Narrative participation as a context for meaning-making in early school years: a mixed-methods study of emotion comprehension

Emotion comprehension develops through children’s engagement with emotionally and socially meaningful experiences, yet less is known about how narrative-based classroom engagement may support this process. The T. A. L. E. (Tale Activates Learning and Emotional-Growth) intervention, developed by the authors, uses culturally diverse oral storytelling embedded in creative and reflective activities that support engagement with narrative situations through activity. This mixed-methods study examined whether participation in T. A. L. E. was associated with gains in emotion comprehension in children aged 7–9 years ( N = 197; intervention = 99, control = 98; 97 boys, 100 girls) from five elementary schools in Budapest. The intervention was conducted in 2023 and 2024. Quantitative outcomes were assessed with the Test of Emotion Comprehension before and after the 12-session intervention, with age, gender, and cognitive ability included as control variables, while semi-structured interviews captured children’s social–emotional engagement. Results indicated that children in the intervention group showed larger gains than those in the control group, with a substantial effect size in this researcher-led implementation context ( η p 2 = 0.32), suggesting that narrative participation may provide a developmentally meaningful context for emotional understanding. Qualitative findings suggested greater emphasis on self-reflection and perspective-taking among children showing larger gains. Teacher and psychology student evaluations provided preliminary acceptability evidence. These findings support a view of social–emotional learning not only as the acquisition of competencies, but as a process of meaning-making emerging through participation in socially and emotionally meaningful experiences, as examined here within narrative-based classroom contexts.