Global TALES: Talking About Lived Experiences in Stories 

The Global TALES Network is an initiative of the Child Language Committee of the International Association for Communication Sciences and Disorders (IALP). In this project, an international team of researchers  set out to investigate methods for eliciting and analyzing children’s personal event narratives, with the ultimate aim of developing FREELY AVAILABLE global tools and approaches to support assessment and interventions for this important skill in children with significant challenges in their learning, including those with language disorders.  During 2018/2019, we developed an elicitation protocol (the Global TALES protocol) and conducted a pilot study, in which we used the protocol to elicit personal narratives from 10-year-old children from a range of countries.  Since 2018, the project team has attracted members from  more than 40 countries, speaking > 30 languages.

The protocol has been registered on the Open Science Framework and interested parties are kindly asked to contact the project leader (Prof Marleen Westerveld) for permission to use the protocol for research purposes. The protocol is freely available for clinical use 

I have created a brief 7 minute overview (2020). To keep up to date, follow us on Instagram: @global_tales_network

Newsletters

We publish an annual newsletter to provide updates and celebrate achievements! You can download the newsletters here!

• Global TALES Network Newsletter 2025
• Global TALES newsletter 2024
• Global TALES newsletter 2023

Overview of translated protocols

All protocols are freely available from our  Open Science Framework  site or simply click on the link below.

• English V2 - https://osf.io/uxm42
• French (Canada) V2 - https://osf.io/k4huv
• German V2 - https://osf.io/yx5aj
• Ukrainian V2  - https://osf.io/ntw3g

Overview of publications that have used the Global TALES protocol (in order of publication)

1. Westerveld, M. F., Lyons, R., Nelson, N. W., Chen, K. M., Claessen, M., Ferman, S., . . . on behalf the Global Tales Consortium. (2022). Global TALES feasibility study: Personal narratives in 10-year-old children around the world. PLoS ONE, 17(8), e0273114. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0273114 - Free Access
2. Westerveld, M. F., & Nelson, N. (2023). Editorial: Evaluating children’s personal narrative skills using the Global TALES protocol: Implications for practice. Folia Phoniatrica Et Logopaedica, 367-371. doi:10.1159/000534510
3. Westby, C. E., Chen, K.-M., Lee, J. P., & Wong, A. M.-Y. (2023). Topic and content of personal narratives of children from three East Asian cultures and three English-speaking cultures. Folia Phoniatrica Et Logopaedica, 431-446. doi:10.1159/000533559
4. Srivastava, V., Chan, A., & Westerveld, M. F. (2023). What do children in India talk about: Personal narratives of typically developing Hindi-speaking children. Folia Phoniatrica Et Logopaedica, 447-455. doi:10.1159/000534298
5. Van Vreckem, C., Desoete, A., Simoens, D., Van de Vyver, A., Pauwels, J., Van Laethem, C., & Van Lierde, K. (2023). Vocabulary diversity in personal narratives produced in response to the Global TALES protocol in Dutch-speaking students with and without dyslexia. Folia Phoniatrica Et Logopaedica, 470-479. doi:10.1159/000532024
6. Maviş, İ., & Yaşar-Gündüz, E. (2023). Evaluating the personal narrative skills of monolingual turkish speaking 7- and 10-year-old children with typical development through Global TALES: A pilot study. Folia Phoniatrica Et Logopaedica, 382-392. doi:10.1159/000533292
7. Theodorou, E., Vogindroukas, I., Giannakou, E., Tsouti, L., & Phinikettos, I. (2023). Telling personal narratives: Comparing stories told by 10-year-old speakers of Cypriot Greek Dialect and of Standard Modern Greek. Folia Phoniatrica Et Logopaedica, 401-411. doi:10.1159/000533400
8. Einarsdóttir, J. T., & Þráinsdóttir, E. (2023). Personal narratives of 10-year-old children in Iceland– verbal productivity, word diversity, and topics. Folia Phoniatrica Et Logopaedica, 75, 372-381. doi:10.1159/000533134
9. Lyons, R., Antonijevic-Elliott, S., Barbotin, S., Molloy, M., O’Malley-Keighran, M. P., Spelman, J., & Westerveld, M. F. (2023). Feasibility of using the Global TALES protocol to elicit personal narratives in 10 year-old children in Ireland. Folia Phoniatrica Et Logopaedica, 393-400. doi:10.1159/000533140
10. Ferman, S., & Kawar, K. (2023). Tele-assessment of oral personal narratives in Arabic- and Hebrew-speaking children using the Global TALES protocol. Folia Phoniatrica Et Logopaedica, 456-469.
11. Westerveld, M. F., Nelson, N. W., Claessen, M., & Westby, C. (2023). Children’s use of evaluative devices in response to the global TALES protocol. Folia Phoniatrica Et Logopaedica, 480-494. doi:10.1159/000533138
12. Kuvač Kraljević, J., Matić Škorić, A., & Gabaj, M. (2023). Personal narratives of school-age children: A cross-sectional developmental study. Folia Phoniatrica Et Logopaedica, 412-430. doi:10.1159/000533399
13. Gabaj, M., Kuvač Kraljević, J., & Westerveld, M. F. (2024). Linguistic organisation and coherence in personal narratives of 10-year-old children with developmental language disorder. First Language, 45(2), 128-151. doi:10.1177/01427237241298163
14. Gabaj, M., Kraljević, J. K., & Westerveld, M. F. (2025). The personal narratives of Croatian-speaking children with developmental language disorder: Investigating the influence of emotional valence at linguistic, propositional, and macrostructure levels. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 56(3), 617-632. doi:10.1044/2025_LSHSS-24-00111
15. Gabaj, M., Kraljević, J. K., & Westerveld, M. F. (2025). Contribution of memory mechanisms and socio-emotional functioning to the production of personal narratives in children with and without developmental language disorder. Journal of Speech, Language & Hearing Research, 68, 4845-4864. doi:10.1044/2025_JSLHR-25-0004

