Formulation of a narrative task affects the macrostructure of picture-based stories told by adults

This study examines how changing the narrative task formulation influences the macrostructure of picture-based stories told by adults.Sixty speakers of German, Polish, and Russian each produced two narratives using the Multilingual Assessment Instrument for Narratives (MAIN): one adult-directed, one child-directed. A total of 120 narratives were analyzed for macrostructural components. Results show that child-directed instruction consistently led to higher story structure scores across all languages, indicating increased macrostructural richness. No effect was found for story type, and the observed language effect in Polish adult-directed narratives is attributed to task interpretation. The findings highlight the influence of task phrasing and support the child-directed condition as a more effective standard for eliciting rich narrative data in adult testing contexts.