The personal narrative constitutes a revival of past events and a preparation procedure of upcoming ones, developing a person’s self-concept. The purpose of the current research was to study Greek children’s personal narratives. Participants of the survey were 20 ten-year-old children, including 10 boys and 10 girls of typical development, where each one of them was asked to narrate 6 of their life events. The goal of data collection and analysis was to study the microstructure and macrostructure, as well as evaluate the potential results and investigate the impact of gender on them. The outcome numbers describe the children’s performances in scales being used. Important findings of the research were the absence of differences between the two genders. All in all, the results reveal a tendency of that age children’s personal narrative characteristics.
Cite this paper
Vogindroukas, I. , Miliatzidou, R. and Tsouti, L. (2020). Personal Narrative Skills of Greek Children of Typical Development in the Age of 10 Years. Open Access Library Journal, 7, e6882. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/oalib.1106882.
Fivush, R. (2011) The Development of Autobiographical Memory. Annual Review of Psychology, 62, 559-582. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.121208.131702
McBride, G. (2014) Storytelling, Behavior Planning and Language Evolution in Context. Frontiers in Psychology, 5, 1131. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01131
Chang, C. (2004) Telling Stories of Experiences: Narrative Development of Young Chinese Children. Applied Psycholinguistics, 25, 83-104.
https://doi.org/10.1017/S0142716404001055
Labov, W. and Waletsky, J. (1967) Narrative Analysis: Oral Versions of Personal Experience. In: Helm, J., Ed., Essays on the Verbal and the Visual Arts, University of Washington Press, Seattle and London, 3-38.
Stein, N.L. and Policastro, M. (1984) The Concept of a Story: A Comparison between Children’s and Teachers’ Viewpoints. In: Mandl, H., Stein, N.L. and Trabasso, T., Eds., Learning and the Comprehension of Text, Erlbaum, Hillsdale, 113-155.
Chang, C. and McCabe, A. (2013) Evaluations in Mandarin Chinese Children’s Personal Narratives. Chinese Language Narration: Culture, Cognition, and Emotion. Narrative, Literacy and Other Skills: Studies in Intervention. John Benjamins Publishing Company, Amsterdam. https://doi.org/10.1075/sin.19.04cha
Boudreau, D. (2008) Narrative Abilities: Advances in Research and Implications for Clinical Practice. Topics in Language Disorders, 28, 99-114.
https://doi.org/10.1097/01.TLD.0000318932.08807.da
Humphries, T., Cardy, J.O., Worling, D.E. and Peets, K. (2004) Narrative Comprehension and Retelling Abilities of Children with Nonverbal Disabilities. Brain and Cognition, 56, 77-88. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bandc.2004.06.001
Hipfner-Boucher, K., Milburn, T., Weitzman, Ε., Greenberg, J., Pelletier, J. and Girolametto, L. (2014) Relationships between Preschoolers’ Oral Language and Phonological Awareness. First Language, 34, 178-197.
https://doi.org/10.1177/0142723714525945
Lepola, J., Lynch, J., Laakkonen, E., Silvén, M. and Niem, P. (2012) The Role of Inference Making and Other Language Skills in the Development of Narrative Listening Comprehension in 4-6-Year-Old. Children Reading Research Quarterly, 47, 259-282. https://doi.org/10.1002/rrq.020
Kanellou, M., Korvesi, E., Ralli, A., Mouzaki, A., Antoniou, F., Diamanti, V. and Papaioannou, S. (2016) Narrative Skills in Preschool and First Grade Children. Preschool and Primary Education, 4, 35-67. https://doi.org/10.12681/ppej.207
Westervelda, M.F. and Moranb, C.A. (2011) Expository Language Skills of Young School-Age Children. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 42, 182-193. https://doi.org/10.1044/0161-1461(2010/10-0044)
Justice, L.M., Bowles, R.P., Kaderavek, J.N., Ukrainetz, T.A., Eisenberg, S.L. and Gillam, R.B. (2006) The Index of Narrative Microstructure: A Clinical Tool for Analyzing School Age Children’s Narrative Performance. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 15, 177-191.
https://doi.org/10.1044/1058-0360(2006/017)
Habermas, T., Ehlert-Lerche, S. and de Silveira, C. (2009) The Development of the Temporal Macrostructure of Life Narratives across Adolescence: Beginnings, Linear Narrative Form, and Endings. Journal of Personality, 77, 527-560.
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6494.2008.00557.x
Kemper, S. (1984) The Development of Narrative Skills: Explanations and Entertainments. Springer Series in Cognitive Development, Berlin, 99-124.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-9508-9_5
Stadler, M.A. and Ward, G.C. (2005) Supporting the Narrative Development of Young Children. Early Childhood Education Journal, 33, 73-80.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-005-0024-4
McCabe, A., Bliss, L., Barra, G. and Bennett, M. (2008) Comparison of Personal versus Fictional Narratives of Children with Language Impairment. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 17, 194.
https://doi.org/10.1044/1058-0360(2008/019)
Fivush, R., Haden, C.A. and Reese, E. (2006) Elaborating on Elaborations: Role of Maternal Reminiscing Style in Cognitive and Socioemotional Development. Child Development, 77, 1568-1588. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2006.00960.x
Reese, E. and Newcombe, R. (2007) Training Mothers in Elaborative Reminiscing Enhances Children’s Autobiographical Memory and Narrative. Child Development, 78, 1153-1170. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2007.01058.x
Baker, C.E. (2013) Fathers’ and Mothers’ Home Literacy Involvement and Children’s Cognitive and Social Emotional Development: Implications for Family Literacy Programs, Applied. Developmental Science, 17, 184-197.