Overview of 2025 presentations involving the use of the Global TALES protocol

1. Bampoe, J.O. (2025). Exploring personal narratives of Ghanaian children. Paper presented at the Global TALES Network Symposium: Advancing Global Knowledge in Personal Narratives to Bridge the Research-to-Practice Gap in Speech-Language Pathology. University of Alberta. Edmonton, Canada. September 11, 2025.
2. Chan, A., Westby, C., Srivastava, V., Zhu, W.L., Li, S. & Westerveld, M. (2025). Advancing personal narrative assessment and intervention in Asian cultures. Talk to be presented at the 12th Asia Pacific International Conference on Speech, Language, and Hearing (2025 APSSLH Conference), on 12-14 December 2025 in Bangkok, Thailand.
3. Chan, A. & Westby, C. (2025, keynote speaker). Cultural Influences on Personal Narrative Development: Implications for Speech-Language Pathologists Working with Children and Adolescents with Communication Disorders. Global TALES Network Symposium: Advancing Global Knowledge in Personal Narratives to Bridge the Research-to-Practice Gap in Speech-Language Pathology. University of Alberta. Edmonton, Canada. September 11, 2025.
4. Domby, L. (2025, invited presentation). Clinical Applications of the Global TALES protocol. Paper presented at the Global TALES Network Symposium: Advancing Global Knowledge in Personal Narratives to Bridge the Research-to-Practice Gap in Speech-Language Pathology. University of Alberta. Edmonton, Canada. September 11, 2025.
5. Einarsdóttir, J.T. (2025). Personal Narratives and Multilingual Children in Iceland. Poster presentation. Global TALES Network Symposium. 11. September 2025.
6. Filiatrault-Veilleux, P., Hryciw, T., Ang, S., and Westerveld, M. (2025). A comparative analysis of personal narratives using the Global TALES protocol with English- and French-speaking 9-10-year-old Canadian children. [Oral Presentation]. 33rd World Congress of IALP, August 24-28 2025, Malta
7. Filiatrault-Veilleux, P. & MacLeod, A. (2025). Personal narratives in multilingual contexts within a social justice framework. [Keynote presentation]. Global TALES Symposium: Advancing Global Knowledge in Personal Narratives to Bridge the Research-to-Practice Gap in Speech-Language Pathology. [Keynote Presentation]. University of Alberta and online, Canada.
8. Gabaj, M., Kuvač Kraljević, J., & Westerveld, M. (2025, August 24-28). The role of memory mechanisms and socio-emotional functioning in predicting personal narrative ability in children with and without DLD [Conference presentation]. 33rd World Congress of the IALP – Innovation and inspiration in communication, St. Julian’s, Malta.
9. Gabaj, M. (2025, September 11). The Personal Narrative Skills of Croatian Children with Developmental Language Disorder: The Influence of Emotional Valence [Conference presentation]. Global TALES Network Symposium: Advancing global knowledge in personal narratives to bridge the research-to-practice gap in speech-language pathology, Edmonton, Canada.
10. Jensen de López, K. & Knudsen, Nørgaard, N. S.; Quintanilla, L. & H. S. (2025, August 27). Personal narratives, coherence, expressive language and content of life stories of Danish-Speaking children with and without Developmental Language Disorder. [Conference presentation]. IALP 2025 International Association of Communication Sciences and Disorders, San Julian’s, Malta.
11. Jensen de López, K. & Knudsen, H. S. (2025, September 11). Supporting personal narrative development in children with Developmental Language Impairment (DLD): case studies of clinical practice. [Symposium presentation]. Global TALES Network Symposium: Advancing global knowledge in personal narratives to bridge the research-to-practice gap in speech-language pathology, Edmonton, Canada.
