Becoming the Storyteller: Mapping Narrative Comprehension throughout Childhood Nonverbally

Excerpt

Stories exist all around us. We cannot help but think about ourselves, others, and the experiences we share as if they take place within a story. We cast each other as characters, our environments as settings, the events unfolding as plots—you get the idea. Given the ubiquity that narrative enjoys in the hearts and minds of readers of the Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, it is most likely equal parts difficult and distressing to imagine a time in our lives when this simply was not so. Of all the many sizable developments that transpire throughout childhood, then, we would suggest that one of the most impactful is the emergence and growth of the ability to both, (a) view the enveloping world through a narrative lens, and (b) convey this view to others, through the stories we share. It is for this reason that we found the works contained in the recent edited volume, Developing Narrative Comprehension: Multilingual Assessment Instrument for Narratives (Bohnacker & Gagarina, 2020b), to be particularly compelling. …