29.

In the child development literature, ‘narrative’ appears not just as a discourse form but as a mode of mental organization that is found in memory construction and that (D) features in the early social experiences of children. Narratives have thematic structure as well as temporal structure. In the large scale and culturally significant stories of societies, such as myths and fables, we find recurring themes, such as love triumphing over loss or bravery outwitting greed or cruelty. Story telling also (B) acts to socialize children by showing accepted ways of living and behaving. Narrative discourse and mental organization is primary in children’s development. Snatches of narrative occur frequently in conversation. A switch to narrative mode (A) is marked by raised pitch and change in intonation patterns. Children are included in narrative production when their parents encourage collaboration. Children thus (C) is exposed to narrative from very early ages; they participate in narrative and they develop their skills in producing narratives. Such skills and knowledge are brought to foreign language learning; what is lacking is the language to express them.