Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface -- Part 1: Theoretical and Ethnographic Background -- Chapter 1. Introduction -- Chapter 2. Literature Review -- Chapter 3. Research Design: Methodology and Basic Concepts -- Part 2: Analyses of the Personal Narratives Conducted Between Japanese Preschool Children and Adults -- Chapter 4. Monologic Narrative: Narrative Development -- Chapter 5. Monologic Narrative Structure in Japanese -- Part 3: Mother-Child Narrative Interactions -- Chapter 6. Parental Narrative Elicitation Styles -- Chapter 7. Cross-cultural Comparison of Parental Narrative Elicitation -- Part 4: Development of Literacy in Japanese Children -- Chapter 8. Styles of Parent-Child Book-Reading in Japanese Families -- Part 5: Conclusions Derived from the Current Study and a Discussion of Topics for Future Studies in Narrative Discourse -- Chapter 9. Conclusions and Implications -- References -- Index