Developing Narrative Structure

Allyssa McCabe, Carole Peterson

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2026
• Print ISBN:
  9781041377603
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781040997444
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Cognitive Psychology & Cognition
• Index: Psychology

Effective narration, the telling of stories or recounting of personal experiences, is an art requiring skills that appear crucial for children's language development and literacy acquisition. Developing Narrative Structure, originally published in 1991, served an important purpose because it pulled together the widely scattered literature in the field, exploring the ways in which oral narrative structure develops in children and how it may be facilitated. It presented new empirical studies of the time, on genres of narrative, the role narrative structure plays in emergent literacy, the relationship between narrative language and autobiographical memory, and ways in which teachers and parents facilitate or hinder children's narrative development. The empirical research presented here draws from diverse groups, including Hispanic, African-American, and Anglo-American children from rural and urban America and Canada. Today it can be read in its historical context.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Original Title Page
• Original Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Contributors
• Preface: Structure as a Way of Understanding
• Memory and Myth: A Perspective on Narrative
• Part I: Some Ways in Which Narrative Develops
• Part II: Some Ways to Develop Narrative
• Author Index
• Subject Index