Enhancing Narrative Writing Abilities by Practicing Mentalization Skills

Purpose: Narrative writing interventions have mostly focused on text structure. This study examined the effect of practicing mentalization skills on narratives’ macrostructure, microstructure, and Mental State Terms (MSTs) compared with a text structure-based intervention and controls. Method: Ninety 3rd graders, divided into three groups of 30 students, participated in a 19-session program. The Text structure (TS) group focused on basic story elements. The Text Structure and Mentalization (TS+M) group practiced mentalization skills interwoven into text structure instruction. Both groups practiced planning and self- and peer-monitoring skills. Controls studied text structure according to the standard curriculum. Results: While the TS group outperformed controls on almost all macrostructure and microstructure measures, the TS+M group outperformed the other groups on all macrostructure, microstructure, and MST measures as well as Mentalization skills outside the narrative. Conclusion: Adding mentalizing skills practice to narrative writing instruction can improve several aspects of narrative composition.