This study analysed oral personal narratives of 20 middle-class Japanese preschoolers, half of them four years old and half five, and their mothers, using stanza analysis and high point analysis. The patterning in stanzas revealed that, compared to four-year- olds, five-year-olds have begun to use the form of adult-like narratives. High point analysis indicated that compared to four- year-olds, five-year-olds have begun to evaluate in the form of adult-like narratives. The results suggest that the preschool years, during which various narrative components evolve, represent a period of extremely rapid development in the child's acquisition of narrative capacity. They also illustrate that from early childhood on, Japanese children learn the narrative mode of discourse valued by their mothers.
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