This paper seeks to throw light on the concordance between man's mental structure and the structure of narrative with regard to Vygotsky's sociocultural theory. In so doing, the author first provides the backdrop of the literature on the topic by first explaining Vygotsky's approach to the genesis of mind, and then gives a synoptic account of the…

Forty middle-class American mothers and their preschool children were observed in a narrative activity which involved telling a story using the Berenstain Bears Play Set as a stimulus. The goal of the study was to examine the presence of story grammar elements in both maternal and preschool narratives. In addition, the study sought to explore the…

Argues that many interventions for introducing Aboriginal children to literacy continue to be based on "language deficit" models. Examines whether there is indeed a mismatch between the nonstandard spoken language of some Aboriginal children and textbook language. (RAE)

Reports a study, using sixth graders' introspective self-reports, to determine the context in which students use knowledge about narrative text structure, how they use this knowledge, and why they do not always employ this knowledge. (RAE)