https://doi.org/10.1080/10888691.2013.836034
Miller, P.J., Chen, E.C.-H. and Olivarez, M. (2014) Narrative Making and Remaking in the Early Years: Prelude to the Personal Narrative. New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, 2014, 15-27. https://doi.org/10.1002/cad.20064
Nelson, K. and Fivush, R. (2019) The Development of Autobiographical Memory, Autobiographical Narratives, and Autobiographical Consciousness. Psychological Reports, 123, 1-26. https://doi.org/10.1177/0033294119852574
Bohanek, J.G. and Fivush, R. (2010) Personal Narratives, Well-Being, and Gender in Adolescence. Cognitive Development, 25, 368-379.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogdev.2010.08.003
Benson, M.S. (1997) Psychological Causation and Goal-Based Episodes: Low-Income Children’s Emerging Narrative Skills. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 12, 439-457. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0885-2006(97)90021-1
Fivush, R., Hazzard, A., McDermott Sales, J., Sarfati, D. and Brown, T. (2002) Creating Coherence Out of Chaos? Children’s Narratives of Emotionally Positive and Negative Events. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 17, 1-19.
https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.854
Fivush, R., McDermott Sales, J. and Bohanek, J.G. (2008) Meaning Making in Mothers’ and Children’s Narratives of Emotional Events. Memory, 16, 579-594.
https://doi.org/10.1080/09658210802150681
Peterson, C. and Biggs, M. (2001) “I Was Really, Really, Really Mad!” Children’s Use of Evaluative Devices in Narratives about Emotional Events. Sex Roles, 45, 801-825. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1015692403932
Sales, J.M., Fivush, R. and Peterson, C. (2003) Parental Reminiscing about Positive and Negative Events. Journal of Cognition and Development, 4, 185-209.
https://doi.org/10.1207/S15327647JCD0402_03
Bird, A. and Reese, E. (2006) Emotional Reminiscing and the Development of an Autobiographical Self. Developmental Psychology, 42, 613-626.
https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.42.4.613
Fivush, R., Bohanek, J.G., Zaman, W. and Grapin, S. (2012) Gender Differences in Adolescents’ Autobiographical Narratives. Journal of Cognition and Development, 13, 295-319. https://doi.org/10.1080/15248372.2011.590787
Fivush, R., Habermas, T., Waters, T.E.A. and Zaman, W. (2011) The Making of Autobiographical Memory: Intersections of Culture, Narratives and Identity. International Journal of Psychology, 46, 321-345.
https://doi.org/10.1080/00207594.2011.596541
Habermas, T. and De Silveira, C. (2008) The Development of Global Coherence in Life Narratives across Adolescence: Temporal, Causal, and Thematic Aspects. Developmental Psychology, 44, 707-721. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.44.3.707
Bietti, L.M., Tilston, O. and Bangerter, A. (2018) Storytelling as Adaptive Collective Sensemaking. Topics in Cognitive Science, 11, 710-732.
https://doi.org/10.31219/osf.io/4an6t
Peterson, C. and McCabe, A. (1983) Developmental Psycholinguistics: Three Ways of Looking at a Child’s Narrative. Plenum, New York.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-0608-6
Westerveld, M., Nelson, N., Fernandes, F.D.M., Ferman, S., Gillon, G., McKean, C., Petinou, K., Tumanova, T., Vogindroukas, I. and Westby, C. (2018) Global Tales Project Protocol 2018. https://osf.io/6ta5g/
Hoffman, L.M. (2009) The Utility of School-Age Narrative Microstructure Indices: INMIS and the Proportion of Restricted Utterances. American Speech-Language- Hearing Association, 40, 365-375. https://doi.org/10.1044/0161-1461(2009/08-0017)
Westerveld, M. and Gillon, G.T. (2010) Profiling Oral Narrative Ability in Young School-Aged Children. International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 12, 178-189. https://doi.org/10.3109/17549500903194125
Nelson, N.W. and Van Meter, A.M. (2007) Measuring Written Language Ability in Narrative Samples. Reading and Writing Quarterly, 23, 287-309.
https://doi.org/10.1080/10573560701277807
Petersen, D.B., Gillam, S.L. and Gillam, R.B. (2008) Emerging Procedures in Narrative Assessment: The Index of Narrative Complexity. Topics in Language Disorders, 28, 115-130. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.TLD.0000318933.46925.86
Neuman, S.B. and Celano, D. (2006) The Knowledge Gap: Implications of Leveling the Playing Field for Low-Income and Middle-Income Children. Reading Research Quarterly, 41, 176-201. https://osf.io/ztqg6
https://doi.org/10.1598/RRQ.41.2.2
Pearce, W.M., McCormack, P.F. and James, D.G.H. (2003) Exploring the Boundaries of SLI: Findings from Morphosyntactic and Story Grammar Analyses. Journal Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics, 17, 325-334.
https://doi.org/10.1080/0269920031000080019
Reilly, J., Losh, M., Bullugi, U. and Walfeck, B. (2004) “Frog, Where Are You?” Narratives in Children with Specific Language Impairment, Early Focal Brain Injury, and Williams Syndrome. Brain and Language, 88, 229-247.
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0093-934X(03)00101-9
Bamberg, M. and Damrad-Frye, R. (1991) On the Ability to Provide Evaluative Comments: Further Explorations of Children’s Narrative Competencies. Journal of Child Language, 18, 689-710. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0305000900011314