12. Kekejian, C., & Bortz, M. (2025). Translanguaging in Narratives of Multilingual Elementary School Children—A Pilot Study. Paper presented at the Global TALES Network Symposium: Advancing Global Knowledge in Personal Narratives to Bridge the Research-to-Practice Gap in Speech-Language Pathology. University of Alberta. Edmonton, Canada. September 11, 2025.
13. Lyons R., Antonijevic-Elliot, S., Barbotin, S., Molloy, M; O Malley-Keighran, M., Spelman, J., & Westerveld, M. (2025). Feasibility of Using the Global Tales Protocol to Elicit Personal Narratives in 10-year-old Children in Ireland. Poster presented at the Global TALES Network Symposium: Advancing Global Knowledge in Personal Narratives to Bridge the Research-to-Practice Gap in Speech-Language Pathology. University of Alberta. Edmonton, Canada. September 11, 2025.
14. Maviş, I., Yaşar-Gündüz, E. (2025). Exploring Personal Narrative Abilities in Monolingual Turkish Children Using the Global TALES Protocol: A Pilot Study. Poster presented at the Global TALES Network Symposium: Advancing Global Knowledge in Personal Narratives to Bridge the Research-to-Practice Gap in Speech-Language Pathology. University of Alberta. Edmonton, Canada. September 11, 2025.
15. Nelson, N. (2025). Global TALES longitudinal: Ages 10 and 16. Paper presented at the Global TALES Network Symposium: Advancing Global Knowledge in Personal Narratives to Bridge the Research-to-Practice Gap in Speech-Language Pathology. University of Alberta. Edmonton, Canada. September 11, 2025.
16. Neufeld, C., Charest, M., & Filiatrault-Veilleux, P. (2025). Untold Stories of Children with Developmental Language Disorder: Narrative Skills and Theory of Mind. Poster presented at the Global TALES Network Symposium: Advancing Global Knowledge in Personal Narratives to Bridge the Research-to-Practice Gap in Speech-Language Pathology. University of Alberta. Edmonton, Canada. September 11, 2025.
17. Srivastava, V., Chan, A. & Westerveld, M. F. (2025). Narrating Happy and Worried Experiences: Coherence in Personal Stories of Hindi-speaking Children with and without Autism. Paper presented at Global TALES Network Symposium: Advancing Global Knowledge in Personal Narratives to Bridge the Research-to-Practice Gap in Speech-Language Pathology. University of Alberta. Edmonton, Canada. September 11, 2025.
18. Theodorou, E., Vogindroukas, I., Giannakou, E., Tsouti, L., & Phinikettos, I. (2025). Telling Personal Narratives: Comparing Stories Told by 10-Year-Old Speakers of Cypriot Greek Dialect and of Standard Modern Greek. Poster presented at Global TALES Network Symposium: Advancing Global Knowledge in Personal Narratives to Bridge the Research-to-Practice Gap in Speech-Language Pathology. University of Alberta. Edmonton, Canada. September 11, 2025.
19. Westerveld, M., Westby, C., Theodorou, E., Geronikou, E., Kuvac Kraljevic, J., Gabaj, M., & on behalf of the Child Language Committee. (2025). Investigating Personal Narrative Coherence: A Global Perspective. Paper presented at the 33rd World Congress of the IALP: Innovation and Inspiration in Communication Sciences and Disorders, Malta.
20. Zhu, W.L. & Chan, A. (2025). Emotion Expression in Chinese Culture: Coherence in Personal Narratives of Mandarin-speaking Children with and without Autism. Paper presented at Global TALES Network Symposium: Advancing Global Knowledge in Personal Narratives to Bridge the Research-to-Practice Gap in Speech-Language Pathology. University of Alberta. Edmonton, Canada. September 11, 2025.