2005). Literacy learning and pedagogical purpose in Vivian Paley’s ‘storytelling curriculum’. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 5(3), 229–251. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cremin, T., Flewitt, R., & Mardell, B. (Eds.). (2016). Storytelling in Early Childhood: Enriching Language, Literacy and Classroom Culture. Taylor & Francis. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Engel, S. (1995). The stories children tell: Making sense of the narratives of childhood. Macmillan.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fleer, M., & Peers, C. (2012). Beyond cognitivisation: creating collectively constructed imaginary situations for supporting learning and development. The Australian Educational Researcher, 39(4), 413–430. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ganz, M. (2009). Why stories matter. Sojourners magazine, 38(3), 16.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gillam, R., & Gillam, S. (2010). Tracking narrative language progress. Unpublished instrument. Retrieved from [URL]
Glenn, C. G., & Stein, N. (1980). Syntactic structures and real world themes in stories generated by children. University of Illinois Center for the Study of Reading.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Griffin, T. M., Hemphill, L., Camp, L., & Wolf, D. P. (2004). Oral discourse in the preschool years and later literacy skills. First language, 24(2), 123–147. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hermans, H. J. (1997). Self-narrative in the life course: A contextual approach. In M. Bamberg (Ed). Narrative development: Six approaches (1st ed., pp. 223–264). Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hershman, A., Nazare, J., Sysoev, I., Fratamico, L., Buitrago, J., Soltangheis, M., … & Roy, D. (2018). Family learning coach: engaging families in children’s early literacy learning with computer-supported tools. In Proceedings of the 26th International Conference on Computers in Education, pp. 637–646.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hutson-Nechkash, P. (1991). Storybuilding: A guide to structuring oral narratives. Thinking Publications.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Justice, L. M., Bowles, R. P., Kaderavek, J. N., Ukrainetz, T. A., Eisenberg, S. L., & Gillam, R. B. (2006). The index of narrative microstructure: A clinical tool for analyzing school-age children’s narrative performances. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Labov, W. (1997). Linguistics and sociolinguistics. In N. Coupland & A. Jaworski (Eds.) Sociolinguistics (pp. 23–24). Palgrave. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Labov, W., & Waletzky, J. (1967/1997). Narrative analysis: oral versions of personal experience. Journal of Narrative & Life History, 71, pp. 3–38 (reprinted from Essays on the Verbal and Visual Arts: Meeting of the American Ethnological Society, 1967, pp. 12–44). Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Makini, S. P. (2018). PictureBlocks: constructing and deconstructing picture-driven literacy development (Master’s Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology).Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mateas, M., & Sengers, P. (Eds.). (2003). Narrative intelligence. John Benjamins Publishing. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
McCabe, A. (1997). Developmental and cross-cultural aspects of children’s narration. In M. Bamberg (Ed.), Narrative Development: Six Approaches (pp. 137–174). Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
McCabe, A., & Bliss, L. S. (2003). Patterns of narrative discourse: A multicultural, life span approach. Allyn & Bacon.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nazare, J., Hershman, A., Sysoev, I., Fratamico, L., Buitrago, J., Soltangheis, M., Makini, S., Chu, E., and Roy, D. (2018). Child-Coach-Parent Network for Early Literacy Learning. In Proceedings of the 13th International Conference of Learning Sciences, pp. 1409–1410.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nicolopoulou, A. (2011). Children’s storytelling: Toward an interpretive and sociocultural approach. Storyworlds: A Journal of Narrative Studies, 3(1), 25–48. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nicolopoulou, A., Barbosa de Sa, A., Ilgaz, H., & Brockmeyer, C. (2009). Using the transformative power of play to educate hearts and minds: From Vygotsky to Vivian Paley and beyond. Mind, Culture, and Activity, 17(1), 42–58. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Owens, R. E. (2011). Language Development: An introduction. (8th ed.). Allyn and Bacon.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Petersen, D. B., Gillam, S. L., & Gillam, R. B. (2008). Emerging procedures in narrative assessment: The index of narrative complexity. Topics in language disorders, 28(2), 115–130. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Petersen, D. B., & Spencer, T. D. (2012). The narrative language measures: Tools for language screening, progress monitoring, and intervention planning. Perspectives on Language Learning and Education, 19(4), 119–129. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Quasthoff, U. M. (2012). An interactive approach to narrative development. In M. Bamberg (Ed), Narrative development: Six approaches (pp. 65–98). Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Snow, C. (2002). Reading for understanding: Toward an R&D program in reading comprehension. Rand Corporation.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Stadler, M. A., & Ward, G. C. (2005). Supporting the narrative development of young children. Early Childhood Education Journal, 33(2), 73–80. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Stein, N. & Glenn, C. (1979). An analysis of story comprehension in elementary school children. In R. Freedle (Ed.), New Directions in Discourse Processing (Vol. 21, pp. 32–120). Ablex.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Strommen, E. F. (2003). Interacting with people versus interacting with machines: Is there a meaningful difference from the point of view of theory? Presented at the Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Tampa, FL.
Woolf, A. R. (2020). Discovering the Meaning Behind the Story: Creating a System for Documenting and Supporting Children’s Narrative Development (Doctoral dissertation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology).Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (1)

Cited by one other publication

Yang, Yang
2024. “By whom was I left behind?”. Narrative Inquiry 34:1 ► pp. 53 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 28 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.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue