Improvisation and narrative

I explore how children's narratives emerge from improvisational play. I begin by defining improvisation and narrative, and I analyze several episodes of children's play to explore how narratives emerge from collaborative improvisation. The transcript examples suggest two elements that increase the likelihood that a well-formed narrative will emerge from improvisational play: the use of metaplay and dialogic discourse strategies, and the presence of a shared script. I then present a theory of collaborative emergence to conceptualize how narratives emerge from improvisational play. I conclude by drawing parallels with recent research on computer-supported collaborative storymaking environments.